Hotel boss defends Haigh Hall changes

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"after 15mph signs were persistently ignored by pedestrians."

Sign em up for the Olympics!

So by putting white lines on the road drivers are going to keep to 15mph , doesn't make sense to me. its a question if that road wide enough to be marked for two lanes , .So your not allowed to walk up that road now you have to go round through the woods.

Read the link on wigan today BB, that website is a pain its full of ads and slow, if you put ad blocker on it knocks you off ,or you have to register whats all that about

Last time I went to Haigh Hall was in 2006 it was a dump, staffed by snooty bastards who where so far up themselves you could only see the sole of their boots.

The council should have realised that once they had got a foot in the door they would try to take over, how can they stop folks from using those lawns at the front of the hall, the entirety of Haigh Country Park is after all - Public Land - and not hotel exclusivity.

Why have they marked that road with lines, will they next be wanting exclusive rights to use the road from Wigan Lane to the hall, I wouldn't put it past them.

Sent off Facebook



Interesting considering what is changing at Haigh Hall......

Haigh Hall Hotel - i have just found this information on the lease documents and it states quite clearly that he is not allowed to block any public access
4.22 Retention of Public Access - The Lessee will not erect any fence, hedge or structure along the boundary to the premises or within the premises which shall prevent, hinder or restrict pedestrian access or egress of members of the public along any of the pathways or roads within the premises to and from the Lessor's neighbouring property as are indicated on the plan !!!

Spread the word 😡

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Are we losing it?

The protest last week was futile. A bunch of people throwing questions at the owner who had no chance to answer before being interuppted. A lost opportunity I'd say

I feel we'll lose it.

You can't 'lose' what you've never had!

They'll play the 'public safety' card regarding any fencing or traffic directions they might put in place.

400 thousand pounds a company registered in the British Virgin Islands have paid for a 199 year lease on the hall😮
Doesn’t seem to be a great deal for the people of Wigan to me!

British Virgin Islands? Contessa Hotels are registered at Companies House in Cardiff, Wales!

Mind you, there's several traffic islands not too far from it!

Haha look up Scullingdale global ,they got the money!

I beleive they have spent a few million pounds on doing the place up.

£ 4 million from the Council and £2 million from WLCT ( the Council).

Oh sorry I thought it was Contessa that had spent £6m on it has the council spent another £6m on it gaffer?

Contessa

It's gone on the hotel not the people.

But I have had it, many good times at Haigh Hall, with my family and friends, over the many years.

😴😴😴

I always thought it was left for the public to use.

😴😴😴

You know what 'thought' did? Pissed in bed and thought he was sweating!

😝😝😝

Could be worse, I could be a sado who goes on about boroughs and boundaries

🏃🏃🏃🐭🐭🐭😂😂😂

Which would have been better ....

1. Leave it as it was, semi derelict, eventually the entire hall being closed for safety reasons, boarded up and looking like Winstanley Hall, vandalised and in a few years time, collapsing like the old town hall did.

2. Leasing it out to the private sector, who spend millions on Haigh Hall, making it into an upmarket hotel and functions venue.

I mean ok, if option one had been selected, folk would still have been able to walk up to Haigh Hall through those nice trees in the plantations, which nature renovates every year, but eventually that beautiful walk, would have ended up at a fenced off, boarded up, derelict wreck of a building.

That wouldn't have been very nice would it, yoo would have been calling the council if that had happened, so council is damned if they doo and they are damned if they don't ....

I'm all for the hall being done up but I, and I bet others, were under the impression that the grounds were for the public to use.

The idea is that Haigh Hall is now a private hotel, although it is leased from the Wigan Council and if you want to visit it, save up and stay there as an hotel guest

I am now going to refer to the owners of the hotel, as being Contessa and I don't want to get into a pedantic tonker argument about that, the hotel business is owned by Contessa and Contessa want to market their product, up to its maximum extent and that means by using the drive up to the hotel, this sells the hotel, because it is nice and the drive is part of the hotel.

I personally think that those white lines look awful, but what is the legal position of that road, in that has it been laid down in law as a public highway, in which case the road has got to be marked out as a public highway.

I don't think that the public can be banned from walking up that road to the hall, although access to the hall and car park maybe restricted for security reasons, but I think a compromise would be to make a separate solid path from where the road from the lower plantations, intersects with the newly marked out section and take the path up the side of the road and make the path or paths guide the walking public to the parts of the grounds which are for public access, if they don't doo that the public will walk up the road, so their feet don't get muddy and that will clash with the hotel traffic and if psolid paths were made, make the path or paths nice, with seating and lighting and litter bins and electronic information boards and free wifi, Contessa are selling the hotel to their targeted clientele, by using what Haigh Hall has got to offer and Wigan Council should target the grounds of Haigh Hall to their clientele, which are the public of Wigan and sell the grounds to the public, by making the place into a place that folk will want to visit, which they have done to some extent now.

But there is a problem with pedestrian access from the lower plantations, in that the solid path, which the public used to walk up or road, whatever you want to call it, is now being used for vehicular access, so the council should 'solve' the problem by making an alternative pedestrian access route and I am sure that there are better ideas than the one I have come up with, but there is a problem there, which the council need to sort out

Mindar

Contessa has secured approval ::::, doesn’t mean that it’s their money.
I doubt that they could raise £6 million. They are a management company selling a service managing hotels.

https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/haigh-hall-wigan-2016.105944/

the council have got haigh hall off their hands.so they upset a few residents,whats new about that ,do they care, do they eck as like.

From "Haigh Hall amenities", Started: 18th May 2008 at 23:12 By dostaf (inactive)


Everything the council has is really the government's. It's all known as 'government assets'.
Haigh Hall is a government asset. It's managed by Wigan council, but it's an asset of the government, whatever party is in office. In other words, it doesn't belong to Labour.
Now, getting back to the future of Haigh Hall. The government have looked into what's happening to their asset and have taken action. The Cabinet Office have forced the use issue under their Government Estates Strategy, enforced by the Government Property Unit.
Wigan council are merely glove puppets in the great scheme of things!

Replied: 17th Jan 2015 at 21:03



P.S. - ( I have a close friend who holds a high position in that section of the Cabinet Office and she can be plied with cheap Spanish Brandy) (with a bit of Coke in it! )