Thanks to Newmarket it has highlighted what a bunch of cretins are running Wakefield Council. Prior to getting their council seats being a trade union shop steward or on the committee of a WMC was the highlight of most of their lives.

They have now demonstrated how they have let millions of pounds slip through their grasp by not making a developer pay his dues by means of a 106. At Newmarket the community have lost a stadium and sporting facilities but it could just has easily have been a school, medical facilities etc.

New market has highlighted their incompetence because we have all got interested in its progress. However it really makes you wonder what other development schemes around Wakefield have left the public sold short. I bet there has been other 'newmarkets' that have gone before and we know very little about them.

Makes you wonder who the biggest cretins are, the councillors or the people that keep voting them in !!!

I think the problem is the no one votes them in so low is the turn out for local election - they are probably personal friend or related to most of the voters. If voting were compulsory most of these low lives would be out in a shop - either way your right as we only have ourselves to blame.

I often thought SWAG should become a single issue party at the election because I swear we have the numbers to win - worked for UKIP in the referendum.

Agree with so many comments on here about the state of BV and our once vibrant city. Walking up the precinct the other day I was staggered to see the number of boarded up shops and it was the same in the Ridings. Our council are a disgrace and I really hope lifelong Labour voters have a re think at the next local and general elections as without change I can only see Wakefield getting much worse.
Don't let me get started on Mary Creagh.......she really speaks for the people of Wakefield NOT!

It always baffles me when people raise the Hepworth to attack WMDC; there's plenty of things to criticise them for, but that isn't one of them. They didn't pay for it, and it's been one of the few positive developments in the City in recent years. It's won multiple awards, and attracted 2 million people to visit it (and the City) since it opened. I can't think of any other single attraction in Wakefield that could boast those kinds of numbers - it's an unqualified success!

Totally agree, I think it is the only addition to Wakefield that I have been proud of in many a year!

Even though the council prop it up with £1.25 million worth of taxpayers money each year?

Don't know how you manage to keep your cool with the councils lack of any support to our fine club when you know that!
One place that was busy when I was in town was the club shop, don't think you and your team could possibly do more.
I work in a school and get to see the fine work of the community team too.

The Hepworth cost the council around £20m up front and needs over £1m per year in subsidies to keep it open, that's hardly successful. The figures of 2 million people into the city are the council's own figures, it makes you wonder if they're making that figure up to cover up the failings of this massive waste of tax payers money

You have to consider the wider impact of having Hepworth in Wakey. it's not exactly my cup of tea but I've been a couple of times and it is what it is. But art types love it and it has potential to attract other similar schemes and make Wakefield a bit of a culture destination (bizarre as that sounds) Unity Hall reopening is another great addition to the city for this reason.

All it needs is for 1m visitors to spend £1 in wakefield (parking, coffee, food, other art places etc) and bam! pays for itself.

We need to make more of the yards and alley ways . They could be turned into atmospheric mini shopping and leisure areas. The vestiges of the past that remain, and were not destroyed in the short sighted 50's should be cherished. Perhaps then the people who visit the Hepworth might spend more time in the city and pass on to others what it has to offer.

I am all for that. I would start with Gallows Hill, its still sign posted so we could put it back into use. What a better way to celebrate our past than our esteemed leader to be the first to be used to test drive the site.

I think you are wrong here! Much of the funding was external, but there's was a chunk of money - mostly proceeds from the sale of LBA - that went in.

Funnily enough I was told personally by a Cabinet member that this money had been put aside and 'ring-fenced' to go towards the Thornes Park stadium venture! Now what happened there?

If the he council did pay that amount, I think it is a large waste of the tax payers money.

I think that could have been better spent elsewhere.

Just while we are on, I wonder how much it cost to put install those daft fountain thingy's in the bullring.

On a lighter note regarding the ground, I don't think we have had a floodlight failure during a game have we, like at Pittodrie last night. Didn't our near and dear rivals have one a few years ago in the Good Friday

When you consider the cost to the tax payer of Roaney, Wallhead, Rodgres,Jefferies and Box, which will only be slightly less, then I think the Hepworth is far better value by comparison.

It's estimated that visitors spend on average £21 per person in the City - that will include local cafes, bars and shops; the Hepworth projected 150,000 visitors in the first year and actually achieved that in 5 weeks - it's an amazing success and has become a destination for people from all over the world. In conjunction with the equally brilliant Sculpture Park, we are a genuine destination for horn rimmed spectacle wearing culture vultures, not to mention the architecture nerds who love the award winning, brutalist design of the building.

I'm a lifelong WT fan, and I firmly believe that WMDC and YCP have stiffed us; but including the Hepworth as an example of where money could have been better spent is just stupid. It appeals to and attracts exponentially more people than NM could ever hope or dream to, and is a shining light in an otherwise shabby and declining City.