The lessons we could learn...

DEREK HAWKES, Milton Road, Hoyland

I suspect that I, like many others, am one of many people that have not been away much from Hoyland and Barnsley in the last two-and-a-half years.

However, last Friday I travelled down to Bury St Edmunds to watch one of my favourite bands, The Undertones.

They did not disappoint. Neither did Bury, a market town built on brewing beer and sugar beet.

As I walked through the town I was very impressed.

On Saturday morning I walked up to the town and spent three hours in the shopping and market area – it was like visiting another world.

No empty shops. No metal shutters. No litter. No graffiti. No flower beds full of weeds. The architecture and heritage of the town treasured, and not trashed.

A huge number of local owner-managed businesses pumping money back into the local economy instead of large corporations siphoning the hard-earned wages of the local population back to the HQs in London and abroad.

There were modern developments within the central town which were proportionate and tasteful. The green areas around the town were cared for and preserved – no over-the-top warehousing developments blotting the landscape.

A large, vibrant, pop-up market, full of interesting stalls – there was no tat being sold here.

And, surprisingly, in the three hours I spent in the town centre, I did not see, or smell, a single person smoking or vaping. And all achieved without putting up expensive murals costing thousands of pounds.

Bury has narrow streets with lots of very awkward one-way systems, and parking is a challenge which is all part of the charm. Having seen the cultural and environmental destruction wreaked on Hoyland and Hoyland Common, I think many of us can imagine what the Barnsley Council leadership would do to ‘improve’ Bury.

Flatten the 18th century buildings getting in the way? Dual carriageway? Roundabouts? Build a warehouse, or, maybe ten? I shudder to think.

‘Tory cuts’, I can hear the local politicians scream in protest. This excuse has been trotted out time after time and, after the Glass Works, does not wash any more.

I am now intending to return to Bury St Edmunds for a longer stay in this wonderful town. I very much doubt there will be anybody heading the other way.