Preserve and Prosper.

                                           

This is Wakefield Metropolitan District Council’s motto, "Preserve and Prosper" it can be seen plain as day on the Cities coat of arms which is displayed at the main offices Wakefield One.

It seems, however, that Wakefield Council do not understand the meaning of the motto, so let’s begin by breaking it down.

Preserve:

In the Oxford dictionary the word preserve means to “maintain something in its original or existing state”

Prosper:

This is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “to succeed in material or financial terms or to flourish and grow”.

Over the last ten or twenty years we have seen a decline in Wakefield, a decline of historic buildings being sold off and destroyed to make way for newer ugly constructions, a decline in local business being forced out by high rents, a decline of a once famous market to mention just a few of the things that Wakefield council have taken it upon themselves to destroy.

As many who know me will know, I am very passionate about history especially in my local area which is steeped in rich history and archaeology and every time I hear of a beautiful old building being sold off such as Clayton Hospital to be knocked down and a sports facility built? Just what Wakefield needs are more sports facilities, it isn’t like we don’t already have this kind of thing local, there is a large sports facility in Wakefield park, another behind the old police training, one in Horbury 3 miles from the City center not to mention the several Gyms in the locality.

In my humble opinion Wakefield Council couldn’t preserve jam, Sandal castle one of the Cities greatest historical monuments which played an important role in British history has been left to get overgrown, the motte and bailey no longer accessible because the council in their infinite wisdom decided that the original path onto the castle wasn’t feasible and so built a wooden bridge across the moat and stairs up the Motte with a viewing platform at the summit.

This in retrospect was a good idea however the bridge and steps after only a few years are now unsafe and nothing seems to be getting done to improve the problem, instead the council are focusing on Pontefract and the castle there as well as the counting house, which are both important historic buildings and need to be preserved, however so do place like Sandal castle.

When are the council going to realize they are driving this City into the ground with their grand modernisation schemes, cutting down ancient trees in Ossett, selling off all our historic buildings and leaving others to rack and ruin, covering over possible historic and archaeological locations with new housing estates, the latter taking place at Newton hill where there is marked a ruin on the old maps of the 1850s, the report I read for the location which was undertaken before the estate was built gives no mention to this “Ruin” which could have been of importance to the history of the City, we will never know.

I now hear that Kirklees council are also getting in on the act and have put forward a proposal to build houses on greenbelt land at Chidswell near Ossett, this area is riddled with sites of archaeological interest, most of which are just outside the proposed boundary, however there are some features such as ancient bell pits and part of an ancient highway which ran from Chester to Leeds and passes through the proposed site.

To round up this rant it is obvious that the council in Wakefield do not listen to the people who live here and do not act in favour of them either, is it just Wakefield who treats their history like it should be swept under the carpet? You don’t see York pulling down Clifford tower or the city walls to build housing estates or concrete monstrosities, Chester doesn’t destroy its wonderful Tudor style buildings or walls, Chesterfield’s crooked spire and 13^th century pub is left alone along with the other beautiful buildings in the city, do you see a pattern emerging here?

Preserve and Prosper. The above Cities have done just that and their tourism is booming maybe there is a lesson to be learned here for Wakefield Council.