2010 has been an interesting time for VisitScunthorpe.Com which was launched in the January as part of a "community news gathering" project I'd been considering for some time. Prior to January there'd been a bit of a blog kind of thing going on for VisitScunthorpe, but my real ambition had been to provide a mechanism where people in and around Scunthorpe could post their own news articles away from the main stream media. On the whole this approach has been fairly successful through the year, and the site has attracted lots of new reader's and has regular contributions from lots of members of the public, the vast majority of whom I did not know and had not come across prior to the commencement of this project. January 2010 was a funny start to the year, people were aware of the financial situation the country had got its self in to with the collapse and subsequent bail out of the banks, and many households in the area were tightening their belts after Christmas. North Lincolnshire was also hit by heavy snow in the January which led to severe damage to the roads. January also saw the announcement of the short listing of management companies for the new Baths Hall along side criticisms being made by residents on the number of signs being put up by the council extolling their fortunes. By the end of the month very important improvements to the Doncaster Road / Avenue Vivian junction were announced, and finally we were told that commencing in February, new traffic lights and pelican crossing would be installed to replace the dangerous junction and zebra crossing. A massive improvement but an inconvenience to shops in the area while the work was undertaken. February was a very exciting month with a drugs gang being arrested in Elsham, a fire at Bos Plant on the works, a campaign to save Brigg Skate Park and sadly Fluffly the Market Cat going missing (later found to be well). Perhaps the most controversial incident in February was an exclusive broken by VisitScunthorpe.Com and then picked up by Tim Sculthorpe of the Evening Telegraph and run as a headline there. We learned from one of our readers that there was an application in planning to demolish Club 2000 in Church Square which started a whole swathe of accusations regarding the misappropriation of public money. Having looked into this, we found that Club 2k was purchased from its former private owners for �800,000 when the owner failed to achieve his asking price of �1,200,000. This decision was taken by the former conservative council using money provided to them by Yorkshire Forward. This decision was made at the time at which the Baths Hall needed urgent repairs, however this "new" venue was to be used as a "public space". In addition to this Yorkshire forward also provided a grant of �45,000 pa to cover operating costs up until March 2011. At the same time as purchasing Club 2k, the Tory council was also shutting down the baths hall due to "costs". Later on in the year the council were criticised for pulling down this folly when the new ConDem government announced the closure of Yorkshire Forward. To ensure that no council tax money was wasted on what was one of the worst thought out public procurements by the former Tory council, the council demolished the eyesore in time for Christmas. In March VisitScunthorpe.Com began its coverage of what promised to be a very exciting general election in Scunthorpe. Our former MP Elliot Morley had stood down, and college principal Nic Dakin was looking to take his place. Visit Scunthorpe said at the time that Nic was the most suitable prospective candidate to represent Scunthorpe and this was proved later on in May when he retained the seat for labour. This was to be however with a drastically reduced majority blamed by many readers on the antics of his predecessor. Another article appeared on Visit Scunthorpe which was then used by the Evening Telegraph as a headline; this time focusing on the region's potential for the generation of electrical power using weir and tidal flows. Moving in to April, one of our contributors who had been doing some research on the old clock tower which used to stand in the town centre became the focus of another Evening Telegraph article; this time featuring on the front cover of the Nostalga Magazine with his campaign to bring back the clock tower. April really started to hot up with regards to the election campaign and there was lots of excitement on the site as various readers made contributions and arguments on behalf of their favoured political party. This included more radical ideas such as "none of the above" and the bizzare thought (by some) that Scunthorpe could ever return anything other than a Labour MP! A very exciting battle was going on in the Brigg and Goole constituency for Ian Cawsey's seat which he narrowly lost. Early in the campaign Samantha Cameron was paraded around Brigg by the conservative's only to be rebutted a week later by the presence of Labour stalwart David Blunket. Brigg had never been so popular with so many celebrity figures making an appearance in what was to become a very tightly fought battle. Reader's would do well to watch for a repeat in the 2011 local council elections this coming May to see how it will pan out in other tightly contested areas. Most notably we will be paying particular attention to Broughton and Appleby which was very closely contested in 2007. Early May saw the cumulation of weeks of campaigning, and the expected election of Nic Dakin as Scunthorpe's MP gaining 39% of the vote. There was a big swing to the Tories (many assumed because of the expenses scandal) which reduced the labour vote from 53% in the previous election. Some of the vote difference also went to Nick Poole who in that particular election decided to represent the Liberals. Cllr Poole would later cross the floor to the Tory side of the local council chamber shortly after the election. Ian Cawsey (Brigg and Goole) sadly became a casualty of the 2010 election and lost his seat to Andrew Pearcy. Mr Pearcy has since gone on to make a name for him self as a bit of a rebel by voting against the government from time to time. For this he has received much criticism for this and has been accused repeatedly of saying one thing and doing another like his other colleagues in the Liberal and Tory parties have. Election night its self saw collaboration between VisitScunthorpe and the local paper as our staff assisted the political editor of the ET in moderating the online discussion forums being run live from the count. Visit Scunthorpe engaged with several local councillors and officials discussing matters such as bloggers privacy, political blogs and campaign tools (such as petitioning the council etc) resulting in a lot of interest in the site and spin off articles appearing in several other blogs. As the new government came into power in Westminster, activity really began to grow on the site in June. At the beginning of the month one of the councillors representing the Brigg ward left the Tory party and became an independent. Nic Dakin asked his first question in the House of Commons petitioning the government to re-examine toll fees on the Humber bridge. Around the region development work was starting to really take off with the arrival of Clugston's crane at the Baths Hall and the erection of the domes at the pods leisure centre. Overshadowing this, the first wave of rumoured cuts totalling �1.2m were announced. Political spin doctors unsuccessfully tried to use the Baths Hall and Pods projects as examples of wasted council tax revenues, before realising that these projects are not actually being funded by the local council tax and would therefore have a minimal impact on council tax budgets if scrapped. June also saw some long awaited development work going into the Visit Scunthorpe web site, with a database of local councillors and several search facilities being added. We also added Google adwords to the site and have to date received a staggering revenue of 80pence, so this is getting scrapped! (This is however a blatant plug any one wanting an advert on the site then, get in touch, the site costs us �250 pcm to run so any contributions are welcome!!) By the end of June Visit Scunthorpe had recieved further upgrades including a photo gallery and our first special feature article, this time about Dragonby Mines. Mid June saw Nick Poole cross the floor to the Tories, which sparked a considerable (but probably to be expected) level of controversy and debate locally. June also saw the announcement of the first ConDem emergency budget, and its impact on the people of Scunthorpe was discussed at length by readers. Other news included erosion at Bottesford beck, the Humber Bridge celebrating its 29th Birthday and the birth of a new facebook group "Scunthorpe Memories" which has a fantastic photo archive of the region. In July football fever gripped the town, and was sadly marred by the vandalism of an "England" display in central park. In other areas of the park however things were looking good; the refurbished play area was on schedule for its summer opening and new cycle paths were being completed through Mannor Park. We also saw the start of discussion on VisitScunthorpe about the formation of a new Pan Humber LEP based around plans submitted by Able UK to develop a new port on the south bank of the Humber. This towards the end of the year became one of the most controversial issues discussed on the site in 2010. July ended on a bad note, with news that Marks & Spencer will be leaving the town having opened their first store here in 1932. August was a very busy month, we had lots of Baths Hall and Pod's photo updates from readers showing very exciting development work being done, but also a lot of criticism from readers as to their perceived "waste of money". This was particularly prevalent on the Evening Telegraph's web site which carried some articles which were particularly unsympathetic towards these improvements to the town. We saw Biomas planning applications being fought off by residents of Scawby Brook and Brigg, the BBC being challenged by readers of VisitScunthorpe on their programming schedule for Iron Matches, and a campaign to preserve one of Scunthorpe's older architectural features the Crosby Hotel. September suddenly became a very busy month for Visit Scunthorpe with us receiving several hundred vists a day. The Crosby campaign continued and was saved from demolition in October. Also in September, a new book launched about Scunthorpe's past and North Lincolnshire was named one of the country's top 10 scenic drives. By this time the site was receiving articles from several readers, most noticeably The Hamst who's knowledge and love of the local area is second to none. Events in Scunthorpe and North Lincolnshire in September included:

• Failed visit by Prince Andrew to Kirton in Lindsey to open the refurbished town hall (it was raining too much for his helicopter apparently!!)
• Work begins on a new NHS super surgery in West street
• The council submit a controversial bid for a joint LEP with Hull and East Yorkshire
• More housing was announced for Ashby, putting to good use a disused car park near the police station.
• Riddings Methodist Church celebrated its 50th anniversary
• Business Link work with local companies to stimulate the economy by holding a "meet the buyer" conference for local businesses.
• Nic Dakin forms his first People's Panel to meet with local residents and discuss their issues in a public forum
• New water safety group formed for North Lincolnshire

October saw the inclusion on the site of a comprehensive article submitted by The Hamst examining Scunthorpe Eyesores and suggesting that improvements be made to the benefit of all residents. As more Governemnt cuts were announced, Scunthorpe saw the emergence of a new group of Activists, a loosely banded collective consisting of trade unionists, councillors and political activists holding protests under the banner of North Lincs Coalition of Resistance. The group held their first demonstration at Britannia Corner in October and have held several organising meeting since. Several articles were submitted by readers reflecting on the impact locally of the cuts with everything from parks to policing being covered. Good news for the region cam in the form of an outstanding accolade for Brigg Tourist Information service which was ranked 9th in the country by Visit England. Other items of interest include Tata / Corus starting exports to Lybia, the opening of a new cafe in Central Park later dubbed "The Moses Basket of the North" by one contributor. There was also controversy over Broughton woods and the suggestion that they should be purchased by the council provoked some interesting correspondence from residents in the area. October concluded with Nic Dakin's people's pannel meeting for the first time, with VisitScunthorpe providing coverage locally. By the time we had got to November, Visit Scunthorpe was becoming very popular amongst all sectors of the community, we received blog mentions and messages of support from local residents, activists, councillors and council staff on a regular basis, among with a steady stream of news, articles and information - some of which was proving to be too hot to handle. All of a sudden the site had gone from being a personal rant to being taken as a serious local media source! November seems to have been the month in which every one other than myself posted, other than covering a speech made by Nic in the house defending EMA. The Pan-Humber LEP agreement ended up on the rocks thanks to East Yorkshire's bitter grapes about North Lincolnshire voting against their marina plans some years ago. More and more articles started appearing on the site opposing government cuts, assessing the impact of this locally and defending local services. These posts did receive some criticism that they lacked localism or could be construed as political propaganda, and these were views which we took on board, but we felt at the end of the day reflected the mood locally so they should stay. December 2010 marks the end of this project's first year, and on reflection it has become apparent that as radical changes to government spending kick in, we are more and more affected locally by these decisions. Plans for the site in the new year will hopefully reflect what we've learned here and will allow readers and publishers to differentiate between Local and National news, and also to introduce a political blogs section. This should give all our readers not just a platform to discuss ideas and organise events locally, but also an opportunity to better understand the cause and effect of national policy locally. I'm not going to go wishing readers a happy new year or prosperity or good luck in 2011. Paint me as a cynic if you wish, but quite frankly I don't think that's going to happen. I'll simply conclude by saying that 2010 has been a tough year, 2011 will be worse, but please, please, don't believe all you read in the press, stop wasting your money on the Sun and the Daily Wail, get out there and find the truth your self. "Be the media"