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Posted by Keith Roker to swanage view
Monday, March 14, 2005
Investment for Swanage
Getting new investment into Swanage Swanage, like most seaside resorts, is living off investment made in the nineteenth century. We make a virtue of it and call it heritage but how long do we expect it to last?What investment has there been in facilities for the public in the last century? We could not even agree on a marina to stop boats being blown onto the beach every time theres an east wind. Does anyone have any ideas for attracting investment? Say something which would directly and indirectly create 100 new jobs here.
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Posted by Keith Roker to swanage view at 3/13/2005 01:45:20 PM
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Posted by Keith Roker to swanage view
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22 comments:
The Pier head is a positive disgrace, But I would rather not change the town too much, for if you think about ? What are you going to make it?
A miniature Blackpool.YUK Or a Southend, even bigger YUK Its charm is that it has been left pretty much as it has been for a long time.
Dancing Ledge
I don’t think we need an idea for a specific investment yet. One should not second-guess the market or those entrepreneurs who are out there. With a little good will and enthusiasm for economic revival the investment will follow. Swanage needs to send out a clear message that we welcome inward investment, and it needs to create an environment in which business can flourish. The perception is that Swanage does not want anything to happen. Look at the way the Zorbing people have suffered. Look at the results of Roger Seaman’s efforts to date. The marina fiasco must have frightened off just about anyone with any get up and go.
Does anyone remember the old PDC policy document “Swanage 2000”? I was heavily influenced by it to settle here when it was adopted in about 1985. It called for investment in the existing infrastructure, and eight specific new investment projects. For interested readers I list them:
Water Sports Centre.
Yacht Haven.
Craft Premises and Interest Shops.
Working Museums.
Indoor Bowls hall.
Leisure Pool.
Exhibition Centre.
Stone and Heritage Festivals.
I’ll give them 2 ½ out of eight…
Mr. Dancing Ledge you have missed the point entirely. Blackpool or Southend are not needed. We need something closer to St Ives/Padstow/Lyme Regis. A vibrant Town full of interesting shops, fine restaurants and bistros, good accommodation, and welcoming locals. This is entirely symbiotic with keeping the character of Swanage. Only by allowing the creation of wealth can the down at heel, shabby and third class nature of the Town be reversed. For example, perhaps the controversial Sea Court would become economic to convert into an hotel or guest house. The portacabins on the Pier could become a watersports centre to rival the one in Torquay. Our Pubs might aspire to emulate the excellent establishments in the likes of Cerne Abbas.
We have the coastal heritage, lets market it! This is a chicken and egg situation, but if we get the ball rolling the Town would become a magnet for interested business folk and visitors alike. The redevelopment of the Pier Head could be the crack of lightning that breathes life back into this lacklustre end of Swanage, and precipitates an economic revival throughout the Town.
A Yacht Haven?
I hope not, for that would become a stagnant slack water sewage area. nothing to do with wanting one ...merely because of the way the tides work.
Before anyone starts trying to get money here, we first have to tackle the road in and out, for it is a disgrace. Who, for heavens sake would invest in a little town that has one road in, and that covered in chippings?
Ok, I suppose, if you had a horse and cart. but for a modern little town for investment? I think not.
Wew have to be very careful when discussing modernisation. Why? Simple! every one that comes here wants to change it to look like where they came from.
Cerne Abbas as an example. What for heavens sake has Cerne Abbas to show us? seriously? The giant?
Dancing Ledge
The only way Swanage is going to become Blackpool in miniature is if we leave it to market forces. They have driven the local economy remorselessly downmarket for going on half a century.
We have a community planning process which is about Swanage people deciding what sort of place they want to live in. Assuming private investment should be exempt from this from this process denies them this choice. It was clear from the reaction when K's amusements wanted to expand into Station Road a few years ago that most people in Swanage think private investment needs to be kept under quite strict control. A community plan should be aimed (among other things) at setting out an acceptable framework within which investment decisions can be made.
When I started this thread I did not distinuish between public and private investment. Its interesting that all the comments so far are about private investment. Is this because we have been so badly treated by the public sector that we don't even consider it? What was the last major public investment here? Swanage Middle School in the 1950s? PDC has a policy of total centralisation in Wareham. Central government does not come near the place. All we have seen is the withdrawal of investment. Its about time some of it came back.
We are forever hearing how all would be put right if the railway line went to Wareham. For a starter then how about a campaign for the line itself to be taken over by Network Rail so that it can be electrified and we can have a proper passenger service running beside the tourist one.
There isn't a hope of anywhere being found to put a corfe Castle bypass without which there isn't much that can be done to cut car journey times out of Swanage so it makes more sense to press for rail improvement.A few years ago the Dorset Area Rapid Transport (DART) proposals were unveiled which offered the possibility of Swanage being on the end of a rail/tram network crossing Poole and Bournemouth. Thats a way if giving 300,000 people access to Swanage without clogging up the roads, without lengthening ferry queues and without needing more car parks. I wonder what became of it.
The only way Swanage is going to become Blackpool in miniature is if we leave it to market forces. They have driven the local economy remorselessly downmarket for going on half a century.
We have a community planning process which is about Swanage people deciding what sort of place they want to live in. Assuming private investment should be exempt from this from this process denies them this choice. It was clear from the reaction when K's Amusements wanted to expand into Station Road a few years ago that most people in Swanage think private investment needs to be kept under quite strict control. A community plan should be aimed (among other things) at setting out an acceptable framework within which investment decisions can be made.
When I started this thread I did not distinuish between public and private investment. Its interesting that all the comments so far are about private investment. Is this because we have been so badly treated by the public sector that we don't even consider it? What was the last major public investment here? Swanage Middle School in the 1950s? PDC has a policy of total centralisation in Wareham. Central government does not come near the place. All we have seen is the withdrawal of investment. Its about time some of it came back.
Here is one suggestion for public sector investment.How about a campaign for the rail line (not the running of trains) to be taken over by Network Rail so that it can be electrified and we can have a proper passenger service running beside the tourist one.
There isn't a hope of anywhere being found to put a corfe Castle bypass without which there isn't much that can be done to cut car journey times out of Swanage so it makes more sense to press for rail improvement.A few years ago the Dorset Area Rapid Transport (DART) proposals were unveiled which offered the possibility of Swanage being on the end of a rail/tram network crossing Poole and Bournemouth. Thats a way of giving 300,000 people access to Swanage without clogging up the roads, without lengthening ferry queues and without needing more car parks. I wonder what became of it.
If we are honest? We would face up to the fact that at times the traffic on our piddling little roads was so choked, that it really needed the police to seal the place off, We all know that our roads are absolutely not up to our own traffic. let alone a few more thousand. Investment is fine, and if they come? where do they park, no one wants to use Victoria Car park. thats if any one could get here?
Dancing Ledge
I believe that if we (the residents of Swanage) are serious about having a vibrant Town full of interesting shops, fine restaurants and bistros. The best way to achieve this is to break the town's dependency on Tourism and incentivise entrepreneurs to invest in the town in micro- busineses.
I define micro-businesses as those businesses employing 8-10 people and requiring between 500 to 1000 Sq Ft of commercial space.
These businesses should look to export their products to larger conerbations in the South East of England (and sell locally) thus providing employment for those wishing to live AND work locally and they will draw wealth into the area.
By bringing wealth into the area, there will then be the spending power to support interesting shops, fine restaurants and bistros.
There are a few barriers to this, however I see the main barrier as being the lack of suitable commercial space and suitable land to develop such commercial space.
Has anyone got any ideas?
Please don't say the existing industrial site or the land earmarked as employment as there are good reasons why these are not suitable.
Without this, micro-businesses will unfortunately be forced to look alsewhere and this will hamper the regeneration of Swanage.
Please note I have not cited transport as an issue - it's just an inconvenience that has to be planned. There are numerous businesses in Purbeck with national distribution.
I agree with Anonymous totally. The only thing is that without the tourists we would not have sufficient population to warrant the shops we already have. By resident population alone Swanage is only a largish village (which is why we only have a Parish council. This also agrees with Keith's original point which is that Swanage only developed because George Burt put up the money to turn it from a fishing village into a resort. That original investment has now run its course (as has the need for resorts of that sort) and we need substantial new resources (and new ideas) to keep us from becoming merely a dormitory. Doing nothing is no longer an option or decline will be terminal.
Decline? hardly. My family have been here for the last 500 years, that we can trace, probably a lot longer. It has not declined yet.
Swanage, lets face it, is a little Victorian seaside town, it is probably that atmosphere that makes it attractive?
What would we do with it to change it? therein lies the problem.
I have a sneaky feeling that it is the faded Victorian aura that surrounds the town, that is part of its attraction.
Besides where do go to build, or to expand? South is out of the question, too many underground workings, some of them archaic.
So I would be interested in how we should change Swanage?
Dancing Ledge
Good debate ...I hope some of you will go to one or more of the Community Plan meetings, where you can debate exactly these sort of issues. Next meeting today, Tuesday 15th, 6.15 for 6.30 at Purbeck House Hotel. Then on Saturday 2.15 Mowlem Committee Room...
I think any successful Town attracts tourists. Not just seaside towns. To suggest any one industry (i.e. tourism) should be outlawed is a luxury we cannot afford. If we were to make Swanage the sort of place micro-business wished to relocate to, then that would go hand in hand with raising the profile of our tourist visitors. Don’t under-estimate the power of the Internet. Many (and Swanage) businesses trade entirely over the net, so they can locate where they wish. I thought this was one of the strongest features of the failed Pier Head scheme- to allow professionals/artisans to relocate and live above their business premises enjoying contemporary surroundings in an idyllic location.
Anon. defines a microbusiness as having 8-10 employees. Thats macro by Swanage standards. Most businesses here could get the entire workforce into a cab and still have room for hitch-hikers.
By the way, a decent size lump of employment land is about to be lost when they build houses on Queensbury Contractors yard in Kings Road East. Commercial Road will be redeveloped as flats before long as well. Anybody got any thoughts about that?
What incentive is there to build (work)shops etc along with housing?
It seems to me that the planning officers and the regional development offices at Westport house could do with being introduced to one another.
Regional Development at Westport House? No. The Regional Development Agency is another body entirely and is part of regional government.
Purbeck being a small (AKA mickey mouse) authority has planning and building control rolled into one department. The catch is there is precious little planning done in the planning department. Its really just a filter to ensure that new buildings fit the various criteria about use, appearance, size, prejudices etc.
As you can get about 2 million pounds worth of flats onto 1/10th of a hectare compared with about a tenth of that value of workspace it not surprising which type of building developers would rather go for. Hard to get out of that one.
Flats? More Flats?
Big brown square boxes. does anyone really want to live in them?
The bane of our town YUK!
Dancing Ledge
I don't know why Dancing Ledge asks whether anybody wants to live in flats. The sold signs go on before the roof even at £600,00+. Perhaps he should take a walk round the town sometime. The loss of Victorian and Edwardian houses in the Rempstone Road area is deplorable but its a free country I suppose.
sorry, I missed a 0. That should be £600,000. Long gone are the days of £60,000 flats
Flats? Well the square brown boxes could hardly be described as attractive, Not so bad if it were possible to swing a cat round in the kitchen of one.
Come on, be honest, they look awful. They certainly do not add anything to the appearance of the town, big boxes! big boxes! all made of ticky tacky.
Dancing Ledge
I just have to say I think the two new blocks of flats on Rempstone Road are a great improvement on what they replaced. They are bright, interesting and imaginative, especially from the seaward elevations. There is a airy seaside appeal to them.
If I had to criticise it would be that they are too symmetrical, and that there was no need to add the plastic black beam pastiche in the gables of the first one. Give 'em a chance, they may grow on you!
I agree. On Rempstone Road it is the Catholic Hall, Westbury(the extension), and especially DeMowlem Court which look dreary and parochial.
Beauty, and I suppose truth, lie in the eye of the beholder. Whenever passions are aroused by a threat/offer to demolish an old building I am reminded of the artist Paul Nash's acerbic desription of Swanage in the 30s. The inhabitants, he wrote, instinctively look over at the cliffs when they stand talking on the seafront, in order not to see the "Purbeckian/weslyian/gothic" horrors of the town. Now everybody want to preserve these horrors!
Perhaps we could have a new thread on Swanageview for nominations for the ugliest building in town. We are spoilt for choice. Taking into account its surroundings I suggest the Post Office.
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