Swanage beach - sand from where, at what cost?

Where will the sand to replenish Swanage beach come from, and at what expense? It seems that there are plans to dredge Poole Harbour and dump 1,150,000 cubic metres of sand. I wonder if there are plans for Swanage to benefit. It would seem so easy for sand to be dumped in the tidal stream so that it ended up on Swanage beach. I have written to the contact provided to enquire further.....

This was published in the Echo on Monday 22 November 2004:

"Dredging is not likely to spur erosion"

AN environmental assessment has shown that dredging the main channel through Poole Harbour would have small effects on wave flow and erosion.

Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) are seeking permission from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deepen the approach channels from 6 metres to 7.5 metres.

They wish also to widen the Middle Ship Channel to 100 metres.

This would mean sucking up 1,900,000 cubic metres of material ranging from gravel to silts and clays.

Beaches at Poole, Bournemouth and Purbeck would benefit by receiving 1,150,000 cubic metres of sand replenishment.

And the rest would be dumped at an existing dumping ground off Swanage.

Work would take seven months and they hope to start in October 2005.

After the deepening there would be an increase in wave energy through the harbour entrance and a 1-2cm increase in wave height south-east of Brownsea Island.

There would be an increase in sediment in some of the channels, a small increase in tidal erosion in the harbour and a small loss in saltmarsh. More sediment deposits during dredging is not thought to have a lasting effect on shellfish beds.

Copies of the full assessment are available from PHC and a non-technical summary is available.

Comments need to be made by January 14 to Peter Gill, Marine Consents and Environment Unit, Room 309, East-bury House, 30-34 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TL.

First published: November 22

PDC vision??

The Audit Commission's performance review of Purbeck District Council says they have a mission statement but absolutely no plans for how they will achieve it or priorities for the order of doing things. That was 6 months ago. This total lack of vision came over very strongly all the time Swanage Ahead was active. It is ironic that the town partnership has been told to do yet another visioning exercise when our politicians have none. Where is PDC's vision for the future and if they do not have one why don't they have one?
 
(posted by Anonymous 16 Dec 04)

Antisocial behaviour - corporate ASBOs?

Time for corporate Antisocial Behaviour Orders?

Oscar Wilde made the remark "youth is too good to be wasted on the young." I wonder if the same applies to ASBOs whose application round here seems to be restricted to rude and licentious youth. A couple of cases elsewhere make me wonder whether a wider range of antisocial activities could be dealt with in this way.

A farmer was in the news this week when he was hauled off by the police after his pigs escaped for what looked like the zillionth time in breach of an ASBO (on the farmer, not the pigs, in case you wondered). In another case a few months ago Camden obtained ASBOs against two large music companies for covering parts of the borough with flyposters advertising records on the grounds that the posters made the place look run down and depressed. The pig farmer's case looks a bit medieval and will surely cost him a groat or three, if not a ducking in his own pig slurry.

What is antisocial in Swanage and district? I am not getting into the perennial dog mess question but there are a few other matters. Every summer parts of the town are covered in discarded takeaway food wrappings. There is no doubt that this gives a highly adverse appearance to much of the seafront and as far as the pier. Takeaway food businesses should be held responsible for the litter their customers create. They have chosen to run their businesses in a way which results in a deterioration in the appearance of the area close to their premises. No doubt they would all claim that what happens to packaging after it leaves the premises is nothing to do with them is nothing to do with them. This is not acceptable. The line "am I my brothers keeper?" received its rebuttal quite some time ago.

All of us who do business in the town are responsible for running our businesses in a way which does not damage the place. Refusing to accept this is antisocial behaviour and should be so treated.

The matter of campervans parking on the ferry road is causing concern. I am all in favour of anyone being able to get a cheap holiday but there is a substantial fire risk from having so many so close together. Imagine the consequences if there was a heath fire there and a few camping gas cylinders exploded. Its our firefighters and other emergency workers who would be over there first and at risk and it doesn't seem right to expose them to this un-needed hazard.

The ferry company own the verge and if they permit the situation to continue its hard to see how they could escape liability if there was a disaster. Cynics may claim that they are tolerating a mess in the hope that they will be permitted to put their parking meters back into use on the ferry road. If so that sounds like antisocial behaviour to me.

That might lead us into a discussion of highly visible old buildings being allowed to deteriorate in the hope that this will pressurise the planning authority into permitting redevelopment. Theres a thought.

(Posted by K Roker 16 December 2004)

Vista swimming pool to close in winter?

Anonymous posted this on 10 December

There's a rumour that the Council wants to close the Vista pool in the winter. Does anyone know more about this?
 

Cheap flights from Bournemouth!

You (perhaps) saw it here first. Bournemouth airport's new airline, Thomsonfly, has today (8 December) started taking bookings for flights to Europe. Starting 22 March 2005, destinations include Amsterdam (£17.99), Paris (£19.99), Palma, Pisa, Valencia, Faro, Malaga.

More info at www.thomsonfly.com

Of course, perhaps we should all boycott such flights and demand that airlines pay and charge full whack to cover environmental damage they cause. Ho hum.

Wonder what Bath Travel will make of the competition?

About this site..

Posted by Ian Lowson 7/12/04 under New Subjects

Home Thoughts from Abroad

Heartfelt congratulations from an instant admirer and would-be contributor to your new website! This is exactly what Swanage has long needed - a breath of salt sea air to disperse the mists and obfuscations and stultifications that have long plagued our town.
Tremble you tyrants! Here is democracy indeed, relegating at once the special interests, the dourly entrenched, the overweening authorities and the bureaucratic blimp to outraged silence. How the irresponsible and corrupt will be trembling in their shoes as your great dynamo of information and enquiry boots up. Only keep it judicious and mildly humorous. Don't let it get into spite and recrimination. Just keep it controversial and positive.
 

Swanage's future (Community Plan)

Do you have any views on the future of Swanage? As well as airing them through this blog you should get in touch with the Swanage Town Partnership. Meeting under the chairmanship of the mayor this brings together organisations and individuals to work towards a plan for the future of the town. You can find out more at the Townhall

Posted under New Subjects by Keith Roker 2 Dec 04

Swanage Town Council website

Good news, the Town Council's website seems to have speeded up.

Bad news, it seems to take forever for information to be posted (eg most recent 'Best Value' minutes dated 16 April; most recent Council meeting minutes dated 27 September).

Does anyone use the site? Does anyone want to be able to see RECENT information?

I guess if no one's interested, there's little point the town spending money on havig the site at all.......

MIll Pond building plans

What's the story about development plans for the site overlooking the millpond?

Grammar school site planning application

Planning application was not granted for the development on the grammar school site. The full details can be see on the PDC website, so removed from here to free space.

http://www.purbeck.gov.uk/docGallery/2310.pdf

H:\Agenda\PLANNING BOARD\Recs\2004\RECS NOV04.doc 8
6/2004/0945 The Welfare Dwellings Trust Change of use and erection of 13
new buildings to form self-catering holiday accommodation,including 103 flats, sports hall and health club, landscaping and car parking; The Purbeck Centre,Northbrook Road, Swanage

Timber groynes for Swanage beach

TIMBER groynes and not rock groynes will be used to save Swanage beach.

Purbeck district councillors have backed plans to build 19 timber groynes and agreed to spend just under £100,000 on getting a detailed design drawn up.

Councillors voted in favour of spending that money up front to get work on the scheme under way in the hope that DEFRA will agree to fund one hundred per cent of the total costs.

The estimated cost of saving the beach varies from just over £2 million to more than £3 million depending on whether sand used to recharge the beach is dredged from Poole Harbour or from further afield.

Cllr Nick Cake said: "If DEFRA come up with 100 per cent funding there will be no problem but if they don't there will be a problem."

Council chief executive Paul Croft told councillors that landing 100 per cent funding from DEFRA was not unprecedented - pointing to West Dorset District Council's success in securing funds for coastal protection works at West Bay.

Cllr Tony Miller, mayor of Swanage, said: "The majority of the people in Swanage did not want to see rock groynes but there was overwhelming opinion that to do nothing is not an option.

"There is no point whatsoever in delaying this, we will only have higher costs in the future."

Purbeck council will seek support from MP Jim Knight in its request for 100 per cent DEFRA funding.

Scheme planners hope to start work in October 2005. Five groynes will be built on beach owned by Swanage Town Council and the rest on privately owned beach.

First published: November 12

NEW SUBJECTS (archived dec 04)?

If you want to raise a new topic, post your comment in this section — just click on Post a comment (see bottom left of this panel), and I shall set up a new heading, allowing others to see and add their own comments.

Mad ...Bad ....Sad ... Glad ... photos

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Contacts

You may find some of these addresses useful:


Purbeck Gazette: ed@purbeckgazette.co.uk

Swanage Advertiser: swanageeditorial@bournemouthecho.co.uk

Swanage Town Hall: (Town Clerk) a.leeson@swanage.gov.uk

Sad

SAD
Originally uploaded by m.hadley.