2009 December | Real West Dorset

Archive for December, 2009

08/12/2009 No comments

Mummers’ Christmas Specials in Bridport

Note: After a long fight worthy of St George himself, excerpts of Symondsbury Mummers performing their play have now been uploaded to YouTube. You can click on this link if you fancy a burst of seasonal entertainment.

THIS CHRISTMAS-TIME, I was sure there would be more chances to see the Symondsbury Mummers than the show in Broadwindsor detailed below – and I was right.

Margaret Milree, the assistant curator at Bridport Museum, got in touch about three minutes ago to say they will be performing at 6.50pm in Bridport’s Bucky Doo Square tomorrow evening (December 9) as part of the town’s Late Night Christmas shopping event.

And before that she also wrote to tell me (thank you Margaret!):

“Just read your article on the Symondsbury Mummers – they are also performing next Wednesday at the Town Hall.

“Details as follows:- On Wednesday 16 December the Symondsbury Mummers will be performing a Christmas Special at the Town Hall starting at 7.30pm.

“Entrance is £5.00 to Museum Friends and Volunteers and £6.00 to guests and includes mince pies and a glass of wine or a soft drink.

“The event is organised by the Friends of Bridport Museum to give support to the local museum.”

Ms Milree notes that another group are performing a similar historical play in Bucky Doo Square in Bridport after the Nativity on Saturday, December 19 at 12.30. They are the Babylon Morris Dancers/Mummers…

07/12/2009 1 Comment

Come to drink a pot of your Christmas beer: Time to look out for Symondsbury Mummers!

Jonathan Hudston

Dave Warren as the Doctor in Symondsbury Mummers play: "I can cure love-sick maidens, jealous husbands, squalling wives, brandy-drinking dames..." Photograph by James Dawson.

PEOPLE who have never seen the Symondsbury Mummers are nearly always (in my experience) a bit wary about going along.

They fear it’s going to be precious or twee or horribly amateur – in short, embarrassing in some way – but afterwards people always say: “Actually, it was really good”. Because it is. It is a proper theatrical experience and very entertaining.

Mummers used to consist – according to the Dorset poet William Barnes, writing in 1863 – of “a set of youths who go about at Christmas, decked with painted paper and tinsel, and act in the houses of those who like to receive them a little drama, mostly, though not always, representing a fight between St George and a Mohammedan leader, and commemorative, therefore, of the Holy Wars. One of the characters, with a hump-back and bawble, represents ‘Old Father Christmas’”. As in, [stage direction] Enter Old Father Christmas:

Here comes I, Father Christmas, welcome or welcome not.

I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot…

I have been far, I have been near,

And now I am come to drink a pot of your Christmas beer;

And if it’s a pot of your best,

I hope in heaven your soul will rest…

No one knows for sure how old Mummers’ plays are, but both Barnes and Thomas Hardy thought them medieval, because of the element redolent of the Crusades.

Symondsbury’s play is the fullest surviving version in the country. It was regularly performed up until World War One, then eventually revived after World War Two. It has 11 characters – Father Christmas, Room, Anthony King of Egypt, St. George, St. Patrick, a Doctor, four warriors and Dame Dorothy. One of the strongest mummers takes the part of Tommy the Pony.

These days Symondsbury Mummers can perhaps no longer be described as “a set of youths” but that just means their performances are more characterful. And they do work really well as an ensemble.

They normally do several performances around this time of year but the only one I know of at the moment is at the Comrades Hall in Broadwindsor at 7.30pm on Saturday, 19 December. The evening will also feature traditional music and carols from Tinker’s Cuss.

The Merrie Olde Christmas event has been organised by Broadwindsor Jubilee Group to raise money for the annual village fun day, which next year takes place on June 12 and has Merrie Olde England as its theme. Proceeds from that event will be split between village causes.

Tickets for the evening cost £3, which includes a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie. To book, call 01308 868532 or 867939.

05/12/2009 1 Comment

West Dorset’s broken signs: Part 1

Jonathan Hudston

NEXT WEEK, I was planning to start a series on the broken signs of West Dorset, for all sorts of reasons to be revealed, but then going out just a short while ago I saw this -

at Gore Cross, on the A3066 on the northernmost edge of Bridport, and I thought, woo, I’m going to have to start now.

It’s difficult to tell quite what’s happened here. At first it looks like something enormous - like a lorry – must have toppled over on to these sprigs of knowledge and flattened them in a road accident, but there aren’t obvious signs of debris around or any deep wheelmarks in the grass – as you’d expect when the ground is so soggy.

I can’t quite believe that any one person could be strong enough, and determined enough, to cause all this wreckage. And it would still be a tough job for more than one person.

What is noticeable is that the grass around Gore Cross, and along the verges down towards Colfox School, has very recently been cut – and other smaller signs have also been damaged. Could this be a clue?

If you know what happened, please get in touch via the Real West Dorset Contact page.

December 6: The Red Bladder writes to say “It was the aliens wot dun it and we will soon be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing”. Click here to read more of his good-humoured thoughts on predatory bug-eyed monsters. I have to say, this is a possibility I hadn’t considered.

Although now I come to think of it, I have recently had two conversations at Washingpool Farm Shop about the 1970s musical version of HG Wells’ The War of The Worlds. Two of the staff were desperate to know who the singer was, and no one, first time round, could remember – not staff, not customers, not delivery men – although we could all remember the tune and sing it.

“The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one / But still they come!”

Second time round the verdict on the musical was that it was something to do with Jeff Wayne and Manfred Mann. [See the Red Bladder's comment on this article for the truth!]

As for Gore Cross, I’m not persuaded it was aliens – but it’s funny how ideas float through the air…

04/12/2009 No comments

Future of Dorset’s only indoor skatepark hangs in balance

Jonathan Hudston

A UNIQUE sporting venue for young people is in danger of being shut down and smashed to bits.

The Trick Factory in Bridport is popular with skateboarders and BMX bike riders from across Dorset, among them contenders for Britain’s BMX team in the 2012 Olympics.

The indoor park is threatened because it stands in the way of controversial plans for the redevelopment of Bridport’s South West Quadrant, which includes the St Michael’s Trading Estate.

Landowners Haywards are appealing against West Dorset District Council’s refusal earlier this year to grant permission for the transformation of the historic SW Quadrant. The Trick Factory is housed inside a relic of Bridport’s net and cordage industry called the Stover Building, which Haywards want to demolish and replace with housing.

Fire officer called in

Haywards’ architect Ken Morgan, as part of preparations for the appeal inquiry, twice in November inspected the Stover Building. Acting chiefly on concerns about a fire escape he saw blocked externally with some loose timber, he called in Dorset Fire and Rescue Service to assess whether it was safe for the Trick Factory to continue.

The Trick Factory has been built up over the last ten years by expert BMX rider Robert Ridge.

Watch Rob Ridge on YouTube talking about the future of The Trick Factory and the South West Quadrant by clicking on this link.

In an email to Mr Ridge, Mr Morgan stated: “I cannot comment for the landlords but my ‘newly realised concerns’ stem from the fact that I must prepare for the appeal inquiry scheduled for January, part of which directly relates to the refusal of Conservation Area Consent for demolition of the Stover Building. During inspections of the building I recognized the potential fire risk and danger to life and cannot, professionally or personally, ignore that.”

Fire officer visits

Mr Ridge has responded to Haywards’ moves, and fire service recommendations, by taking time off work to make improvements.

He said that when the fire officer arrived: “We duly gave him a little tour, and he was fortunate enough to see a busy, boisterous, functioning evening going on here, a lot of people having a lot of fun. He even took the time to speak to a few people, as well as assessing the situation for his obvious concerns, and he said that whilst there were things that needed doing, the measures that we had here, and the way we were running the facility, from what I could interpret, he was satisfied that he could leave, with certain things in place, he could leave the place, and we’re waiting to hear back to find out recommendations to bring us up to a fully satisfactory level. So whilst not everything is perfect here, we’re still running and we hope to keep running and hope to carry out the necessary remedial work.”

On the same night the fire officer came back, an hour or so later. “And in that time we’d already got hands on deck, as it were, to start tidying the place up, making our fire extinguishers more visible, and start on the list of things that he’d recommended, so, on that revisit, I’d like to think we scored a few points there, and I’m hoping that we can satisfy their obligations. We’re certainly hoping to make every effort to keep ourselves running here, to keep all parties happy.”

Mr Ridge has also begun amassing his own team of supporters and advisers, including the high-profile human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, best known in Britain and America for his work with captives at Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Ridge got to know through Mr Stafford-Smith through a plumbing job he once did for him.

Possible weakness in Haywards’ case

The issue has become more intense because of the way the Stover Building’s future has been dealt with in planning applications so far. This has been identified by one objector as a potentially severe weakness in Haywards’ case.

Catherine Searle, of the Bridport Environment Group, has told the Planning Inspectorate that she wishes to speak at the appeal in January about the Stover Building and the Trick Factory. Ms Searle is a battle-hardened veteran of Bridport’s last major planning dispute, the bitter struggle between West Dorset District Council (WDDC) and a range of protestors over the future of Downe Hall back in the 1990s. Haywards’ applications for the redevelopment of the SW Quadrant were initially made with WDDC.

Ms Searle believes that the Stover Building proposals – because they affect a Conservation Area – should be “assessed against the same broad criteria as proposals to demolish a Listed Building, ie that ‘all reasonable efforts have been made to sustain existing uses or find viable new uses, and these efforts have failed’” [she is quoting planning guidance].

Ms Searle says that neither Haywards, nor district council committee reports, have referred to the existing use of the Stover Building as the Trick Factory, nor have they indicated any attempt to find any other viable new uses for it. This despite the fact that the Trick Factory has been going for ten years and attracts boys from across Dorset and East Devon, and sometimes places further beyond, such as Southampton. The Trick Factory is the only indoor skatepark in Dorset, and the nearest alternative to it is in Bristol. There is also an indoor park in Newquay.

Call for support to avert “great loss”

Mr Ridge says that having to shut down the Trick Factory would be “a great shame” and “a great loss”, not just for himself but for many others, including the young people of Bridport.

He asked for people’s support: “Support is great, and I would say to anybody out there, if anybody knows, or anybody feels they can help in any way, they are more than welcome to come down or contact us.

“Any grant assistance is also useful as well. We’ve now got people looking at applying for grants as well, because we only run the place on a shoestring budget, on a very modest budget, and as with so many things the key to a lot of it is money and resources, so that would certainly help us in a lot of ways.”

For more details about the Trick Factory, and more pics and videos, click on this link here

02/12/2009 1 Comment

South West Quadrant: Appeal is to be heard at West Bay

Jonathan Hudston

BELOW is the official proclamation about the time and place of Haywards’ appeal against West Dorset District Council’s refusal of permission for the re-development of the South West Quadrant in Bridport. The appeal will be at the West Bay Holiday Park (the Park Dean caravan site) and it will run from January 26 – 28, 2010.

Haywards originally applied in conjunction with West Dorset District Council, and most people thought for a while that, because of this, no appeal could take place against district councillors’ refusal to give permision – because how could the council appeal aganst a decision made by its own councillors? But Haywards argued, among other things, that it would be a breach of their human rights if they were to be forever tied to the district council, and thereby deprived of some of the powers that land-owners are normally entitled to exercise over their own land – such as the power to seek to develop it. Hence, this appeal is being made by Haywards alone.

Now, all of this raises one very interesting question that I don’t currently know the answer to: if Haywards win this appeal, who will pay the costs of it? I don’t know much about the costs of appeals, but I’d be surprised if this one ends up costing less than £10,000. It could be much more.

Planning inspectors have some powers to decide who should pay costs, depending (for example) on whether appellants ask for an order to pay costs to be made against a planning authority. I wonder, in this case, if Haywards do win, and if West Dorset District Council is asked to pay costs, how the council would feel about having to stump up for an application which it was originally part of?

Would it be regarded as a financial embarrassment - or a price worth paying for getting the go-ahead for re-development?

And what would council tax-payers think?

APPEALS UNDER SECTION 78 OF THE TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990

Notice is hereby given that the appeal, as listed below, has been lodged with the Planning Inspectorate against the West Dorset District Council’s refusal of the following application.

The following appeals will proceed by way of an Inquiry:

Appellant: Hayward & Co

Development:

1. Develop land by the erection of 175 dwellings, 1,814 square metres of new commercial floor space (including use classes A1 (Shops), A3 (Restaurants and cafes), B1 (Business), a taxi office and a new bus station with associated office). Refurbish all remaining buildings and create new vehicular and pedestrian accesses. All correspondence should quote the reference APP/F1230/A/09/2113294/NWF and WDDC ref. 1/D/2008/000574.

2. Demolish Cafe Royal and attached retail units, public toilets, garages behind public toilets, bus stop, Unit 94 St Michaels Trading Estate, Burwood Annex, Units 33-38 and 52-54 St Michaels Trading Estate, Stover Building, cattle market sheds (units 2A & 137A) and part Bridport Industries (North).All correspondence should quote the reference APP/F1230/A/09/2113294/NWF and WDDC ref. 1/D/2008/000576

Location: SOUTH WEST QUADRANT/ST MICHAELS TRADING ESTATE, ST MICHAELS TRADING ESTATE, BRIDPORT, DT6 3RE

The Inquiry will be held on the 26th – 28th January 2010 starting at 10.00am, at West Bay Holiday Park (Park Dean), Forty Foot Way, West Bay, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 4HB.

Copies of the appellant’s grounds of appeal and the Council’s reasons for refusal can be inspected at the Council’s Offices at the address below or at Mountfield, Rax Lane, Bridport.

Should you require a copy of the “Guide to taking part in planning appeals”, please telephone this office and one will be sent to you free of charge.

The Planning Inspectorate will only circulate the decisions to those who request a copy.

01/12/2009 1 Comment

South West Quadrant: regeneration “worth £5 million a year to Bridport if completed” – or half that?

Jonathan Hudston

Note: This article is being republished because a mysterious technical problem was preventing it from being read in its original position on this site and I know from emails I’ve received that people want to be able to read it. It has been very slightly revised for clarity in a couple of places.

The time and the place of the appeal hearing into the South West Quadrant has not yet been officially confirmed by the Planning Inspectorate but it looks likely it is going to be held in the hall at the caravan park in West Bay on January 26 – 28, 2010.

Disclosure: Since this piece was first published, I have started to work part-time as Secretary to the Board of Local Food Links Limited, which supplies meals to local primary schools from its base at the Centre for Local Food on St Michael’s Trading Estate, on the South West Quadrant. However, I have not discussed the future of the South West Quadrant with anybody at Local Food Links, nor have I heard it spoken about it by anybody else. It is also worth noting that my job as Secretary is not to contribute towards the formation of any policy that Local Food Links might develop about this issue; that is the directors’ job.

MORE than 200 jobs will result from the regeneration of the South West Quadrant in Bridport.

That’s the controversial conclusion reached by consultants working for Haywards and West Dorset District Council, who both own land in and around the St Michael’s Trading Estate – and who both want to see it redeveloped. Objectors argue that any benefits could be significantly less than those claimed by Haywards and WDDC.

Plans for new business opportunities and for 175 new homes (114 open-market, 61 “affordable”) have twice been rejected by councillors unhappy about what might happen to the people and buildings of a historic part of Bridport.

An appeal against the plans’ refusal will be heard by a planning inspector next year (in a three-day hearing currently due to start on January 26). Objectors are seeking funds to hire a lawyer; supporters are arguing for the scheme’s benefits and defending their motives in pressing ahead with it.

What could the benefits be?

Consultants at Goadsby Town Planning estimate “that the net number of direct and indirect jobs derived from the development will be 206.

“By applying the average wage in the District of £24,000 to the total number of direct and indirect jobs, it can be estimated that £5 million will be generated per annum in income upon completion of the development.

“Much of this will be spent within the local economy, along with the spending generated through those 175 households occupying the dwellings on the development.”

Consultants reckon that 175 households could mean 383 residents (2.19 per household). They add: “Taking the average district income of just over £24,000, the combined income (assuming one average wage per household) of those living on the development could be £4.2 million. After mortgage, rent, tax and other essential outgoings, a significant amount of additional spend will occur in the town.”

Goadsby’s report also estimates that between 70 and 95 construction workers will be employed for five years on the Quadrant redevelopment in Bridport.

Objections

One of the reasons protestors want to hire an expert is to probe calculations like those put forward by Goadsby. The consultants’ sums are based on approved methods for working out impacts on matters like jobs (for example, they use English Partnerships’ Standard Approach to Assessing the Additional Impact of Projects Method Statement, Second Edition, 2004) but objectors say that guidelines can obscure practical matters of fact.

Figures given to Goadbsy by architects Morgan Carey suggest there are 112 people working on the South West Quadrant. If you include them in the suggested total of 206 jobs, isn’t the actual total of new jobs 206 minus 112, that is 94? And 94 times the average wage of £24,000 is £2,256,000, not £5 million.

More questions. Would those 112 people actually be able to carry on working on the St Michael’s Trading Estate? If not, would they be able to go elsewhere? If there isn’t anywhere else, what then?

Kit Glaisyer, one of the 25 artists currently based in St Michael’s Studios, says: “If this goes ahead I will be thrown out of my studio.”

He doesn’t know where else he could go. St Michael’s Studios could be partly converted into 11 live-work units, but Mr Glaisyer says they’d just be “nice apartments, really”. Studio space would be reduced to a quarter of what it is now. “You can’t squeeze 25 artists into a quarter of the space there was. It’s a nonsense.”

Mr Glaisyer argues that the SW Quadrant is already an entrepreneurial area, offering small businesses “affordable incubation units”. Introduce 175 new households, and that spirit will go.

“As soon as you bring residential units onto an industrial estate, you’ve lost it for ever.”

Will West Dorset District Council make money from developing its South West Quadrant land?

In the past, the district council has made money from developing land for sale. Gore Cross Business Park, on the northern edge of Bridport, was established in the mid-1990s in partnership with Dorset County Council and the Rural Development Commission (since absorbed into the South West Regional Development Agency). The council’s main aims were to provide space for local businesses to expand and to generate returns to keep council tax levels down.

The last unoccupied plot at Gore Cross was sold last year to Top Gear for a new £250,000 headquarters. Top Gear is moving from the South West Quadrant. The company’s boss was concerned about what might happen there in the future.

The district council insists it will not make any money from the redevelopment of the South West Quadrant. David Evans, director of planning and community services, says: “There has been a huge amount of consultation on the principle of developing this site.

“The vast majority of people who took part in the consultation thought this was a good idea.

“West Dorset District Council will not gain financially from this development if it goes ahead. In fact it will require substantial public subsidy to bring this development forward.

“This part of Bridport has immense significance in terms of heritage and history as a centre for rope and net making. Some of the buildings are decaying and need sensitive repair.

“This scheme would achieve this, safeguard local employment and deliver about 60 affordable homes.

“Affordable housing is always mentioned by local people whenever we ask them what their top priorities are.

“However, the decision will now be made by an independent planning inspector.”

The level of public subsidy required is estimated to be at least £2 million.