Author: Mark Compton-Hall
Ventnor Town Council Meeting: Report
Tuesday, 26th June, 2007 at 11:19 am, Isle of Wight
Town Council Planning Meeting Monday 25th June
All Town Councillors were in attendance for the planning meeting with the exception of Meg Mortimer and Susan Scoccia [update: see comments]
The general planning applications reviewed were nothing really compelling to report on.
Except for one, the proposal for a block of ten flats and a three bedroom house in St Catherine Street. (Planning ref: P/00020/07 TCP/28187 - On the Planning Committee agenda to be discussed tonight - suggested decision - Conditional Permission)
It was interesting that the reported view of the new head of Planning (Bill Murphy) was that if that if the application had been allowed to go through with consequent impact on street traffic, then it would be inconsistent with an application just turned down in Newport for the same reason. [update: see comments]
I think what I was hearing was evidence of the new man at the head of planning applying consistency on the Island.
SuperLoos:
First of all this is an IOW Council project, and the IOW Council team were present to consult with the Town Council and give what they called a pre planning application briefing of their current ideas. It is important to stress (their words) that this is not a finished plan but a conceptual view of their thinking.
It looks like construction is due to begin in about November time and Ventnor is one of 4 major projects across the Island to either refurbish or reconstruct loos. I think this is for the major loo plans not just minor repairs etc. The overall budget appears to £800K, and the four major sites are: Yaverland, Brading, Wooton and Ventnor.
The IOW Council are keen to start work in line with the Cheetah construction timetable which is at the same time (ish).
There will be I believe some degree of public consultation during the planning application process (it was not made very clear, it may just mean the plans will be live on the planning web site?).
The team are well aware that the loos are in a conservation zone.
The team showed two plan outlines from an architectural view. The loos looked functional clean and sleek. The current thinking is a different shape consisting of incorporating into the sloping roofs in line with the cliff side (as at present) but the loo area turned 90 degrees from the current position so the design is poking out (so to speak). Naturally everything is DDA compliant, with designs for basic showers, baby changing facilities etc.
In discussion it was agreed that if possible, multi function driers cum washing units would be avoided.
Ventnor Town Council are keen on an attendant, paid for out of minimal entry fees (quite how this would work with children, was not clear).
The concept of different coloured glass window blocks was raised and discussed. Brenda Lawson thought this could be a Ventnor Project involving the community as well as in other parts of the loos (aka the pumping station mosaic and Spring Gardens mosaic, through Helen Goodman)
This was brought up in the context that the IOW Council are devolving public service functions to the Towns and Parishes and this would logically be one of them (note back to Brenda Lawson’s concerns at the TC meeting re problems with devolved powers and lack of resources (human/financial)) to manage effectively.
The IOW Council team said that they had gathered as much opinion as possible from the public. They said there was support for paying for loo use where the facility was clean and well maintained and to a high build quality.
Maria Wilkinson was present from the Arts Unit. Maria raised funding from the Arts Council to commission an artist (Rob Turner) to work alongside and with the architect Andrew Talbot from Biggs Talbot to visualise the thinking behind the loos in Ventnor.
The plans are at a very early stage, but what stood out from the discussion, was the deliberate strategy of IOW Council to integrate an artist with an architect. Councillors felt this was very progressive thinking.
The result of this integration was an early visualisation of a complete flow on of the cascade into a public convenience so everything appeared as one. In fact, if it turned out the way pictured, from the sea, it would be hard to work out what the building was, apart from an extension of the cascade. In other words, cover the loo in plants coming out of the cascade.
They both said the approach of “planting” buildings had been done before (Paris etc).
Also what was nice was the proposal to see if it was possible to flush the loos with cascade water, and use the cascade flow to drive an impeller and generator to make the electricity needed for the loos, therefore making it all sustainable. (Excellent news, Ed)
This could of course be interesting for one of the Ventnor Enhancement Fund projects which is a funicular railway (link added in case people want to see what it is, Ed), powered by water from an impeller in the cascade to run from Salisbury Gardens to the Eastern Esplanade (Victorian in design of course).
Mark Compton-Hall
Community, Planning, Politics, Ventnor
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June 26th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Sorry everyone, a couple of errors in the above:
The other councillor not present was Val Taylor.
The comment about Bill Murphy implies he has made a decision already. That cannot be true of course as the planning app is due to be heard at the Planning Committee tonight!
What I should have said is that it is believed his views are that it is not appropriate due to traffic problems. This would then follow in line with a decison taken regarding a development in Newport.
My fault for writing notes very late at night, and my apologies all round!
June 26th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I believe Val Taylor and Steve Milford were not there at the meeting
June 26th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Pedantic One you are quite right. Sorry about that
June 26th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Super Loos - Why include Artists?
Than you Mark for your summary of the meeting last night. It was a very positive meeting and I am very excited that we will get a great facility. The funding to include the artists came from a programme called Art @ the Centre which is delivered through Arts Council SE and aims to put art into regeneration projects.
Following some work we explored in Pan where we challenged artist and architect teams to come up with a design for a portable community building, which became known as the Pod, we recognised that this process could be used in other design situations, particularly around small buildings.
The Council had already identified the rebuild and refurbishment of public toilets as a priority and identified funding to deliver this. The Arts Council agreed to us using some of our Art @ The Centre funding to bring artists into this process at an early stage. The challenge is that we don’t want “Bog Standard” loos and we also wanted to explore sustainable solutions to energy and water supplies and to explore sustainable building techniques. The process has been very exciting.
June 26th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Whilst I would applaud anything which improves the town, because there is very little evidence of it, I wish people would not go overboard with their praise of “This” or “That” providing the funding.
I well remember the cartwheels being turned by some when it was revealed that we would have a yacht haven, funded by SEEDA.
SEEDA do NOT have any funds, people.
It is YOUR/OUR taxes that pay for these bureaucracies and then they give us some of it back, after taking their inflation proof salaries and pensions, of course.
2 million quid for a biggish pond? Good value? I don’t think so!
“Bog Standard” loos, Maria. Was that intentional? LOL. But I agree about the art. Good stuff. More of it.
June 26th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Hells Bells I’ve been talking about impellers and power for bloody years,nice to see the council has finally caught up, which Member is going to claim credit for “this great new idea”
June 26th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
I’ve just seen this bit of Marks report:
“IOW Council are devolving public service functions to the Towns and Parishes ”
Oh gawd, do they have to? The “music in the Park” performances for 3 people and a dog are running at such a loss that TC precept funds are being used to subsidise it. We already pay the 2nd highest precept on the Island. They’ll be wanting a rise next year to pay for “fog knitting lessons on the Esplanade”.
It is our money people. There are no GRANTS!
June 27th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Response to Farmersboy
I totally agree with you that this particular door has been knocked on for years with very few people listening - trouble is that doing these things costs extra money and budgets are tight. Until the powers that be get their act together and put the funds needed into their equations things will not get done.
Response to Bertie.
Devolvement to Parish and Town Councils of IW Council functions is going to happen - in fact as you say is already happening a la the Bandstand in the Park.
This is happening Nationally because Parish and Town Council precepts are not capped.
The Island population wanted an IW Council that did not raise the rates - now it is starting to bite and things are not being done the Parishes and Towns are picking up some of the pieces. Either we have a Town with nothing happening except essential services or Ventnor Towns picks up the pieces. In addition, it is the Town Council that gets the moans when things are not happening.
Cynically - Wait for two years time when election papers claim that the IW Council has kept the precept down but the Parish and Town Councils have spent money like water!!