Wednesday 19 October 2011

Arlington House Margate, Tesco planning decision today

Update the planning committee have voted to send this to full council for decision.  


This application comes back to Thanet District Council’s planning committee for decision today.

Frankly this is a Margate issue and not something that I really understand, there is a certain amount of background information that some people may have missed, so here it is.

Dreamland Trust’s response to TDC ‘independent’ heritage report


Arlington House Residents Association letter to councillors


THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SOCIETY email to the council

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/arlington/index.htm

Personally my take on this is as a heritage issue, there is a sense that the council may be under pressure to make a decision before English Heritage has had time to assess whether Arlington House should be granted listed status. 

18 comments:

  1. Listed status ?? Seriously ??

    First it's the Richborough chimnneys that should be listed and now Arlington House ! Blimey, see some sense people. Arlington House is an eyesore, plain and simple. If we start listing blocks of flats made from concrete then what's next ? Staner Court, Kennedy House, heck maybe even Kwik Fit or Tesco Extra !!!

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  2. I thought this was a full council decision or have these promises been overlooked. What worries me is that money talks and I wonder if Thanet Council are man (or woman) enough to turn down a powerful company like Tesco. Margate sea front is not the place for a Tesco of any sort.

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  3. Bring Tesco on and save the town

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  4. Has anyone else here been contacted by someone from The Times (the national newspaper not The Thanet Times)? Someone emailed me this morning, & want to speak to me after reading my comments about Tesco on THIS blog; I politely declined...

    Anyway, having listened to reasoned debate (as well as delusional ramblings) have changed my opinion a little, & would prefer it if TDC & Tesco could meet halfway & proposed a Tesco Metro (similar to the one in Broadstairs). But, given the choice of a huge Tesco or nothing at all (with a risk of it remaining derelict for another 20 years), I know which one I'd choose.

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  5. The place should be demolished but, listed, surely someone is on the wrong tablets.

    Anyway, as I live in Broadstairs and only view this eyesore when travelling I guess it is down to the good people of Margate.

    As to the Richborough chimneys, and being old enough to remember that landscape without them, I say
    pull the hideous things down. On the other hand, what should have been listed was the old Haine Road hospital.

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  6. I have always thought Arlington House to be an ugly building. Still, maybe the people that live there love it.

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  7. There is a certain inconsistency between regeneration through contemporary art and the slating of contemporary architecture. I am wondering if Arlington House isn’t likely to be demolished if listed status would be a better option for it.

    I have been perusing old pictures of Margate and apart from Dreamland Cinema, Arlington and the Turner Contemporary there is very little, in the way of buildings, on the foreshore either modern looking or designed by a known architect.

    In a way it’s a pity Tesco didn’t go for a more radical design, as if Margate does really become a cultural destination the presence of this rather dull lump will take a bit of explaining.

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  8. I don't see how listed status would make a difference to the building Michael. After all there's plenty of other listed buildings that are still allowed to rot away (The Lido in Cliftonville springs to mind!).

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  9. "Update the planning committee have voted to send this to full council for decision"... yet more delays! When are we going to know either way?

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  10. Turner Contemporary looks worse than Arlington House yet such an uninteresting looking building was still built on a key regeneration site. No problem with having a gallery just the design (or lack of) of the building. Kennedy and Trove look much better now too.

    A radical design by Tesco would certainly be better if it ends up on the sea front. Let's have something challenging not bland and boring.

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  11. Yep, its gone to Full Council. I think its a good call so that a fully considered decision is made. The next scheduled Full Council meeting is 8th December.

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  12. I was hoping to do my Christmas shopping there!

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  13. Peter, you probably will in 2014!

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  14. James, the decision to go to council was fully supported by all LABOUR members. Most Tories wanted to resolve the issue there and then. What a strange Conservative you are or, could it be that you are a double agent?

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  15. At least you coughed to it, James, so you ain't all bad!

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Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.