1 Granville Marina restoration work starts again.

This is one of those only in Thanet sagas all the information below for those of you unfamiliar with it, the picture above is of the new development that they have just started on, I think, click on it to enlarge.

First the link to the Planning Inspectorates decision allowing the development that the council turned down:http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/fscdav/READONLY?OBJ=COO.2036.300.12.1781107&NAME=/Decision.pdf

This link takes you to the planning inspectors decision to award costs against the council.http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/fscdav/READONLY?OBJ=COO.2036.300.12.1781128&NAME=/Costs.pdfIt only goes to show what you can get away with when it comes to listed buildings.

The links below take you some of my previous posts about the matter.

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2008/02/goody-goes-bananas.html

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2008/02/goody-outlawed-httpwwwmichaelsbookshopc.html

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2008/12/congratulations-to-tdc-planning.html

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2009/06/restoration-ramsgate-style.html

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2008/10/1granville-marina-when-is-planning.html

http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/2008/10/plans-for-marina-restaurant.html

More pictures of the restoration work.

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

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/cafe/id2.htm

these pictures taken today http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/610/id16.htm

Royal Sands Development Pleasurama the bulge and the revenge of the hard hats.

The sun did finally come out and with the man flue subsiding I did manage to get out and take some pictures, including some of the cliff repairs by the park see http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/laptop210/

Anyway while I was taking the pictures of the cliff repairs one of the workmen approached me asked me if I was the bloke that wrote the thanetonline blog, to which I obviously responded with a yes.

He said that I had taken some pictures of him and he didn’t like them being online, this is a first for me but I though he must have his reasons, so I explained to him that when I stopped putting up the long series of pictures at the end of last summer I got a lot of emails from people who couldn’t get out for a walk and as some of them were disabled, I now just took as many as I could and published them all up.

I went on to explain that this meant that I had thousands of pictures on the internet and while I would be happy to take the ones of him down, he would have to email me the internet address or addresses of the pictures and tell me roughly how far down the page they were.

Then he said, it’s the ones of the blockwork on the cliff wall I want you to take down there’s nothing wrong with it.

So I said, the last time I looked down there it didn’t have proper foundations and wasn’t tied to either the cliff or the supporting pillars.

He then said, do you mean you have been on the site and that that was trespassing.

I said to him, I had been on the site on many occasions and knew I was trespassing.

So he then said, right then we can get you for that, and walked off.

You really couldn’t make it up could you, as you can see from the pictures, even Goody Demolition the firm that did the vital heritage work on the Marina Restaurant were there working for the council see http://thanetonline.blogspot.com/search?q=goody

Granville Marina Restaurant recommendation to compulsory purchase.

Thanet District Council officers have recommended that the planning committee approve the compulsory purchase of Granville Marina Restaurant.

Click here to read the recommendation to compulsory purchase, click here and here for pictures of the initial restoration work carried out by Goody Demolition.

It occurred to me that some of you would find the correspondence I had with one of TDCs heritage experts immediately after this incident, it does show in a little more detail what appears to have gone wrong click here to do so.

I should also add the I only picked this one up because it published the links to the documentation on http://thanetpress.blogspot.com/ today where I have recently put up quite a lot relating to other Thanet planning applications and some of you may wish to check on any in your part of Thanet.

Restoration Ramsgate Style

1 Granville Marina was a stunning example of how the council can do things by the book and produce the most ridiculous result, it shows just what a developer can get away with while the council’s building control officers look on.

Yep I am afraid that there they are paid for by us to protect our heritage and yet seemingly unable to do so, which begs the question why should we pay for something that doesn’t work?

Anyway don’t take my word for it click on the link and look at the pictures http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/cafe/index.htm Bertie has posted about this one see http://thanetstrife.blogspot.com/2009/06/planning-by-bulldozer-makes-change.html so has Dave see http://eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com/2009/06/granville-marina-restaurant.html seems they couldn’t just say stop the demolition while we review the situation more pictures here http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/cafe/id2.htm you can see the building control officers in the pictures, seemingly they have no control.

Anyway back in February 2008 when this happened I wrote to TDC asking what had gone wrong click on the link for the correspondence http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/cafe/id4.htm so why bring this up now?
Next Wednesday there is a planning committee meeting and one of the items is for a much larger development there with residential accommodation on the ground floor with recommendation to approve these plans see http://tdc-mg-dmz.thanet.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=1610

Well all along the line it has been the developers clear intention to demolish this listed building to make way for a much larger building, also to put residential accommodation on the ground floor in what the environment agency say is a Flood Zone 3a (High Probability) something you are not allowed to do.

The following is a quote from the environment agency writing about the Pleasurama development which is slightly further along the same sea defence and at about the same level.

“Areas immediately behind defences lie in the High Risk Rapid Inundation Zone (RIZ) and are particularly vulnerable due to the risk of the defences being over-topped or breached, resulting in fast-flowing and potentially deep water with little or no warning.”

I should point out that at a previous meeting the recommendation was to turn them down, it certainly makes one wonder what has happened to make them change their minds.

Reading the flood risk assessment attached to the planning application refs F/TH/09/0052 and F/TH/09/0051 the link takes you the TDC planning website http://www.ukplanning.com/thanet it says that there is no evidence of the site flooding in the past, this is a bit odd as it floods pretty much every winter.

Congratulations to TDC planning department

Many thanks to the planning department for turning down the plans for the hideous extension to the restoration of the Granville Marina Restaurant in Ramsgate, the application number is L/TH/08/1197 click here to go to the government planning website.

Restoration work on this grade 2 listed building got off to a bad start, as you can see from the picture click here for more pictures of the restoration work in progress.

1Granville Marina when is a planning application not a planning application

Update on Plans for Marina Restaurant posted 25th October.

As this building is in an area designated as high flood risk and so I assumed a flood risk assessment would be mandatory I sought advice from TDC planning on the application.

“This is an application for listed building consent I assume there will also be an application for planning permission upon which the views of the Environment Agency will be required. I would expect they would require some form of flood risk assessment, which includes consideration of overtopping.”

It is I believe at this point that we should object on the grounds that the proposed rebuild and extension doesn’t retain the character and setting of the listed building.

I should remind anyone interested that it was part of a beach resort built by J T Wimperis in 1877 click here for a bit more info

Click here to enlarge the picture

Plans for Marina Restaurant

You probably remember back in February when we learnt that listed building status didn’t necessarily protect our buildings. Click here for my previous posts on the subject.

You can providing you have the right software view the new plans for it at http://www.ukplanning.com/thanet the planning reference is L/TH/08/1197

Alternatively I have published the main elevations click here to view them, I can’t give you a link to the plans on the TDC planning website, as it appears to have written to make it as difficult to use as possible. The photographs of the building have been published in the wrong file format, so that they are as good as useless, and us yes we pay for this.

Mock Victorian mock Elizabethan stuck to mock 50s with flying saucer on top, the architect like the designer of the planning website will probably get an award, perhaps it’s attributable to something in the water.

If they want to rebuild it bigger can we have it all in mock Victorian mock Elizabethan please?

It was one of Ramsgate’s most charming and eccentric buildings and I for one think it should be replaced not desecrated.

Goody goes bananas

This is just an update on yesterdays post with some photos of how it looks now, apparently cracks appeared mysteriously overnight in two of the turrets, this was after the high winds had subsided.

I gather from my enquiries that TDC officers were on site to supervise before the demolition started, so what went wrong one can only guess, I think Goody demolition may have got a bit over excited, I will have to have a word with them.
One of my children who took some interest in this demolition, having been told the building was listed and therefore protected and that the men from the council were there to protect it, rather poignantly said “am I protected daddy” but the big question that I couldn’t answer was. “Why is it eating the castle daddy”?