Tropicana demolition bid - decision could take months

Report by Alex Evans and Bethan Evans, Reporter Saturday, April 21, 2012
10:00 AM

IT COULD take several months until a final decision on demolishing the Tropicana in Weston can be made.

North Somerset Council has been told by the Secretary of State that it needs to submit proof it has publicly advertised its application to knock the derelict pool site down.

Once it does submit the evidence to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for communities and local Government, he will then aim to make his decision on whether the pool can be knocked down within 13 weeks.

But that period will not even begin until the council submits proof it has put out a public notice about its demolition application - which it has not yet done, according to the minister’s office.

A spokesman for the Secretary of State said: “The Tropicana is within a conservation area. When a demolition request regarding something in a conservation area comes in, as part of the regulations the local authority needs to place adverts saying what it wants to do.

“It needs to provide proof to the department once it has placed the advert.

“Once received, that is when the department can move towards making a decision.

“We aim to do that in a 13-week period. It is a target and in most cases that is what happens.”

North Somerset Council is aware that it needs to provide this proof but it has not yet done so, she said.

The 13-week period is not related to the 28-day deadline for the judicial review, she said, as it is a planning issue.

Councillors voted last month to ask the Government for the go-ahead to demolish the derelict landmark.

Members of Trop (WSM) Ltd, headed by Puxton Park owner Derek Mead, have been fighting to save the site and the group has also formed a business plan to restore the Tropicana, which includes an Olympic size pool, shops and restaurants.

Trop (WSM) Ltd has also served the council with a judicial review, alleging the council failed to comply with national policy by refusing to consider the group’s business plan as a viable option to save the site.

While the group has tried more than half a dozen times to meet with executive members to discuss its plans, North Somerset Council is now refusing to talk to Trop (WSM) Ltd until the challenge is withdrawn or concluded.

5 comments

When something is purchased, you have the right to return it, should it be not fit for purchase. The more stories of incapability that come out about this inept bunch of clowns, the more I realise they are not fit for purpose. The odd resignation or 2 wouldnt go a miss, as if this kind of stupidity carried on in the private business sector, someone would be held responsible!

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TrueWestonian

Sunday, April 22, 2012
No one should be surprised that NSC has failed to place an advert on this, as this is the same council that failed to comply with European rules in regard to the Henry Boot proposal for the Trop.

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Weston2010

Saturday, April 21, 2012
For a planning authority to submit an incomplete application to the Secretary of State sounds embarrassingly inept. Moreover, Ap Rees was crowing the Tropicana would be torn down by Spring so egg on his face - (now there's an idea) If Eric Pickles has any sense he'll throw it back at them or better still remove NSC's jurisdiction in the matter. Good for Weston Town Council for putting in their objection to demolition too.

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GuerrillaMarigolds

Saturday, April 21, 2012
why don't they turn it in to a primary school then allocate spaces to people in north worle.

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neo

Saturday, April 21, 2012
With the current feelings of many ratepayers towards the council in recpect to this subject, backed up by the recent survey results from visitors, this is now a GOLDEN opprtunity for the likes of Ashton and Ap Rees to have the balls to at least talk to Mead and realistically consider this as an opportunity to work positively together in attaining a valuable asset for locals and vistors alike.

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TrueWestonian

Saturday, April 21, 2012