I HAVE just read the report re the future plans for Birnbeck Pier by Urban Splash and the North Somerset Council. I read there is now a suggestion the council would

I HAVE just read the report re the future plans for Birnbeck Pier by Urban Splash and the North Somerset Council. I read there is now a suggestion the council would agree to a bridge to go from Prince Consort Gardens directly onto the pier going over Birkett Road. However Councillor Ap Rees is adamant Prince Consort Gardens will not be built upon as part of the proposals and that the main aim of the council is to conserve the gardens. They are however keen to develop the whole site, not in a piecemeal way but in a way that involves upgrading it? He goes on to state anything built elsewhere in front of the former Westcliffe buildings, soon to be converted into flats, would need to be low level.From this I take it he means that when urban Splash propose that they build on their present car parking area, which goes from the entrance to the pier right up the Royal Pier Hotel, any buildings to be built will be two linear buildings which could contain a mixture of residential and leisure facilities like a hotel and holiday flats. I don't know exactly what they mean by linear. As the council are saying any such buildings will not interfere with any view from the Westcliffe flats I can still see this means Urban Splash will be able to build flats/hotel/leisure facilities, etc., quite high before they would affect any view they may have had from the flats. I would think in this case Urban Splash could possibly build five or six stories high. I am not certain that when the time comes for North Somerset Council to pass any plans that we will find that everything has changed and Prince Consort Gardens will indeed have something built on it. The council are already in two minds what to do about the Dorville car park, keep it or sell it to Urban Splash. If I remember correctly the Royal Pier wanted to develop this car park with their own development plans. Even now I still think Mr Scott and Urban Splash could join up and put a much larger plan before the council. When they had the plans for the development of the pier on show at the Winter Gardens, a few of the plans showed buildings on the Prince Consort Gardens. I really do wonder what we will end up getting at the end of the day irrespective of what we are told now.LAURENCE F ORME - Shrubbery Avenue, Weston