Pier plans

LET’S all hope the wheels in motion don’t fall off or get punctured with the Birnbeck Pier plans.

Being born and bred here I know what it’s like to have a real pier here within sight of my window.

I wish you two leading this production my very best.

I won’t ever say a word regarding the Tropicana.

NEIL DUDLEY

Upper Kewstoke Road, Weston

Do not bother

RE: OLD pier development: For 40-odd years, we have seen them come and go, nothing has changed, except the deterioration.

If the new owners of the pier wish to make news headlines and make everyone take an interest do not bother initially to tell us about your multi million pound super hotel, apartments with heli pad, whatever on the island, with wonderful computer generated images, just tell us how you are going to get there, with detailed information, then we may see that elusive light at the end of the tunnel.

All this information, I understand within 60 days, we wait to see.

JULIAN MORRIS

(Former resident of Weston)

High Street, Spaxton, Somerset

Taking on

I JUST wanted to write to thank Geoff Malham for his kind words in last week’s paper about the Weston Hospicecare Midnight Beach Walk.

It’s great to see the local community really getting behind the event and supporting it.

We are in fact looking at the event at the moment and investigating ways in which we can make it even bigger and better for 2012.

We will certainly be taking on some of your comments when doing this, especially as the tide times for next year are looking very different.

We couldn’t hold events such as the Midnight Beach Walk without the continuing support of everyone involved in the event from participants, volunteers and spectators so thank you again for all your support.

Photos of the evening are available on the Weston Hospicecare Facebook fan page, and registration is now open for 2012 (at the reduced rate until March 31 2012).

Event Fundraiser at Weston Hospicecare

Thornbury Road, Uphill

Was a puzzle

ON PAGE 13 of last week’s Mercury a North Somerset officer stated that the new library project was “on time and on budget”, then the article ends with the fact that the move from the Boulevard will be “four months later than initial estimates”.

The councils’ claim that the Town Hall site is more accessible than the Boulevard was a puzzle to me initially, but I’ve realised now that they want library users to park in the multi-storey car parks (there is nowhere else around), so the free library service becomes another little scam.

BRIAN AUSTIN

Alma Street, Weston

Late night drinking

I AM shocked that it took so long for the Butchers Arms to be stripped of its licence.

This pub was causing problems for local residents for many months before any action was taken. When we contacted the police and council about the pub we were told on many occasions that nothing could be done to change the licence and we were made to feel that we were the only family with any problems so it was a surprise to read in your article that many other people had also been complaining about the pub and how it has been run.

What shocks me the most is that Enterprise Inns were even granted a license that allowed late night drinking and parties.

Considering that the village hall is in almost the same location and has a very strict policy about finishing parties and serving drinks until midnight, why on earth were Enterprise Inns even allowed a later licence when the pub is in the centre of a small village?

Residents should have more say when it comes to licensing of small pubs and if the owners employ a new landlord then the licence should be reviewed.

People should not have to put up with months of terrible, frightening and inconsiderate behaviour before something will be done.

NICOLA COX

High Street, Yatton

Tennis courts

I WAS concerned to read that Cllr Elfan Ap Rees is planning to turn the tennis courts next to Grove Park into an extension of the Grove Park car park.

These tennis courts have been neglected by the council in recent years, so ‘tired looking’ is, I’m sorry to say, an apt description. Nevertheless they are the only outdoor sports facility left in the centre of town, which has recently been designated a ‘deprived area’ by the council itself.

To my knowledge the courts are used for part of every day during the summer months and usually during the lunchtime during winter.

They provide a healthy and harmless way for youngsters from the college and elsewhere to let off steam and are an amenity this area of town surely cannot afford to lose.

MARTHA PERRIAM

Upper Church Road, Weston

Welcome

WE COME to Weston most months and happened upon the delightful image ‘Welcome to Weston’.

On our next visit, with a camera, we were so disappointed to see the work had been vandalised.

Since then we have been seeking out other images as they appear and love the skill, style and humour.

Even with only moderately developed art appreciation, we can see that the graffiti is not mindless daubing but brings Weston to life with wit and humour.

PENNY AND NICK CARTER

South Road, Weston

Ambitious

I HAVE been following the fate of Weston Tropicana with fervent interest for the past year, through withdrawal of investment, public consultations on development plans by Richard Nightingale, and the creation of the new inter-party panel at North Somerset Council and talks of eventual demolition.

Although I am not a developer, I have an ambitious but well thought-out, alternative to the fate of the pool, which could be mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

My idea is to create an Industrial and Provident Society (or Society for the Benefit of the Community) and raise money through a community investment scheme to enable the Tropicana’s redevelopment into a community-owned-and-run swimming facility, thermally heated by solar photo-voltaics, within the pool’s current parameters, including a caf� with a rainforest conservation theme.

This scheme would gather together an initial group of trustees, including those with any relevant skills, after which affordable investment opportunities would be open to the wider public.

Similar schemes across the country have witnessed communities saving a local football pitch from demolition, theatre restorations, developments of eco-housing for small community groups, and public ownership of old water mills and other buildings of national and historical significance, including the ‘Red Brick’ building in Glastonbury.

After visiting Paul Sander-Jackson, co-funder of Wessex Community Assets, who assists community groups with the legal aspects of setting up an SBC, and after conversing with the owners of Clifton Lido and Portishead Open Air Poor, I feel confident enough to create a viable investment scheme for the community, which I plan to launch in December 2011, and a press campaign later this week, and which I hope will garner much public support.

I would welcome any acknowledgement of support for such a project from North Somerset Council, including the exchange of information regarding the pool’s current conditions, the costs of potential rental, purchase or lease of the facility, including any financial and physical stipulations the council may have.

Jess Harper, sustainability officer at North Somerset Council, has been keeping me abreast of the possible basic requirements of such a plan, however, and I fully intend to submit a business plan early in 2012 having explored in detail the financial feasibility of any such undertaking.

I eagerly await a reply from the council and request it considers the demolition this beautiful piece of Weston’s history, only as an absolute final resort.

SUZANNE HYDES

Save Weston Tropicana

Meadow Street, Weston

Stay where it is

THE proposed sale of the library building in the Boulevard must not proceed.

I was going in there the other day as a crocodile of maybe 40 infants from a local school was filing out, while one of the librarians waved goodbye to the children.

There is no way that experience could be replicated in the town hall.

At the very least the children’s library must stay where it is.

Now that the books are to be relocated and there are fewer artefacts in the museum, most of the exhibits could be restored to their earlier home in the Boulevard, and the old gasworks retained as an industrial museum, which could have a number of spin-offs to benefit the town financially.

So-called North Somerset Council has wiped the smile off the smiling face of Somerset.

Isn’t it time to accept that the North Somerset experiment has been a disaster for Weston, and for the whole area covered by the Weston Parliamentary Constituency to return to Somerset?

ROBERT CRAIG

Priory Road, Weston

Stuck in mud

WHAT is it about Weston mud that drives some people to lose all common sense?

Another 70 or so stuck in mud on Saturday!

When I was out on the prom Saturday afternoon you could see hoards of them like ants (or sheep) totally oblivious to any signs of danger.

At what cost? Do they get a bill for being rescued? If not, why not?

Is there some form of ASBO that can be issued which would alert the RNLI to those being rescued on more than one occasion who would then get a heftier bill?

Why is it down to the RNLI and the Coastguard and the pockets of those more sensible among us to foot the bill?

BARBARA HUDD

Connaught Place, Weston

Small amount

A COUPLE of months ago I caught my foot in a raised inspection cover and fell on the pavement.

I broke my spectacles and had to receive three stitches above my right eye.

I made no claim on the council for personal injury but did feel the cost of my spectacles (�134) – which had originally been purchased only nine months earlier – a fair request.

I have now heard this payment will not be made as the pavements are inspected monthly and it was not felt the inspection cover needed any attention.

On reading in the Weston Mercury that �9.7million is being spent on refurbishing the town hall, it strikes me my request for �134 is a very small amount to pay someone who has never before claimed against the council.

MARGARET PAYNE

Hutton

Blooming

Congratulation to all those hard-working, green-fingered volunteers who won a prestigious Silver Gilt Award in the regional competition South West in Bloom.

Weston in Bloom’s colourful dispays enhanced areas such as Alexandra Parade, Knightstone Island and Worle High Street, as well as the hanging baskets in Grove Village and the basket tree in the Italian Gardens.

I am sure Weston’s eye-catching, fabulously vibrant mix of colourful flowers and glossy foliage stop our tourists in their tracks.

I just hope that many volunteers will come forward like these and keep our colourful floral displays.

I am sure this plays an enormously important part in encouraging what tourism needs and many volunteers will sign up including younger ones.

D F COURTNEY

Victoria Park, Weston

WITH the recent heatwave and influx of visitors to Weston in the last few days, I was shocked and appalled by the amount of litter left around the town and seafront.

I could understand it if there were no bins but goodness me people just seem to leave it behind with no regard to others and make our lovely town an eyesore.

I was brought up by my parents to put any rubbish in my mom’s bag till we got either home or by a bin.

What is wrong with these people and their total disregard for the environment?

When out walking my dog in Alexandra Parade also last week two young women were having lunch on the lawns and when they had finished they blatantly got up and left all their litter on the grass.

It is truly disgusting behaviour.

I really hate litter as it spoils our land no end.

So when we visit other towns shall we also throw our litter around in their towns and cities? Why not? And then we can all live in one huge rubbish tip and no-one will care any more.

MR A JEFFERY

Walliscote Road, Weston

GIVE that it was me that introduced Wahid Samady to Weston and the Birnbeck project, I would like to take this opportunity to wish him and Michael Ross the best of luck with the Birnbeck pier restoration, as I for one know the huge task that awaits them.

If anyone would like to view my original ideas for Weston, just go to ‘Birnbeck Regeneration Scheme’ on YouTube. Again, wishing them the best of luck.

JAMES SCOTT

Moorland Road, Weston