WEYMOUTH & PORTLAND CHAMBER

OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY & TOURISM

PRESS RELEASE: 30 APRIL 2008                                                                     IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Weymouth & Portland Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Tourism have urged the Borough Council not to support controversial alterations to the Pavilion peninsula redevelopment masterplan.

"We are very concerned over the environmental, visual and possible economic effect of increasing the height of the proposed redevelopment from six to eight floors to provide 337 apartments- and expanding the proposed marina from 150 to 290 berths," says David Beaman, past president of the Chamber. "It is our opinion that increasing the height would result in the proposed redevelopment having an unacceptable visual impact that will deter people from visiting the town, with a consequential detrimental economic impact on the town."

"We are also very concerned that any increase in the number of apartments and marina berths would create additional transport demands that cannot be supported by the existing road infrastructure, as well as resulting in additional carbon emissions at a time when there is concern over the environmental consequences of global warming," he continues.

The Chamber calls for much more work to be done on how rebuilding the Pavilion Theatre, the ferry terminal and other proposed civic buildings on the peninsula could be financed by alternative means. "As an organisation representing business interests, we obviously appreciate the need for Howard Holdings to make a reasonable financial return, especially given their commitment to fund the civic facilities- including retention of the theatre- that are included in the proposed redevelopment. It is, however, our opinion that there has been insufficient investigation of other methods of funding the proposed redevelopment to avoid the need to raise the height of the proposed redevelopment, to increase the number of apartments provided or to increase the number of marina berths ."

The Chamber's Executive Committee will reiterate their objections at the council's Management Committee on Tuesday 3 June, when councillors will discuss whether to ratify the proposed alterations to the masterplan, having received the results of the public consultation- including the Chamber of Commerce's objection.

Here follows the full text of the letter from Weymouth & Portland Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Tourism to the Forward Planning Section at Weymouth & Portland Borough Council.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION- PAVILION AND FERRY TERMINAL REDEVELOPMENT

On behalf of the members of Weymouth & Portland Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (WPCCIT) we obviously welcome the opportunity to comment on the latest proposals now being put forward by Howard Holdings for the redevelopment of the Pavilion and Ferry Terminal site.

As you will be aware the Chamber has previously held a number of consultation meetings for its members regarding the redevelopment of the Pavilion and Ferry Terminal site. A further consultation meeting for Chamber members was held on Thursday evening [24 April] at which the latest proposals were discussed and a response agreed. An invitation was sent to Howard Holdings to attend our meeting and we were very disappointed that Howard Holdings declined our invitation on the grounds that the current public consultation exercise was a Borough Council led initiative. Howard Holdings, therefore, lost the opportunity to update the Chamber of their latest proposals and convince us of the need to make further modifications to the Draft Masterplan that was agreed by a meeting of the full Council early in 2007. Howard Holdings have, however, offered to make a presentation to the Chamber if and when a detailed planning application is finally submitted.

First of all you should be aware that, despite the failure of Howard Holdings to address our meeting, WPCCIT remains fully supportive of the proposed redevelopment of the Pavilion and Ferry Terminal site. Redevelopment of this site will bring considerable financial investment to the town from which new employment opportunities will be generated and from which local business will obviously benefit. WPCCIT has consistently supported the proposed redevelopment and has not been afraid of standing in the council chamber and being a lone voice supporting the redevelopment amongst considerable voices of local opposition.

There have, however, been unacceptable delays that have prevented Howard Holdings from submitting a formal planning application and we hope that there will be no further delays before a planning application can be finally submitted. We are, however, very concerned over the latest proposals. In particular we are concerned over the environmental, visual and possible economic effect of increasing the height of the proposed redevelopment from six to eight floors to provide 337 apartments and expanding the proposed marina from 150 to 290 berths.

It is our opinion that increasing the height would result in the proposed redevelopment having an unacceptable visual impact that will deter people from visiting the town with a consequential detrimental economic impact on the town. We are also very concerned that any increase in the number of apartments and marina berths would create additional transport demands that can not be supported by the existing road infrastructure as well as resulting in additional carbon emissions at a time when there is concern over the environmental consequences of global warming.

As an organisation representing business interests we obviously appreciate the need for Howard Holdings to make a reasonable financial return, especially given their commitment to fund the civic facilities, including retention of the theatre, that are also included in the proposed redevelopment. It is, however, our opinion that there has been insufficient investigation of other methods of funding the proposed redevelopment to avoid the need to raise the height of the proposed redevelopment, to increase the number of apartments provided or increase the number of marina berths.

It is, therefore, our view that Weymouth & Portland Borough Council should not agree to support any further modifications to the Draft Masterplan that was approved by the full Council early in 2007.

We understand that the responses to the current consultation exercise will be considered by the meeting of the Council's Management Committee that is to be held on Tuesday 3 June, at which it is likely that we would wish to address the Committee. I hope that you find our comments helpful, although if there is any further information that we can provide please do not hesitate to let me know.