Council to hear fresh bid for demolition of Tropicana
By The Bristol Post | Monday, June 18, 2012, 05:00
A FRESH bid to demolish Weston-super-Mare's dilapidated Tropicana is to be decided by councillors this week.
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Weston- super-Mare's dilapidated Tropicana
North Somerset Council's south area planning committee will meet on Thursday to consider planning conditions to be suggested to the Secretary of State, should he give plans to demolish the one-time seaside landmark the go-ahead.
The planning application is a duplicate of an application submitted earlier this year to demolish the site. North Somerset's executive has already agreed to demolish the former seafront landmark but because it lies in a conservation area, the final go-ahead needs to be given by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles.
In the meantime, campaigners fighting to save the site – Trop (WSM) Ltd – have called for a judicial review on the original decision. Consortium Trop (WSM) Ltd, led by businessman and Puxton Park owner Derek Mead, has put forward plans to redevelop the site into an all-year-round attraction complete with indoor and outdoor pools.
The group say the authority's decision to validate the planning application and send it to the Secretary of State for approval is flawed on the basis it lacked vital information and that proper public consultation had not been carried out. It also claims the council agreed to demolish the landmark when valid proposals to redevelop the site were on the table. Both the town council and Weston Civic Society have also objected to the demolition plan, claiming the building is part of the town's heritage.
Council chiefs say by submitting the second application it will allow them to move ahead with the demolition of the Tropicana if the Secretary of State agrees. North Somerset Council has already confirmed it is to contest the judicial review, if granted, and says it admits no fault with the original application.
A North Somerset Council spokesman said: "The duplicate has been submitted to ensure that, if the Secretary of State grants consent for the application currently before him and the judicial review is not withdrawn, we will have a second consent to implement without the uncertainty of a judicial review hanging over it."
Comments
"The group say the authority's decision to validate the planning application and send it to the Secretary of State for approval is flawed on the basis it lacked vital information and that proper public consultation had not been carried out. It also claims the council agreed to demolish the landmark when valid proposals to redevelop the site were on the table. Both the town council and Weston Civic Society have also objected to the demolition plan, claiming the building is part of the town's heritage."
Says it all. What is behind this absolute hell-for-leather determination of NS council to demolish the Tropicana? Doesn't matter what's suggested or mooted for the site, NS always find a way of punting it into the long grass: if I were a more cynical man I'd think there was something going on behind the scenes..
Weston needs a sea-front pool. What is so hard to understand about that?
By snowymalone at 06:42 on 18/06/12
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