'I'll chain myself to the bulldozers to save Tropicana': councillor
By The Bristol Post | Saturday, August 11, 2012, 05:00
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Weston-super-Mare's dilapidated Tropicana are threatening to chain themselves to the bulldozers to stop the landmark being demolished.
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Councillor Mike Bell intends to fight to save the Tropicana in Weston-super-Mare from demolition
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North Somerset Council learnt this week it had been given the go ahead by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, to knock down the building.
Councillors agreed to demolish the landmark earlier this year, but because it lies in a conservation area, the final go ahead needed to be given by Mr Pickles.
Work on the demolition is likely to be put on hold until the end of the tourist season and will start in the autumn.
However, those fighting to save the Tropicana – and see the building redeveloped into a community asset – say they will do all they can to stop the demolition from going ahead.
Local councillor and leader of the Liberal Democrats on the council, Mike Bell, said he would chain himself to the bulldozers to stop them moving on to the site.
Mr Bell said: "We will support legal efforts by campaigners to block the demolition until alternative plans to save the Tropicana have been given a fair hearing and I for one will chain myself the bulldozers to try to prevent demolition."
Business consortium Trop (WSM) Ltd has already put forward plans to redevelop the Tropicana and offered to buy it from the authority for £1.
The consortium, led by businessman Derek Mead, is seeking an injunction to stop the bulldozers moving on to site at the same time as it lodges an appeal against the planning decision.
Mr Mead said: "We will be appealing the decision by the Secretary of State to grant planning permission for the demolition of the Tropicana.
"We will also be serving an injunction on the council to prevent them from moving the bulldozers on to the site. What we are asking for is a public inquiry on the matter as we feel the council has gone against Government policy and the localism act to move forward with its desire to demolish the building. An inquiry will allow everyone to have their say.
"Why should the people of Weston be denied the chance to have an all-round swimming facility and a valuable tourist attraction?"
Mr Mead said Mr Bell would not be alone in stopping the bulldozers from moving onto the site.
He added: "An 80-year-old lady told me the other day she would lie down on the sand in front of the Tropicana to stop it from being demolished.
"There are a lot of strong feelings in the town that the Tropicana should be saved."
The Tropicana has lay vacant for 12 years and more recently has been used as a storage depot by contractors Birse during a £29-million project to enhance the resort's sea defences.
A number of schemes for its redevelopment have come forward over the past several years, but none have come to fruition.
North Somerset Council spokesman Richard Turner said: "We have yet to receive an injunction. It is still our intention to demolish the Tropicana."
Comments
If you want it redeveloped so badly, why did you all wait for it to be derelict for 10 years before you decided it's the worst thing ever that it's not being used?
Everyone laughs at us every time is back in the paper or gets a mention in the local news. How many towns do you travel to, to use a fun-pool?
It will have to be knocked down before it can be redeveloped anyway. Can we just get on with it please?
Or do we need to wait until some children play in there and get injured by falling masonry?
By Wayhey at 09:11 on 16/10/12
ReportIt is strange that those who argue against money being spent on the Tropicana are quite happy to see North Somerset Council giving £650,000 of their tax payers money away to Clevedon Pier, a costly landmark that is owned by the council. The comparisons with Portishead Pool are interesting because the council owns that too but is not prepared to pay any money towards it. Both the Pier and the Pool are now operated by Trusts for the landlord NSC. Yet one the council is happy to give away thousands to yet not to the other. Strange county that controls us with so many conflicting messages on subsidies.
By PortisheadAH1 at 23:25 on 29/08/12
Reportthe people of weston have to take some of the blame for this.i saw some of the plans for the tropicana,which included a multiplex cinema,and bowling aswell i think along with bars etc.this would have also included some kind of pool.but people complained about the height.if anyone is to take this building on then it has to be used all year round.not just for a few weeks during the school holidays.its no good locals saying they just want the pool because it will never pay,and no private developer would risk it.blackpool has an indoor beach on the seafront so when the weather is good or bad it is still used.weston has less attractions now than what it did 20 years ago.you cannot depend on one pier to keep a resort alive.
By groovygems at 18:34 on 13/08/12
Reportby condemparty
Thursday, May 24 2012, 12:08PM
."When are local folk going to realise that once elected by them, we make the decisions and whether that be based on party loyalty or loyalty to our colleagues on the council, it is totally irrelevant as we were elected to do a job and if people don't like it then bad luck, that's how it is. The executive on our council is made up of six people, two of whom co-habit which effectively means they always speak with one voice and when that voice says 'jump' the rest of the executive ask 'how high?' and fellow councillors will support that decision so as not to lose the opportunity of increasing our income by getting to serve on more committees, each of which boosts our claimable allowance. The rest of the executive answer to nobody but their party colleagues and that is how politics works in this country. If one of our local councillors wishes to prevent an application that personally affects his'her own locality and to which they feel should not go ahead then we will support that councillor however many local people want otherwise.
And when my pal Elphan said in the poress in 2009 that the council have no intention to demolish the Tropicana you peasants ahould have known the opposite was on the agenda.
By condemparty at 10:34 on 13/08/12
ReportIt never fails to amuse me how certain writers on here seem to spend their time trawling back through others past comments to try to discredit commenters rather than either stick to the point of the discussion or offer something constructive.
I personally think that if a large petition of 25, 000 signatures was ignored by the council, successive plans have failed because they have been overly ambitious and the latest plans are being brushed aside rather than being studied and considered the council executive have an alternative agenda or are as postscript said are simply being bloodyminded. Neither of these things should be tolerated, WSM needs amenities of this type and once gone it will never be replaced which only goes to show that modern councillors think nothing of future generations because they are so wrapped up in their own small worlds.
By lindatag at 09:46 on 13/08/12
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