In
this month's issue:
(Click on a headlibe to go directly to the article)
After
months of speculation and prevarication, the time has come for the Eastbourne
Borough Council's planning committee to stand up and be counted. On Thursday
13th October, at 4:30pm in the Gold Room of the Winter Gardens, they will
decide whether B&Q and Sovereign Harbour Ltd will be allowed to ride
roughshod over the aspirations of Sovereign Harbour residents, and destroy
what little opportunity remains to rescue the concept of 'Sovereign Harbour
Village'. Alternatively, they can expose this application for what it
is, a cynical attempt to obtain change of use for the land, greatly increase
it's market value, and swell the already bulging coffers of the land owners.
Sovereign Ward councillor, and chairman of the planning committee, Patrick
Bowker, has stood down for this meeting, so that he can support his constituents
in fighting this application. We welcome his support, and thank him for
it.
Every one of you has a part to play!
If you haven't written a letter of objection, do it now, it will
still count.
Be at the meeting, if necessary take a day off work, your presence will
help the committee to see just how strong our feelings are.
Above all, don't leave it to others, it's much too important to
be left to chance.
Help to make this the biggest show of people power that Eastbourne has
ever seen.
Coach Service to the Winter Gardens for B&Q Planning Meeting
As
its very likely that a large number of residents will be attending this
meeting, parking in the town centre will be at a premium. Don't take a
chance on arriving late and missing the meeting. The public have been
asked to be in their seats by 4:15.
To help you be there on time, the SHRA will be providing two coaches,
one for each side of the harbour, to get you directly to the Winter Gardens.
Please try to use the earlier coaches if possible, leaving the later coaches
for those who have time constraints.
Coaches for north harbour residents will leave from the end of Pacific
Drive at 3:00, 3:25 and 3:55, picking up from all stops on the Pacific
Drive before going directly to the Winter Gardens.
For south harbour residents, the coaches will start, from the last stop
in Atlantic Drive, at 3:00, 3:25 and 3:55 picking up at all Atlantic Drive
stops before going directly to the Winter Gardens. Coaches will have a
notice in the window 'Winter Gardens Only'
The coaches, will be free of charge, and will also be available for
the return journey after the meeting.
In
the September issue of Waterlines, we touched on the likelihood that
no part of the harbour would be adopted until the whole development
has been completed. Since then, we have received information that you
might find disturbing. In an e-mail to Patrick Warner, Graeme Lake,
The EBC's Principal Highway Engineer, states:
"Sovereign Harbour, Area K shall not be formally adopted by
the Highway Authority until the main spine road, Pacific Drive is on
maintenance. This is because the Highway Authority does not wish to
own land that they cannot secure access to over adopted highway.
The delay in the adoption of Pacific Drive is because there is still
significant volumes of construction under way in Sovereign Harbour.
All heavy construction plant and materials (concrete lorries, HGVs,
etc) must use Pacific Drive to access the ongoing construction sites.
It is generally acknowledged that heavy vehicles damage roads much faster
than general use by cars (one statistic that I recall is that one bus
inflicts the same damage to a road as 1000 cars).
Some work was done by the Highway Authority to try and adopt Pacific
Drive before construction work was finished. This involved negotiations
with Sovereign Harbour Ltd to secure additional money to pay for increased
maintenance and early resurfacing of Pacific Drive, but Sovereign Harbour
Ltd preferred to remain the street manager for the road rather than
find the additional funding required.
It is anticipated that the remaining developments should finish construction
within the next two years. At that time, Pacific Drive shall go onto
a year's maintenance period before being permanently adopted by the
Highway Authority."
He
goes on to say:
"Harbour
Quay, is similar to Pacific Drive. It remains the responsibility of
Sovereign Harbour Ltd until all construction sites accessed off of it
are complete.
The Piazza shall remain private. The Developer has not offered it for
adoption by the Highway Authority. It is accessed via Santa Cruz Drive
and Key West.
Part of Santa Cruz Drive (running up to just beyond Salvador Close)
was recently issued a Part 1 Certificate of Completion (footways complete
and carriageway up to road base level).
However, there are outstanding issues concerning Key West. There is
a bridge over part of the inner harbour in Key West. Before the Highway
Authority will agree to adopt this road, it must assure itself that
the bridge structure will not collapse. Also, if the Highway Authority
is to assume the responsibility for the maintenance of this structure,
it must have the structural design calculations and drawings for the
bridge. The Developer was unable to produce these drawings and calculations.
Protracted negotiation has been underway, mainly between the Developer
and its Consulting Engineer, to provide these drawings. It is frustrating,
especially as current CDM Regulations (Construction Design & Management)
state that when you design a structure, you must supply as built drawings
to the Client and also a method statement for safely dismantling the
structure. I am given to understand that the calculations have not been
provided and have been passed to the County for checking.
Additional complications exist with Key West beyond the bridge. The
original Developer was a firm called Prowtings. They were bought out
and became Westbury Homes Ltd. Westbury Homes may decide not to offer
land for adoption, which previously Prowtings indicated would be adopted."
Once again we see the interests of residents taking second place to
the interests of Sovereign Harbour Ltd. In order that sHL may maximise
it's return, thousands of harbour residents must wait several years
for the harbour to become part of Eastbourne.
What is most disturbing is that the EBC will not adopt any development
until it is completed to the required standard. By the time the council
gets round to considering adoption, many developments will be up to
ten years old and in need of refurbishment. The developer will be long
gone, the sub-contractors will now be trading in their mother's third
cousin's daughter's name, and who will be left to pick up the bill for
bringing the development up to standard? You've guessed it, the residents.
The alternative is that the whole harbour is left to decay into a wasteland.
There is a scandal of monumental proportions lurking just around the
corner, and it will not go away. The implications for the whole town
are enormous, it must be tackled now. The tragedy is that nobody, over
many years, has exercised the controls required to prevent this situation
arising. It would seem likely that there has been negligence and/or
incompetence by public officers and/or representatives throughout this
period. It would also seem likely that the only mechanism that will
get to the root of the problem is a Public Enquiry.
Who will have the courage to initiate it?
Following our appeal in the September issue of Waterlines, we have received
a number of offers of help, and over sixty of you have become new members
of the SHRA; more applications are being received with each post. We firmly
believe that we will have strength in numbers and we are determined to
expand the membership as widely as possible in the harbour. We understand
that not everybody is in a position to give their time, but one thing
every member can do is to persuade one of their non-member neighbours
to complete the form below and return it to us at the address below. If
you are not a member, please consider joining us to help make Sovereign
Harbour a better place to live.
We still need help in specialist areas, such as law and planning. If you
have skills in these areas and can spare some of your time, we would really
like to hear from you. Your knowledge would be of great value to us all.
Members' surgeries.
Don't forget the monthly members' surgeries at Simply Italian on the Waterfront.
Future Surgeries from 10:30 to 11:30 on Saturday:
5th November 2005
3rd December 2005
Photographic competition
The photographic competition is now closed. The response was excellent,
and the standard was high, thanks to all of you who entered.
It's now up to the judges, who will be coming to a conclusion within the
next couple of weeks. The winners will be notified as soon as the verdict
is reached, and we will publish the results in the November issue of Waterlines,
on the website, and on the notice board.
'Reliable Tradesmen' list
We have received a few responses to our request for reliable tradesmen
(or women) for our list, but would like a few more. Unfortunately, due
to lack of space, we will be postponing this item until the next issue.
Chairman's footnote
I
hope this Newsletter finds you well and galvanised to support the interests
of Sovereign Harbour residents at the EBC Planning Meeting of 13 October.
Whether you are from South or North Harbour, and whether you feel that
B&Q affects you directly or not, the issue is one of our voices being
heard. There will be many issues similar to this over the years that will
affect some of us more than others but we must make our views heard. If
we don't, our interests will always take second place to those of 'business'
and government, local and central.
As a final issue I wanted to briefly update you on an important concern
to all Harbour residents - that of Sovereign Harbour Trust (SHT).
I'm sure you've come across them - you pay around £200 to them each
year. This represents well over half a million pounds of residents money
annually. The Memorandum of Association of SHT states that its particular
objective is the preservation and protection of human life and property
by the provision and maintenance of sea defences at Sovereign Harbour,
and to advance the education of the public in all matters relating to
the environment and the preservation of SH and its surrounding areas.
The SHRA Committee felt it was appropriate for residents to be directly
represented on the Board of SHT, and I wrote to its Secretary on 29th
May seeking clarification of several issues, not least of all access to
Board minutes, and advice on how we could get a seat on the Board of Trustees.
This currently has six seats, three of which are occupied by Carillion
employees, or ex-employees, while the other 3 are allocated to the Environment
Agency (EA), reflecting the focus on flood defences. The maintenance of
these by the EA's contractors accounts for around 70% of our contributions.
A reply was received from the Secretary on 8th September. This essentially
said that as with any company, records of directors' meetings are private,
so we don't have access to these. In addition it suggested that the contractual
relationship with residents might make it appropriate for a resident to
be a trustee, but this should not be taken as a statement of the position
of the Board of Trustees. In short not particularly helpful, but don't
worry I'm not giving up on this and will continue pressing SHT for representation.
I am also seeking support from the EA. We will keep you informed.
Rick Runalls
This
Month's sponsors
Our
thanks to our sponsors, who’s generosity has again allowed us to produce
this newsletter at almost no cost to the members.
Temple Bird, Solicitors
Steel & Co, Financial Advisors