Reprieve in the News

Herne Bay Downs beach hut plans could be dropped

A plan to build 40 beach huts on downs in Kent could be scrapped amid fears of their impact on coast erosion. Canterbury City Council had been considering building huts on the downs near Beacon Hill at East Cliff, Herne Bay. In a report to the council's executive, engineers raised concerns that the huts would prevent coastal protection works from being carried out. A final decision on the scheme is due to be made by councillors on Thursday.

According to the report, the proposed beach hut site is within an active landslip area where engineering works have already been carried out. Council officers and engineers will recommend that councillors vote to keep the downs free from development and work with the Save the Downs campaign group to develop a management plan for its future. Campaigners against the proposal have already launched a bid to get the area registered as a village green to protect it from development. The executive meeting takes place at the Guildhall in Canterbury on Thursday from 1830 BST and is open to the public.

BBC

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Victory in sight?

Victory is in sight for Herne Bay’s Save Our Downs group after a long fight to stop beach huts being built on the land. The controversial idea to sell off part of the Herne Bay Downs to beach hut developers may be scrapped at a meeting of the council executive today, Thursday 12th August.

It will meet to discuss a new engineering report which says beach huts could not be built, as well as new ideas by council officials to work with the Save Our Downs campaign group to make the area’s environment better for the community. Herne Bay councillor and executive member Peter Lee said:

“The report before the executive says we should abandon the scheme of beach huts in that area and having clear advice from the engineers that is what we will do. I will be highly surprised if, on Thursday, the executive does not decide to abandon the scheme. This was never a council scheme. The council was trying to balance the need of people to have beach huts in the area with the need for the local residents to get to the open space.”

Townspeople under the name of the Save Our Downs group had been campaigning against the idea and had put in a town green application to block the council ever selling any of it off for beach huts.

Canterbury council has set aside £14,000 to help make the most of the Downs with the help of the campaign group. This work will start in the autumn if the executive votes to pass the motion. Kent County Council will decide on this in early autumn and so Canterbury council commissioned engineering reports to see whether the scheme is viable. A council spokesman said:

“The proposed site for the huts near Beacon Hill is within an active landslip area, and underneath the natural grassy slope is a full engineering scheme designed to prevent a landslide. Construction of the huts would prevent monitoring and maintenance of the stabilisation works, the report says.”

Phil Rose, co-ordinator of the Save Our Downs campaign, said:

“The Save Our Downs campaign team is crossing its fingers that the council makes the right decision on Thursday. Once the Downs are whole again, and the threat to their future as a public open space has gone, the local community can start working alongside the council to shape a secure future for this land. We all recognise how important the Downs is to Herne Bay, not just as part of the sea defences, but as a well-loved and much-used natural breathing space for the whole town.”

The final decision will be made in the Guildhall in Canterbury at 6.30pm on Thursday, August 12 in a public meeting.

yourcanterbury.co.uk 12th August 2010

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Crunch meeting due on Downs hut plan

Councillors set to decide on controversial development Campaigners hoping to prevent development on the Downs at Herne Bay will have their fingers crossed at a crucial council meeting tonight (Thursday). Protestors from the Save Our Downs campaign are expected to pack the Guildhall in Canterbury to hear councillors discuss plans to build beach huts on the land.

A report issued to councillors recommends that the controversial scheme is scrapped, because of the danger of landslides or interference with coastal protection works. They also suggest the land earmarked for building should be returned to official public open space. Phil Rose, of the Friends of the Downs, said it was a tense time for the campaign:

"The Save Our Downs campaign team is crossing its fingers that the council makes the right decision on Thursday. So are hundreds and hundreds of people in and around Herne Bay who have campaigned for more than a year to keep the Downs unspoilt and undeveloped. If the council says ‘yes’ to ditching the proposal it will be reflecting the wishes of hundreds of local people. Once the Downs are whole again, and the threat to their future as a public open space has gone, the local community can start working alongside the council to shape a secure future for this land.”

The report - which declared the beach huts project “unfeasible” - also recommends that council staff should work with the Friends of the Downs on a management plan to preserve and protect the land for the future. If councillors agree, a public meeting would be held in the autumn to give more information and recruit more volunteers. Mr Rose added:

“We are delighted that we may now be able to develop with the council a management plan to protect and preserve the Downs, so that future generations of townspeople can continue to use the Downs freely and for free, forever”

The group is continuing with its application for village green status for the Downs, to which council bosses have objected. A hearing date is yet to be set. For more information on the campaign, e-mail: email@HerneBayMatters.com. The executive meeting takes place at the Guildhall in Canterbury from 6.30pm and is open to the public.

HB Times 12th August 2010

Reprieve for The Downs

It's been a long time coming, but the penny has finally dropped. The unloved and unlovely development plans for the Downs are being ditched on the recommendation of the council's Leisure people.

This should be confirmed at the meeting of the Executive on 12th August at 6:30pm in The Guildhall, Westgate, Canterbury - it's a public meeting, so do feel free to pop in. The highlights of the report to the Executive are:

• To note the Council objection to the Village Green application.
• To discard the proposed beach hut project previously approved 8th December 2008 due to further research highlighting coastal protection concerns.
• To reinstate the area highlighted in appendix A as public open space to be held under the Public Health Act 1875.
• To support the community environmental enhancement project whilst recognising that the primary purpose of the area is coastal protection.

As you will see from the Council's own telling of the story in the report, this long and wasteful episode could have been avoided if the Council's in-house experts had been consulted and heeded at the outset.

Personally, I'm still curious to discover whose idea this was in the first place, and how it could have been allowed to drag on for so long despite being impractical and unworkable. Again personally, I am disappointed (verging on disgusted) that there is no acceptance, or even acknowledgement, on the Council's part that this proposal was hugely unpopular from the very beginning.

Anyway, it's a cracking result that we can all take pleasure and pride in.

Well done and thank you.

Pending rant

(Email sent 27th Jan 2009 to Herne Bay Gazette, for publication. Still unpublished. I am desolated.)

East Cliff beach Huts: illegal, immoral, unnecessary, unwanted and unwise.

Illegal?
A legal covenant on this land means that, by law, the Council must “keep the land as an open space and pleasure ground for the recreation and use and enjoyment of the public forever”. Privately owned beach huts aren’t open space, and aren’t for public use.

Immoral!
The people who gifted this land trusted the Council to do right by them. Carving it up for developers betrays that trust. One percent of the people I’ve spoken to knew about this plan. The Council has not consulted adequately, and does not have our permission – this is an anti-democratic abuse of power.

Unnecessary:
There’s already planning permission for about 50 huts elsewhere in Herne Bay, Tankerton and Whitstable.

Unwanted:
There’s already more supply than demand: there is no waiting list for huts. There aren’t crowds of people saying ‘Yes’ to huts at East Cliff, but there are plenty saying ‘No’.

Unwise:
The last lot of huts (on exactly this site) became so vandalised and derelict that the Council had to demolish them. The unstable slopes at East Cliff have been expensively strengthened and drained – smashing them about for building work is just daft.

The Council are trying to do the wrong thing in the wrong place.

Beach huts are a bit like Marmite – some people love them, some people hate them and some aren’t that fussed. But for me, this isn’t about huts, it’s about keeping The Downs open and free, forever.

Standing up and speaking out

My first public act of flagrant democratic intercourse, beyond voting, that is: a speech to CCC, 15th Jan 2009.

This proposal is unwanted, unneeded and ill-conceived. You are proposing to act without the permission, and against the wishes, of those you serve. The Downs is a Public Open Space, entrusted by the people of Herne Bay to the Council to be enjoyed by all, in perpetuity.

One legal covenant says it must be:

“… kept as an open space and pleasure ground for the recreation, and use, and enjoyment of the public forever”.

In the hands of a private developer it won’t be. Another covenant says that:

“… nothing shall be erected or built on the land as shall obstruct the view of any of the houses known as the Beacon Hill estate, and the Lees estate, and the land fronting to Beacon Hill”.

These huts would obstruct the view.

There have been huts at East Cliff before.
• Originally they were concrete and brick structures built into the bottom of the slope; with nothing on the slope; with no views obstructed; and were owned and managed by the Council.
• Later, wooden huts were built on the slope, and obstructing the view: they fell into disuse, were neglected and vandalised to the point of dereliction, and the Council demolished them.

The Government’s Planning Policy Guidance 17 (PPG17) states:

• existing Open Space should not be built on unless it is clearly shown to be surplus to requirements.

This is not.

• developers of Open Spaces must consult the community and be able to demonstrate that their proposals are widely supported by them.

These are not.

We are at (or near) the bottom of a property cycle, making this is a particularly awful time to be disposing of land. The intention to lease the land to a private developer has raised widespread concerns about accountability for maintenance, hygiene and security.

There’s already permission for 44-67 more huts elsewhere in Herne Bay, Whitstable and Tankerton. Currently, Whitstable’s reining in development due to lower than usual occupancy, and having no waiting list. There is no waiting list for the existing huts in Herne Bay. There is an over-supply of huts, and there is no demand for huts at East Cliff.

It is very unlikely that the proposed huts will significantly help regenerate Herne Bay, as has been suggested. The hutters bring their own supplies - far from the pub and further from the shops, they will be hard-pressed to spend money on anything.

With the nearest loo ¼ mile away at the King’s Hall, some people will take the lazy option and use the sea: so much for our Blue Flag beach status. The proposed site borders the Thanet Coast SSSI and is a RAMSAR and SAC site of national and international importance to wildlife. The Council is expected to conserve and enhance the SSSI - this proposal does neither. The land is also home to slow worms (a protected species) which will be put at risk – Kent Wildlife Trust have expressed concern.

The East Cliff is special because it is quiet, peaceful and undeveloped. It is unstable scrubland, where both the land and the huts will need protection from landslip and in dry summers, fire. The nearest parking (on Beacon Hill) is fully parked in the summer as it is: where will the extra cars go?

The “consultation” over this change in the legal status of a Public Open Space seems to have consisted of a small ad in a local paper which is read by less than 10% of Herne Bay’s population . There is strong and widespread local opposition, and of the 135 signatories on this petition, only 2 were already aware of this proposal – clearly the public consultation process has been woefully inadequate.

You are proposing to act without the permission, and against the wishes, of those you serve. For more than a 100 years the people of Herne Bay have, in all good faith, entrusted their land to you. This proposal betrays that trust.