The consultation insult: “We want your views”
A furore has broken out over the revelation of designs for the final phase of the Seafront Development on the Harbour Arm, with a vociferous majority describing the efforts of architects as reminiscent of work by The Flintstones – and worse.
To try and understand the styling ideas, it may be that the architects imagined something about the designs seeking a mediterranean village feel, with the densely packed blocks creating passageways leading into hidden areas beyond.
Hidden agenda…
And that’s one of the key issues: what is being hidden is exactly what has been welcomed up until now as a fringe benefit of the development further down the beach.
The expensive and exclusive apartments for wealthy incomers could be overlooked literally from The Leas with a tinge of regret and metaphorically by many local people because of The Harbour Arm.
The Harbour Arm development made sensitive use of the history and character of the old railway branch line to the port and the place where tens of thousands of troops embarked for war and refugees came in from war-torn Belgium.
The Arm has increasingly felt like an open and community-engaging place to go, for a pleasant stroll, a pint, some entertainment, not necessarily costing an arm and a leg.
The blocking off of the Harbour Arm as a niche setting for commercial development is a retrograde step too far for local people. The seeds of this unwanted harvest were sown by the previous District Council administration approving outline planning permission for the Master Plan almost a decade ago. Many have expressed concerns ever since.
The current newly elected Councillors will have nowhere to hide as the detailed planning submission winds its way into the Council Chamber over the next six to twelve months. There will be an expectation that they can stop this in its tracks – but that may be unrealistic, due to the legalities of planning process.
All change: end of the line
Landscape designers SpaceHub show a gentle and more open concept on their website here in some of the early work on the development – which seems somehow to have been lost in translation, as the development has moved forward relentlessly.
And the description of the scheme from a partner in the early stages, the Acme architectural practice also now rings slightly hollow in the light of the newly revealed designs:
Folkestone masterplan preserves the nature of the site as a public space, a beach for everyone,
and a place to find things not found elsewhere
The leading architect – Duarte Lobo Antune- seemed defiant in response to criticism, but will surly be relieved to have escaped the “consultation” over this weekend – 21-22 July relatively unscathed, while licking his wounded pride.
An article in FolkeLife gives useful insight into the seven-year commitment and involvement in this project that Duarte Lobo Antune has experienced. So maybe he and the development team are simply riding out the storm: they can now say that they have “consulted” for the purposes of the next stage of planning permission – regardlesss of the reaction.
The ill-advised strapline of a previous exhibition on this major development should have given the game away to the local community and the architect: “We want your Views“. They’ve got them now.
Our town, our voice. So who is listening?
The main objection other than aesthetic criticism of the style is exactly that – the apparent theft of open space, the very essence of a seaside town in the name of progress and economic investment.
The other crucial objection is to the misuse of the word consultation – which even local Councillors have been using to suggest that the exhibition provides an opportunity to change the plans. It does not. It does provide an opportunity to express a viewpoint, which is clearly hostile.
For those who want to try and save the views of our town for future generations, the real work will involve looking at the details, preparing to challenge on tenable legal grounds (with the developer being well-backed by a strong legal team).
You may feel some very small stirrings of sympathy for the chair and members of the Planning Committee who have the unenviable task of applying the judgement of Solomon. You may recall this story was a test case for what really matters…
There may be arguments that can be developed around infrastructure, the services provided or even the impact on the quality of life which this development will have. Normally those planning arguments mighty be applied to smaller developments – an additional floor reducing the right to light, air and so on. This is on a different scale.
For or against? Our town and our voice….
A final thought: what we all do without fail is to rise up in anger and protest at something proposed which we do not like, which we cannot accept. There are signs this weekend of a real stirring of community action – some excellent community leadership in the making as views are shared, summarised, represented by ordinary local people.
A petition has been started – click here for details…
This needs to be a point of real change – to go further in challenging those in power – economic or political – to recognise both their limitations and their accountability to the local community. We also need to use this as a moment to think about what we do want, what we will fight to keep and preserve in our town and in our community.
The political and community leadership of the town need to show that they will act on behalf of residents, not simply join in protest, wring their hands and blame previous administrations – however much there is some truth in this situation.
The Place Plan was and is an object exercise in the prevalence of poor consultation and a lack of joined up thinking.
It is still being used as a rationale to drive spending of the limited funding available to our community on piecemeal roadworks. How do we know that these are wanted? A lazy consultation which rubber stamps decision making.
Campaigns such as the campaign to save Grace Hill Library are hard to win when those decision makers with the opportunity to think creatively and outside the box for the whole of our community fail to speak up and take action to explore practical solutions. Where is the consultation on this… we are still waiting.
