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Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter General Discussion

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >> Rob shepherd   Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/16 16:16 charles style wrote: I find the negativity of all the people who seem to wish to find reasons for progress not being possible rather depressing. We have good intentions here and could do with a little support rather than the continual cynical scepticism and snide digs, this is honestly a great opportunity for the town and Piers Gough and his team are determined that it should have a character and feel that evokes the town but is modern, this will not be easy to achieve but we are determeined to see it through. Thanks for your clarification Charles. I appreciate it. But I think your comments about scepticism and snide digs rather out of place in your reply to me. I merely asked for clarification to something that appeared to me to be (a) new news and (b) unclear. Other than that I thought my tone and content were completely neutral, neither for or against anything at all. I just wanted some information. regards Rob   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. charles style   Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/16 16:37 Rob, sorry, I was going to say that the reference to snide digs was not really aimed at you and I note that your letter was a request for information. I will try to make the replies to all the information requested as clear as possible, please see the letter I am just sending in to Mr Incredulous.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. charles style   Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/16 17:03 Dear Incredulous, the proposals are for an outline Masterplan, that will deal with the bulk site and massing of the buildings and the proposed uses as well as the public realm, access arrangements, traffic, transport, flood protection, sustainability, etc, etc. Lewes District Council, own part of what is the second phase of the development, most of it let out on long leases. The second phase was to include the cinema, on reflection, as the second phase land is not in our ownership we will look to see if it is possible to include the cinema in the first phase as we feel this is an important element in the proposal and we would like to be certain it could go ahead. We have been told by Lewes Matters that Ann de Vecchi said that the Council were not going to sell us their land. I have not heard that that this is the case and I very much doubt whether any formal decision has been made on this. Anyway as we have made no offer to buy their land I fail to see why or how they should have decided not to sell it. This is however a matter for the Estates Department to decide and is not up to the Planning Department. Estates and Planning are entirely separate. The dental practice which is already onsite will no doubt remain there until the second phase is redeveloped at which time they may be interested in relocating into new premises in the second phase. The Primary Health Care Trust has confirmed to us that they do not wish to have a new medical centre in the development as it is planning to build one already near the site and want a financial contribution to that instead. The crèche can be built in the second phase. The affordable housing that will form part of the second phase will be built in the second phase. We have never claimed to own all the land and no one can be compelled to sell their land except by compulsory purchase. Though we do expect that the second phase will go ahead once the outline masterplan is approved and this will be the subject of a separate planning application, We have been advised by the planners to separate these planning applications for the reasons I have explained, i.e. that one cannot sign a s 106 agreement on land one does not own. The site regeneration can proceed as long as flood protection is put in place. The first phase will include in contrast a far larger part of the burden of regeneration of this area and it's regeneration will allow the second phase to proceed. The first will phase will I repeat, hopefully once and for all, provide all the flood protection, the flood protection for Pelham Terrace, the riverfront walk, footbridge, slipway, boat store, upgrades to the Pells Pool, road link to the Phoenix Causeway, visitor car park, affordable housing, decontamination, upgrades to the sewer, water, gas and electrical infrastructure and possibly the cinema too. We were as you are aware proposing to locate the cinema in the second phase but we will now look to see if it is possible to locate it in the first phase. The rest of the site will no doubt be developed in due course. We have met with all the current landowners including Lewes District Council and we have made arrangements to find sites relocate some of the current occupiers of this land in our development in Malling Brooks, which will then allow the Phoenix sites to be redeveloped. I note that you make reference to the fact that they look like they need redevelopment. The second phase is separate in that it is on the other side of North Street but it is sensible for the masterplan to include this land. Both the planning applications will explain how all this works in great detail with accompanying fully costed viability analyses   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Incredulous   Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/16 17:36 Thank you for that information Mr Style, appreciated. I understand now that your Phase 1 is with regards the land on the river side of North St and Phase 2 is with regards the rest. What I don't understand is whether Angel Property is going to make the planning applications for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 - that is not clear from what you've just written. You say you've been advised to separate them because you can't sign the a s106 agreement for land you don't own, but it's not clear who's going submit the Phase 2 application and when. Will you be kind enough to clarify (if not the when, at least whether it's to be by Angel Property or whether it's to be left to whoever may decide to submit such a thing). Many thanks.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Harry   Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/16 19:27 It's becoming clearer by the day why the Jam Factory is in such a mess and why any Phoenix Quarter development would probably go the same way. Mr Style rattles on merrily about the cinema, even when it's pointed out to him that it's a bit risky to make promises about building on land Angel don't own. On 14 April he said in this forum, 'The cinema is on land owned by the council.but will form part of the development proposal', But now, suddenly, on 16 April the cinema is 'on reflection' going to be somewhere entirely different, part of Phase 1 which - if I'd understood things properly - is the land Angel do own. This making it up as you go along doesn't inspire much confidence, does it?   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Incredulous   Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/16 19:44 No it doesn't and to be honest it's simply insulting. None of us is stupid, yet Charles Style seems to think he can avoid providing straightforward detail by calling us all negative. For goodness sake, Mr Style, just answer my question (see my last post) in a simple, unambiguous way. It's not a lot to ask.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum.

Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter General Discussion

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