Below is the response from Councillor Daveys PR team to the email posted earlier. I think it is clear that financial imperatives are critical in this and hence the residential part of the proposal is fundamental to whether this goes ahead. This in turn is driving the design of the building. At this stage there is clearly no appetite for compromise. The partnership is Arch housing, the County Council, and the Town Council. The only input the community will have is through the consultation process. As we have said before this isnt about whether we like the design or whether it is the most financially viable. It is about whether the design is acceptable within the current guidelines for the conservation area. Clearly, there is a lot of subjectivity in terms like traditional, character, enhanced, and preserved. Councillor Davey team believe the current design fulfils all of these. We are putting our faith in the consultation and planning process. The argument is put forward about the financial gains to local businesses. Arch Housing will get £160,000 per year in rental on those flats. How much will those 16-20 residents spend in local shops? Who are the real economic winners here? Financial viability before communities. Demolition over redesign. Our communities are used to being told that economic viability should be put before the community. We heard the same arguments in the 1980s when we told that the mines were not economically viable and closure was the only option. Perversely, we are being told the same things again in a different context, but by a new set of politicians. What have they become? The question for the community now is a big one. This is the picture of progress presented for the village by the County Council. Is this picture of progress acceptable? If you think not then we need to make our views known strongly in the consultation process, and fight the plans to preserve the heritage of the village. Together we are stronger. archnorthumberland.co.uk/news/newbiggin-by-the-sea-to-receive-1m.htm Dear Sir, In response to your very political and threatening e-mail on the subject of the possible new library for Newbiggin by the Sea (Above). ARCH the Northumberland Development Company’s role in this building is to work to a partnership brief. That brief is outlined in the newslink above. The building is to be developed in partnership with Newbiggin Town Council, ARCH housing and Northumberland County Council. I cannot comment on Newbiggin Town Councils position with regard to this development but following meetings to discuss this project it was relayed to me that their wish to have a modern facility to house their staff was strong as was the need to have a building with full disabled access and a modern public toilet in the Town Centre to assist their service users. Northumberland County Council’s plan is to develop user facilities and housing closer and wherever possible in the centre of towns to assist both our service users and increase the footfall for local businesses instead of locking staff into out of town developments. I’m sure if the project goes ahead the businesses of Newbiggin by the Sea will enjoy the additional prosperity that increased opportunity for trade this project, if delivered, will bring. The finance for this project is finite. The Liberal Democrat/Tory cuts of £130,000,000 over the lifetime of this Council make it so. Your ‘Pragmatic Solution’ of modernising the almost derelict Dolphin public house would render the project useless to the prime partner, ARCH housing, as this would not deliver on their element of this improvement scheme. I differ with your view that town centres with redundant buildings should not be enhanced with new public buildings. The design that’s being consulted on is traditional, is not outlandish, has been agreed at all stages with NTC our local partner who represent the Community. We are not asking the people of Newbiggin to have a ‘Birmingham Library’ type design placed in their Town. As an administration we looked at our current workforce and property in Newbiggin by the Sea and chose to use our library service as a catalyst for change, as the building they are currently housed in requires investment and its position does not bring their customer base into contact with the businesses centrally placed in the Town. They will join with the Town Council staff and members of an NCC customer services team who will also be housed at the library. We hope this will achieve the outcome of making a light, airy yet warm facility that staff and service users can enjoy, whether they are changing books, researching for school homework or more advanced education, undertaking DWP jobsearch, or reporting problems to both NCC and NTC etc., can do so in comfort. The project will also give the opportunity for local people to access good quality housing, centrally situated in a community of choice. I also do not agree with your view on public consultation and hope that when you practised in national policy development and implementation you expressed your opinions openly to those who paid your wages and fed you at that time? I do agree that Front Street, Newbiggin by the Sea is a ‘characterful’ place with a myriad of styles that blend to make this character. They were developed over a period of time to suit need or the marketplace at that time, all of the numerous differing styles combine well to form this character, it is not a uniform urbanisation that is being blighted by the suggested design but one that can be enhanced through this latest suggested change. I suspect that as Newbiggin by the Sea grew, local people were nervous about each new development for the same reasons you and your facebook followers are, please engage with the consultation. Grant Davey Leader of Northumberland County Council
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 17:28:48 +0000
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