Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Work Starts On Cliff's Long-Overdue Facelift

Well, if you can call two blokes with hi-vis vests and a can of DayGlo spray paint 'work'. They appeared to be marking out a dotted line a few feet back from the current crumbling cliff face, presumably with a view to chopping along it at a later date with an enormous pair of pneumatic scissors.

To be fair there was also a JCB scraping off a layer of crud from the surface of the Pleasurama eyesore below, but I shan't be removing the counteriserometer from my sidebar in a hurry. It's already clocked up nearly 1000 days since the temporary, Heras fencing was erected. What's the betting it'll clock up 1000 more?

5 comments:

Nethercourt said...

I noticed today that scaffolding has returned to the new build near Boundry Road lights.... the one that inadvertently exceeded the planned height. I assume that a flat roof is about to happen. I wonder if the same diligence will be asserted if the seafront eyesore ever gets off the ground.....

Anonymous said...

Interesting point Nethercourt we haven't heard much about that lately. I've noticed the flats in that building are being advertised I presume nobody's coughed up for one of the flats at the top that's going to be demolished?

Anonymous said...

I've just seen a workman with some pneumatic equipment about to start work on the clifftop. Any bets that they'll remove some of the cliff edge, get bored, and then decide to leave it like that?

Michael Child said...

The main thing that concerns me is that cash strapped TDC have put aside £450,000 for this cliff repair and are going to go ahead with the work before finalised plans for the building and the environment agencies report are in the public domain.

Certainly they can’t build using the approved plans, as they are full of errors.

The experts I have discussed developing the Pleasurama site with generally are of the opinion that the only large development that would work on the site is one integrated with the cliff, where the cliff top is extended over the building and slightly beyond so that anything thrown of the cliff won’t hit the building of the cars parked in its car park.

Taking this into account it probably means that that the £450.000 will be wasted as the cliff façade would be rebuilt differently were it part of a building.

Mitch said...

Yes, I saw the JCB trundling about and dumping its spoils at the entry to the site.
In reply to Michael's comment on the Pleasurama site. Why don't they burrow into the cliff face under the gardens right up to the crescent buildings foundations. Surely this will give developers the space they need to develop what is essentially a small exterior site by their standards.
The bigger the development area either in the open or otherwise, the more flexibility is availible for some interesting space development. Any comments; Michael is it possible?