Granville Designs

Yikes! I see Surrey-based developer Jason Hough has re-submitted his plans to build 346,907 flats with three parking spaces on the Granville Eyesore, here on Ramsgate's trendy East Cliff!

Actually there's not much more I can say about this that our local Bibliobloke hasn't already said on his excellent thanetonline blog. Click here for that.

Jason and the architects, Clague of Canterbury, are still proposing a hideous, 80s-style monstrosity, much taller than any previous structure that was on the site, along the lines of the one that was wholeheartedly rejected last year. The only difference appears to be that he has counted 100 parking spaces in the area, thus justifying the mingey parking allocation on his site. All I can say is that he must have counted them on a wet Wednesday in December, not in the blazing heat of a sunny Saturday in August, with a scout concert going on at the Granville Theatre.

If Kent Highways, who were one of the main objectors last time, fall for that, then they must be dafter than we all give them credit for.

The other sticking point last time was Jason's refusal to contribute a sum of some £50K to the community chest, to cover the extra strain on local services and infrastructure (schools, hospitals, roads, etc) which such a huge development would inevitably place. Poor Jason said it would mean his development wasn't financially viable. To which the correct response is: 'So you want to subsidise your development with public money, eh?'

Whilst all the focus is rightly on the Pleasurama Eyesore down on the front, the Granville Eyesore eyesore pre-dates Pleasurama by some 15 years. That's right. More than 30 years an eyesore. Much of the hoarding around the site is now dilapidated, and the entire area looks a mess.

So I'm not agin development as such. But please Jason, come up with some plans that everyone can get behind!!

Update: The deadline for comments on this proposal is 14 March 2014, not 4 March (which is what the silly council duffers put on their letter to local residents). You can email them at planning.services@thanet.gov.uk

Wind

Thankfully we're not suffering from wind as much as those poor pasty-munching buggers down in Cornwall are at the moment. But as this picture of the hoarding around the Granville Eyesore here in the Millionaires' Playground shows, one or two things have nonetheless blown off. I'm glad it wasn't my Lamborghini Veneno parked there at the time!

It's the second occasion in a month that the fan's hit the shit, as it were. Property developer Jason Hough, who owns the site, really should have read January's notice on the excellent FixMyStreet website a bit more carefully. If he had, he'd have seen that one more hefty puff was about to bring the rest of his hoardy house down.

Still, by this afternoon Kent Highways had bulldozed it from their road and crammed it back into his hole, so that's not bad going.

Speaking of eyesores, the Pleasurama Eyesore rightly gets all the coverage when it comes to the Cannes of Kent, but the Granville's just as 'orrible in my humble proverbial, as is this in Bellevue Road, which is rapidly becoming the local flytippers' landfill of choice...

Not to mention the old cop shop on Cavendish Street.

I dunno. At this rate it might be worth resurrecting the old Eyesore Tours from 2008!

Huge Erection At Very Short Notice

Reader Samantha writes:

I see the planning application for the massive development behind the Granville on Ramsgate's East Cliff is due to go before TDC's Planning Committee this Wednesday.

To put this in perspective, if this development goes ahead it will be about a third of the size of the proposed Pleasurama development on the front.

As a local resident who will be enormously affected by this proposal to build 38 flats with only 19 parking spaces, I feel that the council should really have given me more notice than a second class letter, posted last Monday, to arrange to speak before the Committee by today.

I have already objected to this development on the grounds of the materials used, the height, and the woeful lack of parking space. I understand that the plans have been altered since they were first submitted in January, and the number of parking spaces reduced even further! Neither the developer's architect - Clague of Canterbury, who I emailed months ago - nor the council, have updated me on any of these issues, despite being able to hold 'public meetings' with the current residents of Granville House and Granville Court.

I agree that the site, which has been derelict for 30 years, needs something done, but if it isn't done in close consultation with the people who live around it, the chances are that we will have yet another Pleasurama debacle on our hands. Yet again, it seems that local democracy and accountability is singularly lacking in Thanet.

Hmmm. Well, Samantha, that certainly is a poke in the, er, eyesore for Thanet Council!

Update: The application was rejected by the planning committee. A victory for common sense, methinks!

Granville Court Fire

Tooling down to the Costcutter for this week's Gra*ia earlier, the old Eastcliff eardrums were practically burst by the most deafening din. Several ambulances, fire engines and police cars were converging on Granville Court, here on Ramsgate's trendy East Cliff.

According to the locals, smoke had been spotted billowing out of one of the windows and apparently somebody had accidentally set themselves alight. Victoria Parade was blocked off, and last time I looked still was, although there was no sign of continuing conflagration. Luckily I had the trusty Leica with me:

Typical! You don't see a single member of Her Majesty's Testicle Scratchers in these parts all year, then four come along at once!

Update: Tragically it seems as if this fire resulted in a fatality. Thanet Extra is reporting that a 94 year old woman on the fifth floor died from burns after apparently trying to put out a toaster fire. Click here for full story.

One Up, One Down

Regular contributor Samantha writes:

I was pleased to see Mears joiners working on behalf of Thanet Council finally reinstating the boundary to Granville Court behind Victoria Parade in Ramsgate last week (see photo attached). It has taken months to get the council to clear this site and replace the hoarding around it after it became dangerously dilapidated and a magnet for fly tippers. Well done TDC (at last)!

And there's another cheer for TDC from reader Brian who sent in this shot of our once-crumbling East Cliff:

As you can see, most of the 'temporary' Heras fencing has been removed. And it only took three years, three months and three days! In fact it had been there so long that this is the first time I've had the pleasure of peering at the prom in its full, un-Herassed glory, as I only DFLed to the Millionaires' Playground at the start of 2006.

I'm tempted to dispense with the 'temporary' fencing counter-uppy thingo on my sidebar, which is currently registering 1,170 days. But then not all the fencing has disappeared, and there are one or two spots of it erupting further up. And a substantial patch has recently burst out along Royal Parade on the west side. Rather like acne really. Whaddya think? Should I stop counting? Or are happy days here again?

Slated

A while back I reported on the slateless state of the Granville Court roof here on Ramsgate's swinging East Cliff. Well, er, as you can see they've now replaced them. And, um, the privet hedge along Victoria Parade has been trimmed by the council. Oh yes, the life of a millionaire celebrity is endlessly fascinating, you know!

Slate Expectations

Cripes! You'd think the roof tiles would stay on a new development longer than five years, wouldn't you? But the slates atop Granville Court here on Ramsgate's crumbling East Clliff seem to be coming adrift already.

Still, I suppose that's what you get with knackered old jumbos flying inches from your bonce every eight minutes - an accelerated decline back to the natural, eyesore state! Word is the airport bosses now believe regular, nocturnal freight flights are the way to go. If that's the case, the least they can do is hand out free mogadons on the high street.

Eyesore Gone In A Blink

Regular reader Samantha writes:

I was surprised and delighted to see that the festering hole behind Granville Court in Ramsgate has been completely cleared by Thanet Council. However they have yet to sort out the perimeter which still contains a blighting mix of dilapidated fencing, temporary fencing and rubbish. Apparently though they will be sorting this out 'asap'.

She adds that the excellent yourthanet newspaper (available free in the corner of all your favourite local stores, usually behind the twelve boxes of Haribo etc.) followed up the 'festering hole' story this week, which presumably gave our beloved council the, er, prod up the jacksie it needed to get on with it. Our local campaigning, crap-clearing, caff-crushing, car-crushing councillor Dave Green also played a part in getting this mess sorted out, I'm told. Lumme, if this continues he's going to sound like a 70s soft drink ad.

So, three cheers for yourthanet and three cheers for campaigning etc. Dave Green. And, er, two and a half cheers for Thanet Council. Now that's something you don't hear me say very often!

Granville Court before the Thanet Council clean-up

Granville Court after the Thanet Council clean-up

Fency That!

Oh dear. I think the hangover's beginning to kick in. That must be the worst pun yet. Anyway, moving swiftly on... Regular contributor Samantha writes:

I heard that the council was going to do something about the dreadful eyesore-cum-flytip-cum-toilet round the back of Granville Court in Ramsgate, so I was pleasantly surprised when several Mears vans turned up in the pouring rain yesterday. However, once the workmen had gone I was shocked to see that all they had done was put up yet more temporary fencing in true Thanet Council style.

When will our council properly get to grips with these problems? What they have done is the equivalent of putting up barbed wire around a dog turd and saying: 'Job done!' I attach some photos for your blog.

Well, I must say that I prefer the more salubrious sobriquet 'barker's nest', Samantha. But I take your point.

Before Thanet Council's clean-up operation

After Thanet Council's clean-up operation

Tip's A Snip At £2.4m

Regular contributor Samantha writes:

For some time I have been trying to draw the council's attention to the dreadful eyesore round the back of Granville Court. This site, which abuts a conservation area, was granted planning permission by TDC in 2004 for a block of flats, since when it has been allowed to become a festering hole by its owners, Oakleigh Developments Ltd. of Rochester. The boundary fence blew down more than a year ago and has never been properly repaired. The site is full of health and safety hazards, including deep excavations, and attracts fly tippers.

Attempts to contact Oakleigh Developments have all resulted in dead ends, and I notice that they are overdue at Companies House with this year's annual return and annual report. Now the site is up for auction on 31 March by Ward and Partners with a guideline price of £2.3-£2.4m. Of course, this price reflects the fact that planning permission has already been granted, and still has a year to run.

What annoys me is that all my attempts to alert Thanet Council and my local Councillor, David Green, to the state of this site, which blights what is otherwise a pleasant built landscape, have been ignored. They have never even bothered to respond to my emails. With gas cannisters and other hazardous waste on the site, and with the school holidays approaching, it will not be long before a curious teenager suffers serious injury if you ask me, as the site is wide open.

What does the council's Planning Department do when it gives these developers planning permission? Walk away and never darken their doors again? It seems so, and it's a disgrace. If you ask me, they are asleep at the wheel. I have enclosed some photos for your excellent blog.





Update: According to the Ward and Partners website (click here), the sale has since been withdrawn.

Give Them An Inch

You know me, I haven't got a southern hemisphere-ist bone in my body. Not even after last weekend's rugby. But it was only a month ago that I spotted these chaps...

...moving in to their new luxury apartment at Granville Court here on Ramsgate's swinging East Cliff, and now they've shipped in three of their mates:

Has the government taken this into account in its recent population projection? I think we should be told!

More on parakeet immigration here

Interesting Developments

Hey-ho! What more interesting way to spend a wet Thursday afternoon than putting together a round-up of some of the fantastic building developments going on here in the Cannes of Kent?

Pleasurama (aka Royal Sands, artist's impression above): Work about to start, we're told, on a vast complex of shops, hotels and luxury apartments. About time too, as the site has been a blot on the Ramsgate coastscape for the best part of a decade. Set to become 'the jewel in Ramsgate's crown' according to the estate agent. However, according to our local biblio-bloke Michael Child, who's seen the plans, it could be more a case of 'the concrete in somebody's head' as living space shrinks to avoid the flood plain at the bottom and the height restriction at the top.

Victoria Road (Dorman's Yard): Best not to mention this one as despite the fact that it's nearing completion, it could be about to be demolished due to a breach of planning.

Granville Court: Completed a few years ago, with Phase 2 waiting in the wings, the rumour is that only a few of the 40 or so apartments have sold. I thought I'd better double check this with Oakleigh Developments, but their website doesn't exist, and my email bounced back with an 'undeliverable' notice. I'm afraid at that point curiosity got the better of me, and a quick check at Companies House revealed that their accounts are listed as overdue. I also discovered a winding-up petition against them from last year, although I've been unable to discover the outcome. Perhaps it's no wonder their Phase 2 site is rapidly reverting to its previous bomb site status.

So, there you have it! From eyesore to luxury apartments and back to eyesore again in three easy steps!

Update: Reader Jean writes: I have been complaining to the council for months about the state of the fence at the rear of Granville Court, which blew down in February. Fly-tippers have been having a field day and the site, which contains deep excavations, is a hazard, especially to curious children. This week I sent them a rather stern email after they failed to respond to my latest official complaint within ten days - their own service level agreement - and threatened to go to the local papers. Lo and behold, today they are fixing the fence. We shouldn't have to resort to such extremes just to get simple problems resolved. The site is opposite a guest house, heavens knows what visitors to Ramsgate must think.

All The Fun Of The Fair

According to my gold plated atomic clock (a gift from a grateful North Korean cove after I put on a private gig for him back in the 90s), today is the 18th of July. So what? I hear you cry. Well, I'll tell you what. Our local council promised the summer funfair on the Pleasurama eyesore would be in place two days ago, that's what. But so far, nada.

Still, all is not lost, as Oakleigh Developments, who rebuilt a bit of the Granville a few years back, have bravely stepped in to fill the boredom gap. With the school holidays in mind they've been beavering away since February, when their site fence blew down, building an adventure playground that will keep even the most mindless teenager entertained and amused during the summer break. Admittedly they've yet to get their health and safety certificate, but I'm reliably informed that'll be a breeze. Take a look:

Free entry (round the back)

Lots to explore and set fire to

Cracking facilities