News
Friends of Restronguet Point
www.restronguetpoint.co.uk
This website is managed, edited and funded by John Crowther, a resident.
The news section is updated on a regular basis, the views expressed in the newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of the members of the committee.
Revision, July 2010
Approx. 284 photographs and diagrams, 220 equivalent pages.
The site is monitored by Google Analytics.
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NEWSLETTER
July 2010
Weak Broadband connection on The Point, July 30th 2010, JBC
Western Morning News,Friday, July 30th, 2010.
Villagers set up ultra-cheap broadband
BY LOUISE VENNELLS
People power has dramatically improved the lives of a remote West Country village, after the community clubbed together to build its own broadband connection.
Northlew, seven miles from Okehampton in Mid Devon, was repeatedly told by BT that the majority of homes would never have the high-speed service because they lived too far from the exchange.
However, despite being quoted at least £400,000 to build the communication facility that people in urban areas take for granted, the village persevered. Now, they have found new technology which has finally delivered the connection they need.
Residents helped raise funds, and the local chapel makes up part of the infrastructure.
The community company has also bought the formerly dilapidated local red phone box, to protect it for posterity. It now has its own business line, providing phone calls for 1p per minute to anywhere in the world, the cheapest public call charges in the country.
The new broadband has meant big improvements for villagers. Mothers have been reunited with their far-flung relatives via video, students are able to study from home and businesses have seen productivity treble.
Graham Everrett a video library consultant, once had to make an 18-mile round trip up to three times a day in order to download large images on his mobile internet connection. He said: “I would say my productivity has increased by 200 per cent, because I’m not on the road all the time.”
Christopher Marson is one of five directors who have helped make the vision a reality. He moved to the village in 2008, one of many who believed that Northlew would one day have broadband.
The village had already formed a company, which had tried several times to introduce the service, to no avail.
In the end, Mr Marson found state-of-the-art technology from Israel which works along a line leased from BT, exclusively to serve Northlew. It comes in through the chapel, in an underground cable, and is broadcast from the church tower via a radio signal. Houses with a receiver now get the speed they need.
The line costs £7,500 per year, distributed between the 150 households signed up to the service. Each pays £18 per month. The set up cost was £50,000, with £6,000 raised through community events such as curry nights, and much of the rest from a grant from Linking the Environment and Farming’s Dart- moor Fund. The group also had support from South Hams District Council.
Mr Marson said: ‘We have residents who are doing Open University courses who can now work from home. Children were having to stay late at school because they couldn’t log in to access their homework, but now they can.
“On Christmas Eve, when the connection went live, I installed Skype for one woman who is in her 70s. She was abs to talk to her son in New Zealand face-to-face for the first time in a number of years, and she burst into tears.”
Last year, Northlew lost its shop and the BT phone line service was shut, but now residents can at least order goods online. The approach is in line with the Western Morning News Think Local campaign which encourages communities to club together to create stronger bonds.
Mr Marson said the community had “put two fingers up” at BT when they had said a connection was not possible.
Now, Mr Marson is working as a consultant through his private company, westcoastbroadband.net, to help other communities achieve the same result.
Fellow Northlew Community Company director John Maguire said BT had “misled” residents, saying they could have the service if they raised £600,000, but in fact the infrastructure would never have worked.
In a statement, BT said insisted they had tried to help.
“A detailed survey showed that it is currently not commercially viable for BT to provide a good quality broadband service for the remaining households in the village, which meets all the necessary requirements. The project, involving the laying of seven and a half kilometers of underground ducting and cabling, would have represented an investment by BT of about £600,000.”
Cornwall AONB
Reproduced from Tir Teg Newsletter, June 2010
NOTICE OF FORTHCOMING PUBLIC CONSULTATION
The purpose of this email is to give you/your organization notice of the forthcoming public consultation period (end July - end Sept 2010). We will send you an e-mail at the end of July with a link to the Draft Management Plan on the Cornwall AONB website so that you can make comments using the online questionnaire. Or send comments to us in the post If you DO NOT wish to be consulted on the Draft Management Plan, please let us know by email: newsletter@cornwall-aonb.gov.uk. If you wish to unsubscribe to future editions of Tir Teg, please see the link at the end of this email.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION;
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONS) Management Plan 2004-200D is being reviewed. It is a statutory requirement that all AONB management plans are reviewed within 5 years of their publication. Preliminary consultation has already taken place with the general public at several events and festivals held in the Cornwall AONB during summer 2O10. Cornwall AONB Stakeholders have also been consulted on the revised draft text, policies and actions for the new Management Plan.
The revised Draft Management Plan will be available or public consultation at the end of July 2010 until end of September 201 0 (approximately 10 weeks). This will be a chance for anyone (general public, stakeholders, landowners and land managers, businesses, community groups and organisations. parish and town councils, developers, government bodies and agencies, Cornwall AONB partner organisations etc), to provide us with comments on the draft document.
The new Plan will have strategic chapters on the following themes (and each chapter witl contain polices and actions);
• Biodiversity and Geodiversity
• Climate Change and Energy
• Communities and Economy
• Farming, Food & Forestry
• Heritage
• Landscape and Seascape
• Rivers, Coast and Marine
• Sustainable Tourism
• Transport and Access
There will also be specific chapters on Planning & Development and Communications (Interpretation & Awareness), In addition, there will be 12 local chapters (one for each of the 12 separate sections that make up the Cornwall AONB). The local chapters will include detail on local landscape character, examples of local Issues and guiding principals for management.
The new Cornwall AONB Management Plan will set out the policies and actions for the next 5 years and beyond.
Your input and comments woud be very helpful in order to ensure a Plan that is accurate, comprehensive safe and fit for the future.
Many thanks,
Colette Horden
Cornwall AONB Partnership Manager
For more information
www.cornwall-aonb,gov.uk
Cornwall AONB Unit, PAR Building, Treyew Road, Truro. Cornwall, TRI 3AY
Telephone; 01872 322350 Fax 01872 3223844 Email Cornwall AONB Unit.
Designed and Developed by Nixon.
ARE YOU CONNECTED?
RESIDENTS are being encouraged to sign up to a police messaging system to help the fight against crime.
Community Messaging enables police to pass on crime warnings, appeal for help with an offence that has happened or update people on policing initiatives and successes.
Messages can be received by email, phone or letter and you can give a preferred time for police to get in touch.
Thousands of people are already signed up to the scheme across the Force area. Over the past year local people have received alerts on a wide range of issues from bogus callers and scams to missing children and house burglaries, as well as urgent warnings like potential flooding.
PC Hayley Ferris said: “Community Messaging helps to improve communication between the police and residents and is a great tool for helping us prevent and detect crime.”
The service is free and very simple to join.
To register visit: www.devon-cornwall.police.uk and follow the link on the home page.
The Marine and Coastal Access Act, 2010.
£50m coastal path is tipped into the abyss
Robin Henry , The Sunday Times, 01.08.2010
A plan to create an unbroken footpath around the coastline of England has been shelved because of spending cuts.
The £50m scheme, which would have given walkers the right to roam along almost 2,500 miles of coast, was trumpeted as one of Gordon Brown’s “big ideas” when it was announced in 2008.
Yet more than two years later, not a single foot of the trail has been laid. The project has been dragged through a legislative quagmire amid strong opposition from private landowners who would have been required to allow public access.
One glitch involved Hilary Benn, then Labour environment secretary, who while advocating the path was accused of blocking access to the estuary frontage of his family’s farm in Essex.
This weekend officials at Natural England, the government quango responsible for the All England Coast Path, said the project had been delayed indefinitely in favour of cheaper, local improvements.
The agency has shelved the plan as its parent body, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), offers cost savings to the Treasury of up to 50%.
Only the first stage of the path, a 14-mile stretch around Weymouth, in Dorset, is likely to go ahead. Even that will not be completed until 2012, when the area will host Olympic sailing events.
Work on other stretches in Norfolk, Somerset, Kent, Cumbria and Yorkshire may not start next year as planned.
Tom Lewis, a manager at Natural England, said the cost of the national scheme was “no longer acceptable in the current economic climate”.
“We are now being realistic and flexible and looking at what we will be able to deliver in terms of coastal access in certain areas,” he added.
“I can safely say we will not see an All England Coast Path in the next 10 years as was planned.”
The £5Om budget had included the cost of building bridges and stiles, maintaining routes and providing for horse riders and cyclists. Fighting legal challenges from landowners could have significantly inflated the final bill.
The planning and consultation for the section around Weymouth alone will cost up to £70,000 and will require Natural England to negotiate rights of way with 161 landowners.
Although the Marine and Coastal Access Act commit the government to working towards a full English coastal path, it does not impose a deadline for completion. Natural England had thought it could be achieved in a decade.
Brown, the former prime minister, unveiled the legislation in May 2008 but it did not get through parliament until November last year.
This was partly because the act addressed other complex issues, including marine conservation, and partly because of resistance from landowners who wanted an appeals procedure.
Natural England claims that 30% of the English coastline is inaccessible to walkers, although private landowners believe the figure is only 16%, and say much of that is made up of ports and harbours.
Ramblers campaigned for greater access after right-to- roam freedoms were introduced in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
But the Country Land & Business Association, which represents half of England’s landowners, said a national scheme had always been misguided and should now be scrapped altogether.
Coastal Access Scheme
Copies of the Coastal Access Scheme are available at:http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/NE269
Copies of the Summary Report on the Consultation Scheme consultation are available at:http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/NE268
Antiques Road Show 2010 at the AGM.
The Chairman reported that the event had generated a profit of £185 which, as requested by the guest valuer Mr David Lay, had been sent to the Parkinson’s Disease Society. The Society had responded with a certificate expressing their thanks for the support received from the Friends. Thirty-six people had brought a fascinating variety of antique items for valuation. The Committee agreed that it had been a successful occasion and DR reported that Mr Lay had written to say that he would like to do it again.
Restronguet Point is the ultimate in ‘des res’ West
West Briton, Thursday January 7, 2010, and Western Morning News, Friday, January 8, 2010.
A RURAL road lined with beautiful waterfront houses near Truro has been named as one of the most expensive streets in the South West.
Stunning views stretching east across Carrick Roads or west up Restronguet Creek have made Restronguet Point near Feock a desirable place to live.
Many of the homes in the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have gardens which roll down to the shore, some with private slipways.
According to a survey by the Halifax, houses in the last five years have sold for an average of £1,015,769, but estate agents say recent prices have hit nearly three times that.
Resident of 10 years and chairman of the Friends of Restronguet Point, Derek Reed said: “It is high, so there is no chance of being flooded. We have wonderful sea views and it is nicely covered in trees.
“It is difficult to find another place like it and the value of property is going up around here all the time. It’s a great place to live.”
Only houses on streets in Poole’s famous Sandbanks, inhabited by a plethora of famous footballers including Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp and his son Jamie, came in at a higher cost in the region.
‘Incredible location’
Ian Lillicrap, director of Lillicrap Chilcott estate agents in Truro, who also lives on Restronguet Point, said: “Restronguet is an incredible location, especially compared with somewhere as cramped and ridden with traffic as the Sandbanks Peninsula.
“It is the only location Cornwall where you can be five minutes drive from Truro, ten minutes drive from Falmouth and on the eastern shore you have direct water frontage, if you’re very lucky your own dry dock and if you’re really lucky your own slip way.
“There is no other location in Cornwall that gives you such easy access to deep water, and what is said to be amongst the finest sailing waters in the world.
“I have heard it said that the western side is known as the sunny side and the eastern is known as the money side.”
Resident of nine years Tom Rouncefield
Resident of nine years Tom Rouncefield agreed, saying: “It is only a short distance from the city and you can go boating from the bottom of your garden.”
But the secretary of the Friends of Restronguet said many homes were left vacant for large parts of the year and some had frequent extensions or had been demolished and rebuilt, raising concerns about preserving the beauty of the area.
Mr Lillicrap sold a house on the road for less than £100.000 in 1979 and resold it this year for nearly £3m.
“I think that at long last Restronguet Point is receiving a little bit of notoriety”, he said.
Nicky Burridge and David Wilcox.
Comments by John Crowther, January, 2010.
"People are more important than buildings".
We have lived on The Point for a little over 40 years.
At that time there were only a handful of houses or cottages on the Point. A 60 foot wide plot cost £500 and a new house about £8,000 to £10,000 thousand.
With hindsight it might have been preferable for the then Trustees to the Porthgwidden Estate to have specified a minimum width of plot to 180 feet thereby reducing the density of development on The Point, providing for substantial tree planting and landscaping opportunities.
At the time there were restrictions in respect of design which fell by the wayside over the years.
I consider that stricter controls should be enforced by the new Cornwall Council to strictly control planting on the verges within the ownership of CC.
Boundary walls and hedges to the properties behind the verges should be clearly specified to be Cornish of indigenous stone.
The overhead cables should be "Undergrounded". Funds may well already be available.
Subject to the area of the site, limited multi storey developments should be considered to provide variety and flats for the elderly.
Several houses have already been demolished for redevelopment, opportunities should be taken by Cornwall County to raise architectural design standards on The Point.
August 2009.
Website update.
I have revised the contents of the website to include the recent changes to the Councils with the formation of Cornwall Council, the closure of the Carrick District Council and the continuation of the Feock Parish Council.
I have increased the number of photographs in respect of;
Gates and entrances,
Nameplate and house names,
and photographs of the more recently recently constructed dwellings.
In respect of Gates+Entrances , I have added a note that when I started in practice a little over fifty years ago there were strict rules by the then Cornwall County Council ensureing that the entrances and crossovers were designed with safety in mind. The designs were monitored by the then Area Planning Officers in association with the CCC Highways Officers. The gates needed to be set back from the edge of the CC Highway by 7.5 feet, half the length of a car, with clear sight lines of 15 feet each way.
I am concerned that several recently constructed dwellings have entrances and crossovers from the CC highway that are dangerous.
The following revisions have also been made.
- A current list of the members of the committee.
- The implications of the Unitary Authority to the planning system.
- The limited responsibility of the Unitary Authority in respect of design issues.
- The continuing negotiations with Western Power Developments in respect of under-grounding.
- The proposed sign at the end of The Point.
- The Pit at the end of the Point.
- The former ships bell from the SS Penpol to the ferry service from the Point to the Pandora Inn to have "disappeared", maybe stolen for scrap. Thanks to Mr and Mrs Blackburn of Feock for the further information.
- Thanks to the members of the Feock Parish Council for introducing the experimental system of direct planning approvals for minor matters.
- Thanks also to our honourary secretary, Tom Rouncefield for writing the paragraph referring to the early days of the formation of the Friends.
- Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A paper by Peter Mansfield.
Restronguet Point, Undergrounding.
Present Position, 25.08.09
Over the years I have met and been in correspondence with Mr Colin Hicks, Distribution Manager and Mr. Geoffrey Gilbert, Chief planner, Western Power Distribution.
The regulator to all the electricity Distribution companies has made approximately £1M available over the next five years for projects for the undergrounding of mains electrical services.
The projects are driven by The South West Protected Landscape Forum. Representative, Carleen Kellerman. Director, Objective One Partnership for Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Carleen Kellerman is a member of the Forum.
A suitable site, according to Mr Hicks, should be Iconic, and economic to develop.
The cost of undergrounding would be in the region of £200 a metre.
It would appear that the project is now on hold.
Feock Councillors pioneer local planning revolution
By PHILLIPPA SPACKMAN
West Briton,Thursday, August 272009
A PARISH council in mid-Cornwall is one of only five in the country to trial a project which could put planning decisions in the hands of local people.
During the next year Feock Parish Council will develop the framework for a Local Development Order (LDO) which would allow its councilors to decide minor planning applications rather than them going in front of Cornwall Council planners.
The project will look first at applications in Carnon Downs for such things as conservatories, extensions, garages, hedges, trees, and any other development for not more than one house.
Parish clerk Alan Truan said: “The project is to create the framework for the LDO and if it is successful, the council has said they will implement it.
“We receive around 800 planning applications a year in the parish, of which 100 are from Carnon Downs. If this is successful it could lead to minor applications being- decided much faster and at much less expense.
Advantages
“Anyone would still have the right, if they prefer, to seek planning permission by the usual route of a formal planning application to Cornwall Council.
“Another advantage would, be it would free up some of Cornwall Council’s planning officers time, leaving them to concentrate on major applications. ’
Feock Parish Council won permission to trial the scheme, after Cornwall Council put in national bid to fund the project with the help of £15,000 from the Government’s planning advisory service.
Mr Truan said: ‘When we bid for it, we didn’t expect to get it, especially as much larger councils such as Looe and St Ives were in the running. But we’re very excited and pleased to be able to take the project ahead.
“Planning is an absolute priority for us and we have done a lot of preparatory work already in developing our parish plan and parish design and character statement.
“We’re looking forward to working with Cornwall Council officers to develop this, make the LDO happen, and hopefully roll it out across the county
Enabling
Mr Truan added: “It’s really about localism and the empowerment of parish councils - what we’ve always been promoting. It’s enabling decisions to be made locally by people who live locally, and know the local area.
“To make It work we will have to develop a rigorous framework for the order, and a rigorous design code, and parish councillors will have to be trained. The order will then have to be registered by the planning authority and we will have to be given a certificate to allow us to do the work.”
The time scale for the project is for a design code to be formulated and published by April next year If the new order is adopted by May, it should be in operation by October.
Social Gathering, BBQ, 16th August 2009.!
The barbeque lunch for the Friends and residents of Porthgwidden, Harcourt and Restronguet Point and their friends was held on the 16th August, hosted by Wendy and David Gladwyn at Providence. Wendy and David were assisted by the wives and husbands of the members of the committee. The Chairman arranged and funded the live music.
The event was very well supported by not only Friends, but also by the residents of the village of Feock This was a special occasion to meet neighbours, members and non members. Grateful thanks to all those concerned, In particular Wendy and David Gladwyn. Between thirty and forty guests were present. The BBQ was a great success and reintroduced many old friends.
Our musicians.
The pit
The pit at the end of The Point has by many been accepted by many as a former saw pit. However the use of the pit has recently been questioned by Tom Rouncefield, the secretary of the FRP, an historian.
(JBC) referred the matter to Nicholas Johnson, Historic Environment Manager of The Historic Environment Service. The service is registered as an Archaeological Organisation with the Institute of Field Archaeologists.
He comments as follows, "Unfortunately we do not have any information about the saw pit at the end of the point. I must admit I have always been puzzled about this as it seems such a strange place to have one. The 2nd edition of the OS map(c 1907) marks a building at this location (more or less) and I wonder whether this may be a boat house with a half tide slip. However it is narrow. The known sawpit at Roundwood quay is much more convincing as it is on level ground and has the right dimensions. Saw pits need flat ground around all four sides otherwise you cannot support the logs. I imagine that the only reason why one would need a sawpit is for shipbuilding and as far as I know there is no tradition of that on the Point. I imagine that only a visit to the Record Office may help".
(JBC, 16.008.09)
Report from our Chair
Planning Applications.
Planning applications are continuing steadily and will probably continue and lead to more sites being redeveloped. I must again emphasise that is our firm policy not to express objections or reservations to planning applications unless they would, in our opinion, detrimentally affect the community generally. During the past year we have made only one formal objection and that was in respect of the removal of a prominent tree. We were expecting another application for a telecommunications mast but so far so good.
Our Website. www,restronguetpoint.co.uk
Our website, was, in its infancy, designated “Website of the Month” by Inside Cornwall magazine and attracts attention. The Design Statement has been admired by other localities endeavouring to produce their own village design statements.
Near to home Feock Parish Council has a new site, (http://www.feockpc.com/) with links to our site. Why not access both websites?
Verges and Walls.
We believe that the beauty of our area depends very much on retaining the natural verges and the wall of local stone. It may be subjective but we think that some of our verges have recovered or have been improved recently. Perhaps the Friends could initiate a programme of planting wild flowers on some of our verges.What do you think? We note that under the Feock Parish Plan that the Parish Council also regards the retention of verges and walls to be important.
Marble Head.
The end of the Point is environmentally important with fine views over the Carrick Roads and Restronguet Creek. The main part of the land around the footpath is common land maintained by the Parish Council. It is looking good now and the seat provided by Charles Hancock is a kind amenity. The parking problem near the footpath remains to be resolved and we have received the support of the Parish Council to help the situation. However we have seen no action so far! Marble Head is not only a beautiful place but it also has an interesting history. Tom Rouncefield has been researching this and particularly the history of the old ferry.
The Friends are currently planning to place a plaque at the Point containing an outline of some of its history. We are very pleased that The Feock Parish Council and the Restronguet Creek Society have generously indicated that they may financially support the project.
Speeding.
As commented in last year’s newsletter residents are getting increasingly concerned about speeding particularly in respect of vehicles travelling towards the end of the Point along the straight downhill middle stretch of the road. The issue was discussed at a Parish Council Feock Plan meeting and the need to restrict speeding was accepted if we could obtain evidence of that speeding. Accordingly we approached the police who considered that the volume of traffic did not justify action by them. Your committee considered additional action including an approach to County Councillor, Jim Currie and produced a petition signed without exception by all available residents in our area. Mr Curry has expressed his support for a 20mph limit and stated that he will act as a result of the petition. I imagine however he has many other issues on his mind as a result of his successful election to the new Cornwall Council. We must be patient.
The History of our Area.
John Harding who lived in this area during the second world war is writing a book about war time events in Feock and says that Restronguet Point is of particular interest. He has finished writing his book and is now busy collecting photographs. He has been consulting local residents and his telephone number is available if you think he might like any material you may have.
Undergrounding Utilities.
Over the last few years we have explored the possibility of undergrounding the overhead utility cables. Although we might be able to get utility companies to put in the trunk cables in at their expense the connection to houses would be at the householder’s expense. Some houses already have underground connections to the road however we are uncertain how many of you would want to bear the connection expense. What do you think?
The website is monitored by Google Analytical.
The Google analytical programme has been active since October 2007.
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Visits, 8147, Page views,17730, Pages visit, 2.18, % New Visits, 81.70%, 6,660 visitors.
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Quaker meeting house, Come to Good
Nor do I know of a nobler building than Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, a celebration of the city’s pride and a great testimony of the faith and determination of a community which was never deflected, not even by two world wars. It was begun in 1904 when times were brilliant and completed in 1978 when they were not. It soars over the city, on St James’s Mount, overlooking the great commercial edifices and the Mersey. It is the largest Anglican church in the world and the second—largest cathedral after St Peter’s in Rome. For the moment it is my favourite cathedral in Britain. I have only recently discovered that mv father, John Betjeman, was also smitten:
‘This is one of the great buildings of the world, he wrote, ‘the impression of vastness, strength and height no words can describe suddenly, one sees that the greatest art of architecture, that lifts one up and turns one into a king, yet compels reverence, is the art of enclosing space.’ In contrast, the pure simplicity of the Quaker meeting house like Come to Good in Cornwall is awe-inspiring in a a completely different, equally wonderful way. Where on earth would England be without these great or small, modest or elaborate, but above all familiar symbols of faith? We would be rudderless.
Candida Lycett Green, Issue 61, Conservation Bulletin, Historic Envireonment.
The Last Minutes of the Committee Meetings
The approved minutes of committee meeting are posted on this site by accessing, FRP MINUTES. Comments may be made to the secretary by Email by accessing "Contact Us" from the main memory.
Designs for a better future
Richard Simmons, head of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, tells Emily Ford that good design lies at the heart of a safer, more secure society
DESIGN may not seem the obvious way to solve problems as diverse and far-reaching as bullying in schools, car vandal ism and the security of our national food supply.
But Richard Simmons, chief executive of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe), believes that better design is the answer to almost all our social problems — or at least, a significant part of it. Too often the social function of design isn’t taken into account, he says. In 1999, CABE was set up to address the problem.
“The Government recognised that we weren’t getting good enough design in the places where we live, where we work, where we go to school”
Where we live is at the heart of Cabe’s work The commission has just finished a three-year audit of new housing, looking at design quality. “About a third of the housing that’s been built over the past ten years should never have been given planning permission because it’s simply too poor,” he says. Only about 5 per cent is really good. A third of people think their neighbourhood is unsafe for children and 48 per cent say there is not enough space to play, he says. On many estates the only public space is the car park.
“Kids play on and around the cars, so why do you think your car gets damaged?” he says. Developers, many of whom work to a short-term financial model; are partly responsible. Open spaces cost money often councils consider it the Developers’ responsibility and vice versa “Some one has to think about the whole estate, not just the house you buy.”
So who should take responsibility? “Everyone. It’s in all our interest to make places sustainable.” His faith in the individual’s ability to change things nears the point of ideal-ism. Those with buying power can demand better neighbour- hoods; developers seduce people with the property, not its surroundings. “You step outside the soft-focus kitchen, the world comes into sharp focus,” he says.
Car dependency is a critical design failing. For many people on estates, the nearest shop is five miles away, Cabe found. “There’s a big onus on the public to say ‘we can’t afford big estates in the middle of nowhere’,” he says. It is symptomatic of a wider problem. “Planners haven’t got their heads around sustainability,” he says. Of 700 s surveyed, just seven add sustainability. One city building used a biofuels burner with the wood chips driven in from the countryside by lorry. Yet “About a third ofthe housing built in the past ten years should never have been given planning permission”
Zero-carbon homes are having a tangible effect, he says. Gripes that they are unfeasible are based on single-home costings. “Developers are very good at mass production and getting things cheaply.” Cabe supports even tougher compulsory targets.
Eco-towns are the big sister of low-carbon homes. Simmons, who sits on the Eco town Challenge Panel set up to test the idea, says that the existing built environment is the more pressing issue.
We want a strategy that makes all our towns and cities eco-towns and cities.” He is concerned that eco-towns will be seen as off-grid retreats for a green elite. “Everyone should be able to live a green lifestyle conveniently. There is a real worry that being green is seen as something that only the rich can afford.” Even if eco-towns don’t mineralise, “we will have learnt a lot from the process,” he says.
At a micro level, issues of national security — food and energy supply — all come back to design. Giving residents space to grow vegetables would improve food security in a shaky economic climate, he says “These sound like big issues for a design organisation. But how we design our places has a big impact on how we live our lives.”
URBAN HUB 2008
For the first time at the annual party political conferences in September, there will be a co-ordinated programme of fringe events on urban issues. The Urban Hub will bring together Cabe, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Centre for Cities, the Core Cities Group and the Work Foundation for a series of panel discussions on the issues affecting cities - including housing and neighbourhoods, transport and the role of businesses in city governance. Public Agenda and The Times will be the media partner for all 24 events.
For further Information, visit www.urban-hub.org
RIBA South West Regional Award
Congratulations to Charles Hancock a former member of the FRP committe and architects Muma of London to have scored a double by being awarded RIBA South West Regional Awards for the Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange Gallery, Penzance. Charles is the Chairman of the galleries.
The village of Feock and immediate surrunding areas
Following the completion of the Design Statement for the Friends of Restronguet Point, I considered that it might be useful to include a selection of the interesting buildings within the village of Feock and the its neighbourhood vicinity to support and complement the Feock Parish Plan which may be found at the following website. (http://www.feockpc.com/)
This is a preliminary exercise. I welcome constructive comments in order that the document may be corrected and expanded to be useful to the residents of the village of Feock.
The record of listed buildings in the Parish of Feock may be found at English Heritage, National Monuments Record, Feock, whose website is:
http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/QuickResults/Default.aspx
A Basic Search for 'Feock' found 78 Listed buildings, listed within the area of Feock, (Within the search box, type “Feock” for further details and photographs). My compilation of interesting buildings (with photographs and commentary) is:
The Parish Church of Saint Feock
The Methodist Chapel at Goonpiper
The Society of Friends Meeting House
Trelissick
The Feock Parish Council
Post war award winning buildings.
Creek Vean House
Pillwood, Pill Creek
Former Inn at Lane End
The St Feock Reading Room
The Old Vicarage, the St Feock Church Hall
The Former Feock School
The Pump and the Well at La Feock
The Old Post Office
Ferris Garage Limited
King Harry Steam Ferry Company Limited
Loe Beach, Cornwall
Loe Beach Water sports Centre
The Truro River Rowing Club and Truro Gig Club
Loe Beach, the future
The 35 page document can be accessed, at
Section 9, Appendix 11
(John Crowther, August 2009)
“Better design, Better places”.
EMMA CORLETT
Western Morning News Thursday January 31 2008.
The South West is lacking architectural ambition and needs to increase its commitment to design quality, according to ‘Better design, Better places”, the first publication to be released by the South West Design Review Panel.
The panel is a partnership between Creating Excellence, the regional centre of excellence for sustainable communities, and The Architecture Centre, Bristol.
Marking the second anniversary of the South West Design Review Panel, the new report brings together the findings from 70 schemes reviewed since its inception.
The 30-strong panel brings together a wealth of expertise in architecture, planning and urban design and is chaired by Peter Clegg, co-founder of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios of Bath and London, which was recently named Architectural Practice of the Year.
Thinking about the panel’s findings from cases reviewed, Mr Clegg said:
“Our overriding concern is a lack of architectural ambition. We must as a region both understand our heritage and help to create our future heritage. Too many schemes are tamely doing what was done before, what is easy or what seems to be a safe bet.”
The main aim of Better design, Better places is to increase understanding of what makes a well designed development. It includes an essential checklist of ten key points that the South West Design Review panel has identified through its first two years of work and deems critical to the success of projects.
These are:
- Public Realm: think through spaces between buildings.
- Transport: don’t leave strategy to others when every scheme can play a part.
- Precedents: questionable examples will not impress
- Context: show the scheme in its vicinity and community.
- Scale: explain the relationship of the buildings to the surrounding built environment and the human scale.
- Identity: iconic or modest, a building needs a clear identity. -
- Sustainability: it is time for fundamental commitment to the environment, not vague aspiration.
- Materia!s: don’t overdo it, less can be more.
- Robustness: make your scheme future-proof,
- Ambition: be creative, take risks, raise the game.
Talking about the ten points, Mark Pearson, head of design at Creating Excellence, said: This checklist has been compiled as both a practical guide and hopefully an inspiration to all involved with development in the South West,
• The South West Design Review Panel welcomes suggestions ‘of schemes to be reviewed E-mail dip@architecturecentre.co.uk or contact Timothy Cantell manager of the South West Design Review Panel. To download a free copy of “Better design, Better places”, visit www.creatingexcellence.org.uk and click on “design” or for a hard copy contact Mark Pearson on 01823 250821 or email mark.pearson@creatingexcellence.org.uk
The Feock Parish Plan
The Feock Parish Plan 2007, Carnon Downs, Devoran, Point, Penpol, Feock has been published and is available from the Feock Parish Office.
The document is of a high quality of design and content and a credit to those many members of the community who freely gave their time to the project.
I am concerned that "Design and Setting, Historic Areas, Grass Verges, Access to Highways, Pleasant Gardens and Boundries headings, take such a very low priority in the views of residents. This may explain why there is so little concern amongst residents on The Point in respect of the development of the verges, crossovers and the removal of the overhead service cables. (JBC)
Proposed Information sign at the end of the Point
In the early stages of the writing of the VDS, now the DS, Martin Woodley, Senior Planning Officer, CDC, suggested that a sign be provided adjacent to the seat donated by the Restronguet Creek Society at the end of the Point to set out the history of the saw pit. Later, Wendy Letcher also proposed that a sign be erected and more recently Tom Rouncefield suggested that the text and photographs should refer to the former ferry crossing to The Pandora Inn which in earlier times was the main route from Truro to Falmouth.
A sponsor or sponsors are sought to raise approximately £2000 for the sign.
It is anticipated that in due course when final costs are established The Feock Parish Council and the Restronguet Creek Society together with the Friends will financially support the proposal. The Friends are grateful to the FPC and the RCS for their support. (JBC).
15M high Telecommunications mast opposite the end of The Point..
The Friends of Restronguet Point formerly opposed the planning application in a letter dated 2 July 2007 from the Chairman to Lyndon Westlake, Carrick Development Services. The letter to be regarded as a suitable notice of opposition.
Committee Meeting held on the 8th August 2007
The Chairman reported that he had sent the letter opposing the proposed position ot the mast with a suggestion for an alternative position which was more screened from the Cartick Roads.
Recently he has learned that the application for the mast has been withdrawn.
Friends of Restronguet Point website awarded,
Website of the Month
http://www.restronguetpoint.co.uk
This website, designed by Creative Edge of Truro, has been given recognition in the September 2006 issue of the magazine Cornwall Today, which has awarded it the title “Website of the Month”:
Determined to protect their beautiful corner of Cornwall this waterside community has taken the step of publishing their wishes for the future of their community on-line. Set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, alongside a tranquil creek branching out from the busier Carrick Roads, you can understand their concern. Residents are hoping the document will be used to assist Carrick District Council make decisions on planning development in the area. You can also get a closer look at the area through nostalgic photos, maps and an events listing.
The website also made news in the July 6 issue of the Truro Packet
Restronguet Point leads the way.
Truro-based design agency Creative Edge was commissioned to design and launch the Friends of Restronguet Point website, publishing one of the only DESIGN STATEMENTs in Cornwall and thought to be among the first in the county to be accessible via the internet
DESIGN STATEMENTs were launched in 1996 as part of the Countryside Agency “Design in the Countryside Initiative”, which was a mechanism to encourage new development to respect the character of its location.
David Rickett, managing director of Creative Edge said: ‘The primary objective of the website is to convey the message of the Village Design Statement. Because the Restronguet Point website is also likely to be picked up by general internet searches, as well as those specifically looking for the DESIGN STATEMENT, we felt it had an important secondary role, that of promoting Restroriguet Point, its natural beauty to people from around the world. Therefore, the design we applied needed to reflect the project’s ethos of good design and complement the area’s dramatic scenery.
One of the Friends’ of Restronguet Points’ original objectives was to encourage good planning policies and as a consequence it prepared the Guidelines for Property Development on Restronguet Point in 2004, before being prompted to draft the DESIGN STATEMENT in the hope that it would be adopted by Carrick District Council.
Derek Reed, Chairman of the Friends, said: “We felt it was essential that the Design Statement was published on the internet in order to communicate with as many people as possible. The project focuses on the regions diversity, its local distinctiveness and the harmony between buildings, settlements and the landscape. DESIGN STATEMENTs are seen as mechanisms to encourage any new development to respect the character of its location, added Mr Reed. They are an opportunity for local people to play a constructive part in enhancing development in their area through encouraging good and sustainable design for future generations.
We are pleased that Cornwall Today and the Truro Packet have given space in their publications to highlight the Restronguet Point website. It is another way residents can remind local, district and county authorities of their views about the development of their environment and the preservation of their heritage”. (Derek Reed, Chair of The Friends of Restronguet Point).
Comments on the DS
Nicholas Johnson MBE. MA. Bsc. FSA. MIFA., 09.08.07
Historic Environment Manager, Environment and Heritage, Cornwall County Council.
“Many thanks for sending me this. I have looked through it with great interest and congratulate you and your colleagues for such a detailed and useful piece of work. The great thing about having it on the web is that periodic changes can be made without the great expenses of reprinting!
The Conservation Area appraisal for Devoran is in progress and many of the issues to do with trees, boundary walls, cobbled surfaces etc are also coming up as they have for the Point. It is so important to keep the historic character of an area whilst at the same time welcoming quality new build and innovative solutions to current problems. We would love to underground the awful wirescape in Devoran.”
Mark Pearson, Head of Design South West. 13.08.2007,
creating:excellence / Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
I have now had a proper opportunity to have a look at the Design Statement and I realise what an extraordinary piece of work it is – very well done to you and your group! It’s a fantastic collection of information and thoughts. I hope you don’t mind me citing it as an exemplar that others might learn from?
M Utton, New Mexico, USA. 28.07.07
“Tremendous amount of work to produce such a comprehensive, clear, persuasive and erudite exposition of the subject. The production and arrangement is so wonderfully spare and yet encompassing, readily understandable. Surely all the people involved in the production of this and who live in the area will rally to the cause and be a powerful lobby--after all, it's so much to their advantage”.
Ingrid Heseltine, De Facto. 01.08.07
“Congratulations on a wonderful finished product”.
Barry Simpson, Historian, Devoran, 07.08.07.
“Dermot Shire (Chair Restronguet Creek Society) has sent me an email containing the FRP Design Statement for comment. My particular sphere has been the local history of this area.
The Design Statement a comprehensive and beautifully produced document”
(Barry Simpson made several constructive comments, all of which have been incorporated within the Statement, JBC)
The following comments are in response to earlier drafts of the previous DESIGN STATEMENT.
Mr Richard Fish, Director, former CCC Planning, Transportation and Estates,
21 June 2005
Thank you for your letter of 17 April and copy of your draft DESIGN STATEMENT. I found this to be a very professional and well-researched document which I am sure will be of considerable benefit to the Community.
Mr. J. Anthony Dyson, Chairman and Secretary, Planning and Environmental Matters Sub-Committee, Restronguet Creek Society
June 2005
Thank you for sending me a copy of the draft Village Design Statement, a most professional production. I shall pass it onto the other two members of my sub-committee and to Alan Williams, the Society’s Chairman.
Mr Phil Dyke, National Trust Property Manager, East and Mid-Cornwall Office
11 May 2005
In general the document is excellent and a very worthwhile exercise. The focus on working to reduce the number of overhead cables and introduce traffic calming measures are laudable long-term objectives.
Mr Roger Covey, Maritime Conservation Officer, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Team, English Nature
24 June 2005
The concept of the DESIGN STATEMENT is a welcome step forward in a local community getting involved in the planning process and environmental protection/enhancement. There is much in the document that English Nature supports.
Mr Nicholas Johnson, MBE, CCC Historic Environment Manager, Environment and Heritage
29 June 2005
The document is clearly set out and the historical background is well-researched. There are a number of historical facts that will be very useful to our Historic Environment Record. I have passed it in front of my Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Bid colleagues who note that the proposed World Heritage Site comes downriver as far as Point Quay and the island and does not directly impinge on the village area. When the final version is printed we would welcome a copy so that it can go into the Cornwall Historic Environment Record archive. We can then use it as an exemplar for other villages.
Mr Martin Woodley, then Local Plans Officer, Local Plans Team, COC Community Planning Department
30 June 2005
My comments are based on the second draft version of the Design Statement received towards the end of May 2005. The layout and structure of the document reads and flows well with the initial sections setting the scene in defining the area, its character and special qualities and the current issues.
I am reassured that the issues of sustainable design and construction have been stressed in the document. The submitted draft version reads as an impressive and well-researched document that should have the ability to provide clear and focused guidance for the management of future changes and developments along The Point.
I look forward to receiving a copy of the final version in order for its ultimate status to be determined and established within the Council’s policy guidance.
A further draft version was forwarded in August 2005.
Mr Paul Walton, Cornwall AONB Partnership Manager,
now moved to the National Trust, January 2009.
8 August 2005
Many thanks for sending me the final draft of the Village Design Statement. It has been fascinating to observe how the project has developed from the original discussions.
Overall I think the document has resulted in an extremely useful examination of the historical interest of the area and the identification of some of the development issues that affect the character of the area.
If the documents to be given weight by planning officers and organizations such as funding bodies it is important that residents and local people have the opportunity to comment on the document and shape its content. The views of the residents of The Point will be important and it might be worth keeping a record of all the comments you receive once the document is deposited at the Parish Council.
(Mr Paul Walton was the first to recommend that a DESIGN STATEMENT be written, JBC)
Mr Alan Truan, Clerk and Treasurer, Feock Parish Council
4 January 2006
I am very happy to confirm following our meeting with the Friends, that the VDS will be considered for incorporation in some way into the Parish Plan in due course. This will be a natural process and will, I have no doubt, lead to Supplementary Planning Guidance.
(The Carrick District Council decided not to approve the VDS as a Supplementary Planning Guidance Document. The Design Statement is designed to supplement and read in conjunction with the Feock Parish Plan).
(JBC, August 2007).
AGM, 2007, Verges.
Concern at the recent fashion for building over the CCC verges was expressed by several members at the 2007 AGM.
The verges to the CCC highway are almost entirely within the ownership of the Cornwall County Council
The traditional appearance of the CCC Highway on The Point is gradually being marred. by the construction of dwarf, non indigenous stone retaining walls to the CCC verges.
The former tarmac crossovers to several properties have been paved with non indigenous coloured concrete or clay paviours. Dry stone Cornish hedges have been replaced by non indigenous stone walling with mortar joints.
All works to the verge require permission from the owners, the Cornwall County Council, not the Planning Authority. Prior permission should also be obtained from the CCC for planting on the verges.
The Friends are grateful to the owner of Stoneybrooke for reinstating a little over half the length of the verge to the road frontage with the suppport of the CCC.