Friday, 27 November 2015

Knowle relocation project >>> Pegasus plans in full >>> feedback on Streetlife

There have been several reports from the exhibition of PegasusLife's proposals for Knowle:
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project >>> Pegasus plans in full >>> "very imposing and brutal"
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project >>> Pegasus plans in full >>> "Milton Keynes is coming to Sidmouth!"

 The online forum Streetlife has a lively thread on these proposals:

Knowle redevelopment

Old Fozzie  in Sidmouth
 
It was interesting to see the proposal at the presentation yesterday.
So all that is being sold and developed is the existing built on area and the council car parks. The parkland and the public car park near the gates remain.
Also interesting to read in the Herald that EDDC move to the Exeter business park has changed to Honiton...
Does that make all the definite reasons for moving to Exeter just a load of lies to sell the Knowle?
Also interesting to note that the building proposal is to create a load of artificial cliffs with flat roofs and white walls which I'm sure will be greatly appreciated by the local gull population for nesting sites and somewhere for poo target practice.
And the developer wants it to be low mainrenance???!!!
Ha ha ha...
Regina
I wonder if it is the same now as it was a few years ago.I have been in Urban Council
and County Council  for many years [Now retired] .The department I was in moved
to another office 4 miles further from County Hall. Due to some people travelling further
we was allowed to start 15 mins later and leave 15 mins early 2.5 hours per week and was also allowed to claim our mileage {8 miles per day-40 miles a week] This scheme was for 2 years.It amounts to roughly 200 man hours and mileage cost of roughly £120.
Does this scheme still exist ?.If it does how many employees will it effect,The bad side
is that employees who live closer or the same distance as before will get nothing.

Will the council tax go up to cover these cost.
Real Sidmouthian
It's only recently ever been the office footprint and car parks though of course the naysayers were trying to whip up a frenzy to create panic and we're happy to tell anyone that could be bothered to listen that it was the whole park being built on!! I can't say I like the 'design' though. The layout is fine but something less prisoner cell block please!!
Tony G
Not quite accurate, Real Sidmouthian.
It's true that in 2012 EDDC's planning committee objected to its own council's  outline  application to develop the Knowle which would have built all over the public gardens. The committee recommended that any future development should be restricted to the footprint of the council offices and car parks.
But soon after, officers tasked with maximising profits from the sale- without telling councillors- slipped in the upper lawns to the area to be sold to developers.
Two of Pegasus Life's proposed blocks will occupy this part of the gardens. Because they are closer to the edge of the plateau than the existing building,  they will completely dominate the view from the entrance to the gardens on Knowle Drive. 
Sid C.Gull
Ugly...reminds me of the Lympstone the blocks.

Look at Glenside developers they have style and look good.  Even Sanditon has more style.

But I expect they have done what developers always do, ask to build in excess so we settle for less and think we have done well!
CoolCat
Agree with you Sid C Gull, the proposed buildings look really ugly ... and cheap ... and dated! And the latter is quite an achievement when they have not yet been built!

Glenside is a fine example of current architecture of human proportions that sits well in its wooded environment.

We have some stunning red cliffs in Sidmouth already. Which bright spark came up with the idea of buildings resembling white cliffs being plonked on an inland site?
hibou
RS - as Tony G pointed out they have "stolen" the upper terraces which has a great impact; and they are building on the carparks which could be a park and walk for Sidmouth at all times. And, as you say, the design is abysmal. I only hope that just as EDDC failed to get planning permission before, there will be some common sense shown and this scheme will fail too. This is quite apart from the issue of EDDC moving and spending vast sums when it may not even exist in 10 years. But hey, money's no object to the Diviani plan to move to Honiton so he's nearer to his base and the Thelma Hulbert money drain.
Real Sidmouthian
Oh the upper lawns which are so well frequented by the public....... I can't see it makes the slightest difference if they'd just get the design right. Which this most certainly is not!
Peter S
Got to say hate the design, nothing against a modern style building, but also would not like to see a pastiche of the Knowle as is.
I was on the original Development Management Committee that refused the original application, main reasons being the amount of land being taken out of public ownership, the design was better than this current one.
The present area is more acceptable as they only have 14% of the "green" area and the Town Council have been offered the remaining 86%.
This is all at a very early stage, so many alterations could be put in place, or even a complete new design, that's why they are having public consultations.
Tony G
The  difference it makes, Real Sidmouthian, is that it renders inaccurate your comment, that only "the office footprint and carparks" will be built on.  A sizeable portion of the garden will be as well, not to mention the large storage area to the west used by the gardeners.
Building on the top part of the lawns will destroy the coherence of the garden design, and by advancing the "prison blocks" to the crest of the slope will cause them to loom over what is left.
By the way, it was the "naysayers" whipping up a "frenzy" in 2012 that persuaded the planning committee to throw out  EDDC's original plans that would have completely vandalised the gardens.
hibou
Again, Peter S,I almost agree with you - it is better than the previous proposals but I don't think we should allow them to snatch the upper terraces or the carparks which could be very useful/essential to Sidmouth.
We want what's best for Sidmouth and that's not necessarily what's best for the developers or EDDC. We (Sidmouth) may get less money, but money is not what it' s all about even though EDDC don't realise that. It's about the quality of life in Sidmouth, which I hope Sidmouth councillors appreciate even if they are outnumbered by other EDDC councillors who don't give a toss for Sidmouth (see my post about local government on your other post)
Real Sidmouthian
Tony G - those lawns which a small number of immediate neighbours have got excited about are really not worth arguing over, so I'm not going to waste my time. What IS worth agreeing on is the awful designs that are currently being presented to us. The lawns are gone...the skyline isn't - let's save something we can actually save.

Streetlife | Knowle redevelopment
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