Ulverstons' own version of the select committee grilling the Murdochs took place tonight in the Coro. The place was packed to the gills downstairs and the balcony, not a seat was left unsat upon. The reason we were all there was to question Robinsons as to why they wanted to build a super market on the old brewery site. On the panel were Mr Robinson, the architects, the developer, a guy who had done a survey and some chap who said nothing and seemed to be there to work the big screen with all the fly bys and plans for the site.
They were on a hiding to nothing as 99.9% of the audience were anti the proposal. They gave their presentation and then the floor was open for the public to demolish their plans. It made for great theatre.
Stand out performances came from all quarters but for me I think Doug Gillam was an early star witness, and soon followed by the theatrics of Dr Richard Rowlat who brought a touch of ad dram into the hall, which the mayoress found hard to control as Richard went into a rant about profit and refused to give up the mic. I thought they were about to call the master at arms to evict him but it never quite came to that.
Some body called for a show of hands on whether the crowd supported the plans or were against them. The Mayoress,Pat Jones tried to quash this, as it wasn't a question, but the speaker ploughed on regardless and 99.9% of the audience voted no we don't want this supermarket. From then on the Robinsons team became more and more glum.
The questions from the audience fell like hammer blows, one after another deriding all aspects of the plans. How many people take a walk into Dalton road and Portland walk after shopping in Tescos, was a cute observation.
Perhaps if we had also had some representation from SLDC then we may have had some clarity as often the Robinsons team would defer to conversations they had had with our leaders in Kendal. For instance they were led to believe that their site was earmarked for a retail development, but as one speaker pointed out it was sited on the local development plan as designated residential land. Who was right? where were the reps from SLDC to clarify this. And so it went on. Lots of questions with no real answers.
I personally think that we could have a much more imaginative use of this site, but it will take some time to work out what this is. There will be many ideas but to my mind a supermarket is simply not an option for the entrance to the town. Although the 450 people there at last nights meeting don't represent the whole town, it was a signal to Robinsons and SLDC that this debate has many miles to run before an acceptable conclusion is reached.
However it was great theatre.
Seems to me that we already have a perfect place for another supermarket, if we really need one, and that is the redundant building where Heron Glass used to be opposite Booths, lets put it there and put the old Brewery site to a more imaginative and fitting use than this plan we heard about last night.
They were on a hiding to nothing as 99.9% of the audience were anti the proposal. They gave their presentation and then the floor was open for the public to demolish their plans. It made for great theatre.
Stand out performances came from all quarters but for me I think Doug Gillam was an early star witness, and soon followed by the theatrics of Dr Richard Rowlat who brought a touch of ad dram into the hall, which the mayoress found hard to control as Richard went into a rant about profit and refused to give up the mic. I thought they were about to call the master at arms to evict him but it never quite came to that.
Some body called for a show of hands on whether the crowd supported the plans or were against them. The Mayoress,Pat Jones tried to quash this, as it wasn't a question, but the speaker ploughed on regardless and 99.9% of the audience voted no we don't want this supermarket. From then on the Robinsons team became more and more glum.
The questions from the audience fell like hammer blows, one after another deriding all aspects of the plans. How many people take a walk into Dalton road and Portland walk after shopping in Tescos, was a cute observation.
Perhaps if we had also had some representation from SLDC then we may have had some clarity as often the Robinsons team would defer to conversations they had had with our leaders in Kendal. For instance they were led to believe that their site was earmarked for a retail development, but as one speaker pointed out it was sited on the local development plan as designated residential land. Who was right? where were the reps from SLDC to clarify this. And so it went on. Lots of questions with no real answers.
I personally think that we could have a much more imaginative use of this site, but it will take some time to work out what this is. There will be many ideas but to my mind a supermarket is simply not an option for the entrance to the town. Although the 450 people there at last nights meeting don't represent the whole town, it was a signal to Robinsons and SLDC that this debate has many miles to run before an acceptable conclusion is reached.
However it was great theatre.
Seems to me that we already have a perfect place for another supermarket, if we really need one, and that is the redundant building where Heron Glass used to be opposite Booths, lets put it there and put the old Brewery site to a more imaginative and fitting use than this plan we heard about last night.
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