Post by Dave on Mar 11, 2019 18:14:56 GMT
Pavilions Planning Meeting 11th March 2019
I must confess straight away that I have never in my life before ever been to any Torbay Council planning meetings. But I had a rare day off work today and just had to be at today’s meeting because of its importance. To think all those years ago I wrote a piece on my website called Save Cary Green that was read by someone who took up the baton and must be so very happy today.
Before we all went into the meeting a lady whose name I do not know, talked for a short while at the place we had all gathered at the entrance to the Rivera Centre. It was clear how much this whole fight has meant to her and all the other people who turned up today.
We all then walked around the side of the centre into the room the meeting was being held. There were not enough chairs for all the people attending the meeting, did they not expect that many to turn up? I am sure they would have preferred to have held the meeting in private today.
I sat in the front row and the chairman of the planning meeting got it all underway and for some reason I took an instant dislike to him. He strongly laid down all the rules of the meeting in a very authorative manner before moving onto item one of the meeting.
We were then showed a slide show of the plans put forward, there was not a drop of enthusiasm from the presenter and his voice was a voice full of the sound of defeat. The pictures were nothing we had not all seen before and just reminded me what this group of people were happy to allow to be built against the wishes of most of the Torbay residents.
After having to listen to them for as long as they wanted to talk, they gave the three speakers from the Save Cary Green group just five minutes between them. The first gentleman used at least two of those minutes, before the lady who had talked to us before had her say.
She did not pull her punches, but in a calm voice told it all as it really was and it was not going down to well with the chairman and his buddies. She made it clear they did not listen to the people of Torbay and have wasted so much money that could have been put to better use in the Bay. She asked them to resign after the meeting, but we all know none of them will.
I focused on the chairman’s face that was getting angrier by the second, were these home truths getting to him? Or was he just angry knowing he was now going to lose. The young man who I believe started the Save Cary Green group went to speak next, but he barely got a sentence out before the now even angrier chairman said the five minutes was up.
The vote was taken on the proposal to reject the plans and the very same ones who had voted for it before, now all voted to reject the plans, I wonder why that was? Could it be the fact that the two heads of the development company jumped ship two months ago? Or the fact that company failed to submit the answers to the questions they needed to by a date in January.
Loud cheers and clapping started in the audience, I welled up caught up in all the emotion, I just felt so proud to be sat with people who really cared about the Bay and were prepared to stand up and fight for what they thought was right.
Development companies do not care about Torbay, they do not care about any blot they leave on the landscape as they are only interested in making large sums of money. If they had got their way as soon as it was all built they would have forgotten all about Torbay as they moved onto the next development project. We would have been left with the biggest eyesore sticking out high above our harbour.
One councillor said the Pavilions needs five millions pounds of repairs doing to it, well shame on you Torbay Council for letting that happen when you own the building and have not made sure maintenance was done on it by the company holding the lease.
It’s not over yet; a way needs to found to put the Pavilions back in use and get Cary Green back to how it was before the council thought it was just going to be a car park for the hotel in the plans.
After the meeting I went on a short walk around to remind myself just what a wonderful place we all live in. it was good to see some water back in the pond close to the gates on the main road. There are enough new hotels being built or are in the pipeline for the Bay, instead of wasting so much money Torbay Council, spend some on getting the Bay back to looking its best.
