Aldershot town centre retailers meeting

Westgate ugly eyesore on edge of Victorian town centre

hands off The Arcade

A meeting was called by the council of retailers in Aldershot.

They were told, the ugly Westgate development on the edge of Aldershot town centre was good for Aldershot.

This statement was met with incredulity by the retailers present.

What is the footfall, one asked. 200,000 was the reply.

200,000 an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime? It was not said.

The chain fast food eateries in Westgate are either not very busy or all but empty. But, every meal eaten in one of these eateries, is a meal not eaten in the town centre, not that Aldershot has anywhere worth eating. Every pound spent in these eateries is a pound drained out of the local economy, a pound not recycled within the local economy.

Westgate, or Waste Gate as many retailers are now calling it, has been an unmitigated disaster for Aldershot, it is laying waste to the town. It is as welcome as a hole in the head.

The week it opened, the Thursday street market saw their worst ever trading day.

Retailers are seeing takings down. One retailer saw one day when they only took a few pounds.

Jerome have been in businesses for 90 years. They keep detailed records. They have seen their worse ever two weeks in nearly a century.

A French restaurant, now closed, has been one of the first casualties.

Plans to trash The Arcade are making a dire situation worse. The first act of a new developer was to kick out the small retailers.

This is what is called consultation, the council tells the retailers what is best for the town and ignores the retailers and the local community. Not satisfied with having destroyed Farnborough, the council is determined to destroy Aldershot. Decades of bad town planing by a dysfunctional if not corrupt council has laid waste to Aldershot, a council that gets into bed with developers and Big Businesses, to the detriment of the town.

Survey after survey shows people do not want High Street chain stores, they want individual quirky shops, they want real choice, they want character.

North Laine in Brighton is always busy.

Sincil Street in Lincoln is always busy, and yet the City Council wants to see most of it destroyed for a soulless shopping centre.

Market Rasen, a small Lincolnshire market town, has managed to turn itself around by focussing on small shops, local traders, local community.

And yet in Farnborough, Firgrove Parade, about all that remains of small retailers in the town centre, is earmarked for destruction, The Tumbledown Dick, a c 1720s coaching inn is earmarked for destruction for an unwanted Drive-Thru McDonald’s. The council has refused to meet with the local community on these issues, and yet is happy to meet with developers and McDonald’s

The question everyone is asking: Why is the local council in the pocket of Big Businesses and developers and not acting for the local community and local businesses?

Farnborough Road

Farnborough is an urban wasteland. Laid waste by decades of bad planning decisions, a planning department in the pocket of developers.

Folk avoid Farnborough, even folk who live there avoid Farnborough.

Pass down the Farnborough Road and you would not even notice Farnborough exists. You pass straight through.

About the only thing Farnborough can claim in its favour is that it is not as bad as Aldershot. Though a moot point, Aldershot a once proud Victorian town destroyed by decades of bad planning. The same planners, the same council, that has destroyed Farnborough.

Farnborough had Victorian origins, the same Victorian origins as Aldershot, the British Army. Until it was decided to relocate Farnborough and create an artificial town centre. A street of 1960s era ugly buildings, not dissimilar to a parade of shops on an inner city slum estate. To which was then added two of the ugliest shopping centres in the country.

In the late 1990s, St Modwen front-company Kuwaiti-financed KPI, bought a large chunk lock, stock and barrel. Half of the town centre demolished for a large supermarket in an area saturated with large supermarkets, a small estate of social housing demolished to make way for a car park, many small retailers destroyed. Erected buildings even uglier than the 1960s buildings demolished.

Pass down the Farnborough Road and you will see a boarded-up pub, The Tumbledown Dick, a c 1720s coaching inn. A coaching inn that used to stand on a desolate heath by a track that passed over the heath.

Boarded-up and left to rot, The Tumbledown Dick is earmarked for demolition for an unwanted Drive-Thru McDonald’s.

The Tumbledown Dick should be on a local list of buildings of local historical buildings, it meets the criteria for inclusion, and yet it is missing. The suspicion is that deliberate exclusion is to facilitate demolition. If suspicions prove to be well founded, then misconduct in public office, if not corruption. Both being serious criminal offences that attract a prison sentence.

The local council is required by national planning policy to have a pub protection policy. It lacks one.

A sustainable local economy should be part of local planning policy. It is not. It is part of the local planning policy in Cambridge.

Local planning policy should protect local small retailers. There is no provision.

National planning policy requires protection of small retailers, they are seen, as in Islington, the base line. The planning department lies and says protection of small retailers not a planning matter.

The council views the retention of small and independent shops as a baseline and places great weight on the need to retain any shops which currently or potentially could be utilised by small and independent retailers.

National heath policy requires the local planning authority to regulate fast food outlets. There has been a total failure to do so, leaving the locality performing badly on health indices.

Islington recognises the need to address obesity and it is written into their planning policies.

The Government White Paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England (2010) identifies that more than 1 in 5 children in England are overweight or obese by age 3, with higher rates among some Black and Minority Ethnic communities and in more deprived areas. The paper highlights the role of councils in taking action to improve public health, including regulating the development of new fast food restaurants in their role as local planning authority.

The Farnborough Society claims to speak on behalf of the local community. They do not. They claim to be custodians of the local heritage. They are not. They have a cosy, if not incestuous relationship with the local council. They have regular monthly meetings with senior planning officials to discuss planning applications, that borders on pre-determination. According to the Farnborough Society, The Tumbledown Dick can be demolished, a sign stuck up with the name, and local heritage has been safeguarded.

The local council has commissioned a shoddy report on The Tumbledown Dick, that surprise, surprise, says The Tumbledown Dick has no historical value. It reads as a report written for McDonald’s to facilitate demolition. The consultancy boasts of delivering planning solutions for industry, welcomes the relaxation of planning controls, sees heritage as an obstacle to development.

The local council has sought legal advice on pushing through the application on behalf of McDonald’s. As it has been given by the Borough Solicitor, it is probably worthless.

Local people have decided they have had enough. They have had enough of seeing their town trashed, a local council in the pocket of developers, They have produced a detailed, well researched report on The Tumbledown Dick. They have filed Freedom of Information requests. They have made it very clear, The Tumbledown Dick is not going to be destroyed. As a first step, The Tumbledown Dick has been registered as an Asset of Community Value.

In Islington, a strong local campaign to save a pub will be noted and be taken into account when determining a planning application.

Down the road, Aldershot, a once proud Victorian town, has been all but destroyed by decades of bad planning decisions. Plans are afoot to trash The Arcade, destroying many small businesses that have already been kicked out of The Arcade. Shops in Wellington Street are thereatened with demolition, more small businesses destroyed. The ugly Westgate development, (large superstore, tacky fast food chains) on the edge of the town centre designed to deliver the final death blow to the town.

Islington has a planning policy that sees small retailers as the baseline.

Aldershot and Farnborough would form excellent case studies for any planning schools of bad planning, how not to destroy town centres.

Buildings of Local Historical Importance in Aldershot and Farnborough

former Imperial Hotel once earmarked for demolition for Urban Renewal

Wellington Street earmarked for demolition

The Tumbledown Dick hand-tinted photo c 1911

The Ship Inn site of the world’s first heavyweight boxing match

A building or structure will only be added to the Local List if it meets the criteria. If a building or structure meets the criteria there will be no valid reason for omitting it. – Buildings of Local Importance, Draft Supplementary Planning Document, Rushmoor November 2011

The Council will seek to protect and retain Buildings of Local Importance whenever possible. Demolition should only be agreed where the replacement is of such a high quality that the loss of the locally important building/structure will be adequately mitigated by a development that enhances the character of the local area. – Buildings of Local Importance, Draft Supplementary Planning Document, Rushmoor November 2011

Aldershot was a small village, it then grew at a rapid pace with the arrival of the British Army during the reign of Queen Victoria. It has the unique distinction of being a Victorian town. Most of that Victorian heritage has been destroyed, a once proud Victorian town gutted by a local council with no vision, with planners who give every appearance of being in the pocket of developers, pushing through any scheme they want, spineless councillors who do what the planners tell them.

Farnborough was a few isolated houses in the middle of a desolate heath, coaching inns on the track that ran across the heath. It is vital that what little is left of what the Anglo-Saxons called Ferneberga (Fern Hill) is protected.

Heritage provides a sense of place, tells us who we are where we have come from, enhances the quality of life, gives a place its unique character, provides premises for small businesses in the centre of town.

Somewhat late in the day, an official policy on affording some protection to what little is left of the cultural and historical heritage of Aldershot and Farnborough has been adopted.

There are buildings and monument and sites identified by English Heritage that have national protection. By having a local policy, it affords protection to sites of local importance but not necessarily of national importance. Or at least that is the theory.

There are presently just under 100 statutory listed buildings in the Rushmoor Borough area. These range from St. Michael’s Abbey and individual dwellings, to commemorative monuments and wind tunnels. There are three Scheduled Ancient Monuments (barrows and a hillfort) and eight designated conservation areas.

However, there are many other buildings and structures throughout the Borough which do not meet the criteria for national statutory listing but are of considerable local historical and/or architectural merit. These buildings/structures reinforce local distinctiveness and a sense of place but do not enjoy any statutory protection.

The overall aim of this Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) is to identify these buildings and structures of special local architectural and historical interest, and provide them with a level of closer scrutiny and protection against undesirable alterations and/or irreplaceable loss.

By establishing a Local List of Buildings and Structures of Local Importance, this will encourage the owners and occupiers to take pride in the care of their property and have the satisfaction of being involved in the conservation of a building for the benefit of present and future generations.

Through adopting a policy, we can identify these buildings, raise awareness of their importance, ensure they are protected from unwanted and inappropriate development driven by greed and ignorance.

When considering applications for alteration, extension or demolition of a building or structure on the Local List, the significance of the building, and its particular features of importance will be taken into consideration. If a building is included on the Local List, this will be a material consideration when determining any planning applications that affect it.

The policy sets out a criteria for addition to the list of ‘protected’ buildings. This is by no means the complete list (more as an illustration):

• Buildings or structures dating before 1840, which have survived in anything like their original condition
• Buildings dated between 1840 and 1914 that have a definite quality and character. The use of local styles are particularly relevant when we determine the value of such a building
• Buildings dated between 1914 and 1939, which have a particular quality, character or are of local significance
• Buildings dated after 1939, which are outstanding and represent an important architectural style
• Buildings that have been documented in recognised publications, for example, ‘Hampshire Treasures’ and ‘Pevsner’, or have received an architectural or planning award

To be eligible for inclusion, only one of the criteria has to be met.

A building or structure will only be added to the Local List if it meets the criteria. If a building or structure meets the criteria there will be no valid reason for omitting it.

There is though one criteria has to be seen as a sick joke

• Buildings which are good examples of local town planning

as both Aldershot and Farnborough would serve as excellent case studies for planning schools as examples of towns destroyed by bad planning and inappropriate development.

The bottom line

The Council will seek to protect and retain Buildings of Local Importance whenever possible. Demolition should only be agreed where the replacement is of such a high quality that the loss of the locally important building/structure will be adequately mitigated by a development that enhances the character of the local area.

List of Buildings of Local Importance, annexe to the policy document, has many dubious entries, but putting that to on side, what is noticeable is the significant omissions. Buildings that everyone recognises as buildings of historical and cultural value. These omissions beg the question how comprehensive the list?

There is no way of pulling up more information on the buildings listed.

The list gives the impression of a job half done.

There may be other obvious omission. If aware, please add in comments, giving the criteria met and why. With pointers to where more information may be found.

Former Imperial Hotel, corner Barrack Road and Grosvenor, Aldershot

It is not clear whether or not this remarkable building is listed. It stands in marked contrast to the ugly eyesore Westgate development that has been thrown up.

This raises a further protection that is required and necessary, the environs surrounding a historic building.

The former Imperial Hotel was at one time threatened with demolition to create an artificial town square in what is jokingly called Urban Renewal, in reality create an opportunity for greedy developers to make fast buck.

This unusual triangle building pre-dates the Flatiron building in New York.

Wellington Street, Aldershot

Most of the buildings on the opposite side of the street to The Arcade. Or what is left.  A few have their Victorian street fronts.

These building are at least Victorian, possibly much older, possibly c 250 years old. Original fireplaces are in some if not all of these buildings.

Pubs of Aldershot has information on those that were pubs giving an insight on their historical and cultural value.

The row opposite the entrance to The Arcade, currently Paul’s Copy Shop and Aladdin’s Cave, are threatened with demolition as part of redevelopment of the adjacent ugly shopping centre. This would not meet the criterion for loss, and thus demolition should not go ahead.

There is another reason for keeping these buildings which does not form part of the historical criteria for inclusion. Heritage provides premises for local businesses. Most of the businesses on this side of the street are local businesses. Local businesses recycle money within the local economy. National chains, apart from destroying our town centres and turning into Clone Towns, drain money out of a local economy. National Chains are now collapsing, filing for bankruptcy, leaving behind boarded-up shops, as we are already seeing in Aldershot. The town centre is in its final death throes, Aldershot is a deprived area. It is vital we stop money draining out of the local economy. The only chance Aldershot has is with its small retailers who unlike national chains, have a vested interest in seeing the town survive. But we have a council that repeatedly kicks these retailers in the teeth and does everything in its power to drive them out of business.

Could the omission be to facilitate a greedy developer, with planners in their pocket? It would appear so, thus serious maladministration and possible corruption.

Plans to demolish should be quashed. Demolition should not go ahead as it fails to meet the criteria, and will not be replaced by anything to be proud of, or that could in anyway justify that which is to be lost.

Tumbledown Dick, Farnborough Road, Farnborough

The Tumbledown Dick is old coaching inn c 1722, possible older, one of a few isolated building on a desolate heath with a track across the heath running past. Of recent years an important cultural venue in an area that is a cultural desert.

The first known documentary evidence of The Tumbledown Dick appears in a letter dated 30 July 1722, from Thomas Matthew of Cove. The earliest known tenant was William Prior in 1817, and it was also owned by the Lord of the Manor of Farnborough in the 1820s.

It beggars belief that not only is The Tumbledown Dick not listed, but in the town centre prospectus or plan for the town centre it is zoned as a site for development. Again it begs questions of the planning department, maladministration or corruption?

The Tumbledown Dick meets not one but several of the criteria for inclusion.

• Friends Of The Tumbledown Dick release their own Heritage Assessment report
• Heritage Tumble Down Dick Farnborough Hampshire

The Tumbledown Dick is now under threat of demolition for a tacky two-story drive-in McDonald’s. This again would not meet the criteria that could justify demolition, a building of historical, architectural and cultural merit being lost to what amounts to little more than a temporary building (in terms of how long it would last) that in no way can justify the loss.

The council commissioned a report from a consultancy that brags about delivering planning solutions for their private clients, a consultancy that welcomes the relaxation of planning controls which it sees as an obstacle to developers, a consultancy that counts McDonald’s as their clients! The report was so shoddy and superficial, it would not pass muster as a school kids project, not that is if they wanted a pass mark.

• Turley Associates, McDonalds & Rushmoor Borough Council

Ship Inn, junction Ship Lane and Farnborough Road, Farnborough 

One of the oldest buildings, let alone pubs, in Farnborough. 

Cultural significance the beams from old ships, which are much older than the pub.

The world’s very first World Heavyweight Boxing Match John Heenan (USA) v Tom Sayers (UK) took place here just over a century ago. So important was this match that it was covered by all the London papers, special trips down from London.

The Centenary took place a couple of years ago. It was not marked, no celebrations. The plaque, assuming still there, was obtained and erected by the then landlord, not the council.

The Ship meets the criteria for inclusion.

Save the Tumbledown Dick

Save the Tumbledown Dick

Save the Tumbledown Dick

This building has the richest history of any other in the town, we CANNOT and WILL NOT stand by quietly and watch it be destroyed for fast cash. – Save the Tumbledown Dick campaign

The Tumbledown Dick is a sleazy run-down pub on the main road running through Farnborough. Or was. It used to have a reputation for drug dealing, though I never saw any evidence for this.

The Tumbledown Dick may have been sleazy, but it did at least have character, which is more than can be said for the soulless town centre that lies behind it, a town centre that must rank as one of the ugliest in the country.

The Tumbledown Dick closed down in 2008 in very suspicious circumstances. The pub was raided by local environment health, at the request of a member of the public, the pub then closed, the staff sacked. It has remained closed and boarded-up ever since.

• The Tumbledown Dick – 15 Months On

At the time it was at serious risk of demolition. It stood surrounded by vacant land, half the town centre and a small housing estate was about to be demolished for an unwanted Sainsbury’s superstore. Had the Tumbledown Dick been demolished, it would have created a very large site for redevelopment as part of the town centre redevelopment.

What ever nefarious scheme was planned must have fallen through as The Tumbledown Dick still stands, vacant and boarded up.

At the time, it was requested of the council that an Emergency Listing was applied for the building as it was under threat. No application was ever made. It is also highly suspicious The Tumbledown Dick has never been a listed building. It is listed as a Hampshire Treasure, any entirely worthless and meaningless listing.

The Tumbledown Dick pre-dates Farnborough. Old maps show it as an isolated building in the middle of desolate heathland, on a track running through the heath. The track running past Farnborough North Station, across the line and across the River Blackwater, towards Frimley Green, is the original track across the heathland.

The first documentary evidence of the Tumbledown Dick appears in a letter dated 30 July 1722, from Thomas Matthew of Cove. The earliest known tenant was William Prior in 1817, and it was also owned by the Lord of the Manor of Farnborough in the 1820s.

In more recent years, as well as being a popular public house, The Tumbledown Dick has been a popular music venue. Bands such as The Jam have played there.

The name Tumbledown Dick has two possible origins.

Richard Cromwell was the third son of Oliver Cromwell. He was the second ruling Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, serving for just under nine months, from 3 September 1658 until 25 May 1659. Royalists rejoiced at his downfall and he was given the name ‘Tumble Down Dick’ or ‘Queen Dick’.

The heathland was the province of Highway Men, one of whom was reputed to be Dick Turpin.

The threat to the Tumbledown Dick is now acute, it has been bought by McDonald’s who wish to develop the site as a McDonald’s.

• McDonald’s plan revealed for historic pub
• McDonald’s confirms plans for Tumbledown Dick pub
• Drumming up support for Tumbledown Dick pub

The last thing the area needs is yet another McDonald’s.

It is claimed the Tumbledown Dick is not viable as a pub. This statement is not true as it was viable before it was closed.

The Spirit Pub Company, the current leaseholder, claim the Tumbledown Dick to not be viable as a public house. What may not be viable for the Spirit Pub Company to invest in is not the same as the Tumbledown Dick being viable following the required investment.

Spirit Pub Company was recently spun off from Punch Taverns. Punch Taverns is a zombie company.

A zombie company is one that is in a hole, drowning in debt, with no hope of paying off the loan, which is barely able to pay the interest on the loan, not able to invest in the company.

There are an estimated 150,000 zombie companies in the UK of which one is Punch Taverns. They went on a massive buying spree, financed by borrowing billions of pounds on an overvalued estate which has since collapsed in value. Punch Taverns is only able to stay afloat by jacking up rents to pub landlords (not good news for the pub landlords) and selling off pubs for development (not good news for pubs like the Tumbledown Dick). Interest rates are currently at a record low. Were interest rates to go up, zombie companies like Punch Taverns would go bust.

Were the Tumbledown Dick a listed building, which it should be, it would have no redevelopment value, which raises big question marks against the developers best friend the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor for not applying for a listing as soon as it become apparent the Tumbledown Dick was under threat. It also raises the question why an historic building like the Tumbledown Dick is not a listed building.

Where do we go from here?

As a matter of absolute emergency an Emergency Listing must be obtained for the Tumbledown Dick. If listed, the owners can then be forced to maintain the building.

The Tumbledown Dick will need extensive renovation, then turned into a cultural venue, music, art, decent place to eat.

Farnborough is a cultural wasteland, there is nowhere decent to eat.

The Tumbledown Dick could be a coffee bar during the daytime, serving quality coffee, lunches, afternoon teas, meals in the evening.

The walls used for art exhibitions.

The small bar used a as free space for meetings.

It could even be alcohol free. Yes, I can hear the groans, but such places are springing up across the country, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, are but three examples.

If it is to serve alcohol, then emphasis on quality, not rubbish out of what is little more than a chemical factory. Support for local breweries.

The food served locally sourced, freshly prepared.

The separate music venue probably needs demolishing and rebuilding. It could go completely and use the large bar.

Possibility of a recording studio.

It should be open to all ages, from kids in buggies, to young teens feeling a safe space to meet their friends

Anyone who thinks this is pie in the sky, look around locally.

The Keystone, Guildford: Excellent, freshly prepared food., Café Scientifique, art on the walls, Keystone Spirit.

• Lunch at The Keystone

The Foresters, Church Crookham: Excellent food, albeit a little pricey.

• Carvery at The Foresters

The Barn, Farnham: Music, food, popular with all ages, art exhibitions, record launches, drawing classes, yoga …

• Chris Skillicorn-Aston @ The Barn
• Julie Kember @ The Barn

Café Mila, Godalming: Coffee bar, excellent coffee, lunches, afternoon teas, occasional dinners in the evening, yoga …

• Lunch at Café Mila

This by looking what is possible locally, and highly popular, is possible locally.

Funding could be raised using Kickstarter.

All what is lacking is the will.

But what must not happen, is demolition and turning into a disgusting fast food outlet.

If relaunch as a cultural venue does not happen and demolition is imminent, then the building should be occupied, seized as a cultural venue for the locality.

An excellent example would be Ramparts, a very popular cultural centre in London that was occupied and held for a number of years.

Anyone wondering about the legality of occupation, it is not illegal to occupy a vacated commercial building that is sitting empty and putting it to good use. That is what happened with Ramparts and is happening across the country.

A facebook group, Save the Tumbledown Dick has been formed. There is also a Save the Tumbledown Dick website, which appears to be dormant.

Please sign the petition, and pass to friends and colleagues.

Costa tried to muscle their unwanted way into Totnes. They were booted out. Now do the same with McDonald’s.

The Coach and Horses in Soho is under threat. One of many pubs sold off by zombie company Punch Taverns.

Relaxation of planning controls

It is a sad state of affairs when a Government Minister, Justine Greening, is sacked for stalwartly defending Government policy. — AirportWatch

Last week George Osborne called for a third runway at Heathrow, an expansion of Heathrow. At the weekend he called for a relaxation of planning controls. Yesterday Justine Greening who has steadfastly opposed Heathrow expansion was sacked as Transport Secretary. Her deputy was also fired.

Today London Mayor Boris has called for clarity, a categorical no to a third runway and expansion of Heathrow. He has not got it, instead there have been attacks on Boris.

George Osborne has been a disaster as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His polices have been to hit the poor and disadvantaged, slash public services, lower taxes for the rich and turn a blind eye to tax dodgers.

David Cameron has shown himself to be a spineless individual who has caved in to businesses interests and developers who for some time have been calling for Justine Greening to be fired.

What of localism? This has proved to be weasel words from Cameron, as has the Big Society. Big Lie more like.

Business wishes to see Heathrow to be expanded as a hub. Passengers fly in, passengers fly out. Heathrow already serves more destinations than other airports. There are no benefits to being a hub, many disbenefits.

Heathrow has more flights to business destinations than any other airport in Europe: more than the combined total of Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt. London airports as a whole have the highest number of flights to key markets in Asia, the Middle East, North American and Australasia. More passengers fly in and out of London than any other city in the world. Paris, our so-called nearest competitor, is in fifth place.

Heathrow aside, there is the wider issue of relaxation of planning controls, letting developers do as they please. It is difficult to see how planning can be relaxed any further, local councils already fall over backwards to rubber-stamp whatever developers want, ignoring the wishes of local communities. We see the result with towns and cities across the country trashed.

Farnborough: Half the town centre demolished for a superstore, social housing demolished for a car park for the superstore.

Aldershot: An edge-of-town-centre development which if not a white elephant will destroy what is left of the town centre.

Aldershot: The Arcade, a Victorian arcade destroyed, replaced by a plastic replica with boarded-up shops, pictures of the butcher, baker, candlestick maker painted on the boards. Someone’s idea of a sick joke. Now the plastic replica is under threat, retailers kicked out to make way for a large bar.

Totnes: Local community with a strong sense of civic pride, wished to retain the character of Totnes and strongly opposed a Costa Coffee shop. The local council rubber-stamped the application.

Southwold: As with Totnes, local community with a strong sense of civic pride oppose a Costa Coffee shop, rubbeer-stamped by the local council.

When it comes to companies like Costa, they simply ignore the planning rules.

• Costa Coffee dodgy business practises

Far from a loosening of planning controls we need a tightening and placing local communities firmly in control of what takes place in their locality.

Local people should decide, not planners, not councillors and certainly not developers.

• Why the economic case for a third runway at Heathrow still won’t fly
• IoS exclusive: Secret plan for four-runway airport west of Heathrow
• George Osborne declares support for new airport runway in south-east
• Sorry, Boris, I don’t care about the size of your landing strip!
• Heathrow runway row: Cameron flies into storm of Tory criticism
• The head of Justine Greening on a platter
• Boris Johnson’s Heathrow warning after Justine Greening’s move
• The third runway is lazy thinking by those who should know better
• Government push to reform planning laws could backfire, warns senior planning officer

The Arcade

The Arcade a Victorian arcade destroyed by greed!

These signatures have just been collected from customers coming into two shops in the Arcade – we haven’t even gone out to collect them on the high street. – Reza Asjadi, who owns Aladdin’s Cave

The Arcade in Aldershot is illustrative of all that is wrong and rotten with our local planning system.

Aldershot is a Victorian town, though you would not realise this as you wander through the town as you see the tacky shops fronts (the fault of the useless council), but look up above the shop fronts and you will see lovely Victorian architecture, and reflect on what might have been at ground level.

Aldershot grew very rapidly from a small village surrounded by heathland when Queen Victoria decided it would be a suitable location for the British Army, the heathland providing excellent training ground.

Aldershot used to have a Victorian Arcade, one of only a few in the country, a listed building. The Arcade was opened by Messrs Park and Sparkhall in July 1914. The local council, the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor as it is known locally, allowed its destruction. In its place a cheap plastic replica. The boarded-up empty shops units had painted the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Planning conditions were laid down, it had to be a walk through arcade, it had to be open to the sky. The new cheap replica arcade probably never exceeded 50% occupancy.

A new developer has taken over The Arcade. The first act of the new developer was to kick out the existing retailers to make way for a large bar, possibly a J D Wetherspoons, plus a large retail unit, possible Poundland.

This is bad news for Aldershot on several grounds.

Aldershot is a black hole of deprivation in an otherwise affluent South-East. Housing Benefit claims are double that of the surrounding area.

Local retailers recycle money within the local economy. A J D Wetherspoons would suck money out of the local economy.

It is also believed a large retail unit will be created, possibly for Poundland. Poundland employ slave labour, unemployed are forced to work at Poundland for nothing, or risk losing their benefits if they refuse. This is unfair competition to other retailers.

The Arcade used to have a lovely coffee shop. Forced out by the developer. It also had an old fashioned shop where you could buy almost anything, how shops once used to be. They have been forced out in the last few days. They have managed to relocate, but into a much smaller shop than the one they used to have.

Friday and Saturday night, the streets in the centre of Aldershot are full of drunken scum, fights break out. This is a drain on local policing resources, they have to call for backup from outside Aldershot. It is a drain on the Accident and Emergency at Frimley Park Hospital, putting staff at risk who have to deal with the drunken scum.

The Arcade provides a convenient short cut, especially so when it is raining. It was a planning condition that this had to be maintained.

What has to be seen as a sick joke, the developers in their planning application say closing the popular short cut will reduce antisocial behaviour in the evening! This is like saying the rubbish bins are overflowing, we will solve the problem by removing the rubbish bins. Retailers in The Arcade say their walk through arcade is not a source of antisocial behaviour and never has been.

Fleet, Camberley, Guildford all have large J D Wetherspoon bars, all are known hotspots for drunken scum on Friday and Saturday nights.

Reza Asjadi, who owns Aladdin’s Cave, until recently in The Arcade, has collected 4,000 signatures opposing redevelopment of The Arcade, without really trying, just from people popping into his shop. He has been forced out of The Arcade and as a consequence had to sell off four van loads of stock at knock down prices as no room in his new shop.

The local planning committee is stacked with cretins, clueless imbeciles who have no vision or imagination and lack any understanding of either planning or how local economies function. They have presided over the destruction of Aldershot town centre:

• a shopping centre that gutted the heart of Aldershot
• an out of town Tesco superstore
• an eyesore development on the edge of town out of character with the town, which will relocate the retail centre of gravity away from the town centre

Were it not for the ethnic food shops that keep springing up like mushrooms after heavy rain, Aldershot would be dead.

Farnborough has fared no better under a council that has no vision, has no pride in its local towns. Half of Farnborough town centre has been demolished to make way for a Sainsbury’s superstore (in an area saturated with superstores), local businesses kicked out of their retail units, a housing estate of social housing demolished to make way for the car park. Farnborough town centre is now a ghost town.

It sadly is not only Aldershot and Farnborough where local people are let down by their local councils.

Totnes in Devon and Southwold in Suffolk are both towns with character. Costa against the strong opposition of local people, local businesses, decided to muscle its way into both towns.

Last week the local council rubber-stamped an unwanted Costa Coffee Shop for Totnes, last night the local council rubber-stamped an unwanted Costa Coffee Shop for Southwold.

The only people who are best placed to decide what is best for a local area are those who live, work and play there, not local councillors, not local planners and certainly not Big Business and developers who are looking to make a fast buck and milk what they can out of an area.

Time and time again, two fingers are stuck up to local people, those who should be acting for the local community are too preoccupied with their snouts stuck firmly in the trough.

• Shop owners to present petition to council
• Pub chain in talks over Arcade spot
• Pub chain confirms Aldershot Arcade bid
• Arcade businesses vow to fight plans
• Totnes: the town that declared war on global capitalism
• Southwold says no to Costa, local council says yes
• Totnes says no to Costa, local council says yes
• Councillors’ anger at green light for Costa Coffee shops
• Localisation: A Move Away From Globalisation

Farnborough International Airshow 2012

A fun day out for the family at the world’s biggest arms fair

helicopter view of Farnborough International Airshow

Red Arrows

Farnborough International Airshow is promoted as a fun day out for the family. It is anything but, it is where the Merchants of Death ply their trade. Kids go free. In modern warfare, civilians and especially children, suffer the highest casualties.

Farnborough International Airshow is the world’s biggest arms fair. On trade days you can see how ingenious is man in devising ever better ways to kill his fellow man.

For local residents it is two weeks of hell, two weeks of horrendous noise, one week of blocked roads, illegal parking, criminal damage to grass verges.

As a sop to local residents, FIA2012 offered local residents free tickets, then reneged on their offer.

Farnborough International Airshow is the place to see the latest the world of aviation has to offer.

Bus passengers left stranded for one and a half hours

stagecoach gold diversion passing the Swan

But for the grace of God I was not left stranded, but I could have been.

I was on the main Farnborough Road (A325) when a No 1 bus came by.

Strange, thought I, must be on its way to the depot. Only I noticed passengers on board. Maybe a one off. Then along came another, then another. Must be a diversion.

Had I not diverted to the main road and walked instead to a bus stop, I would be waiting for a non-existent bus, left wondering why no buses.

I walked into Farnborough to catch a bus. I saw one coming and picked it up outside the Farnborough Technical College, only to be told by the bus driver I was lucky to be picked up as it was not a bus stop. If it looks like a bus stop, it is reasonable to assume it is a bus stop but apparently we have fake bus stops.

The driver told me the bus was non-stop to Aldershot.

I asked what would have happened if I had tried to catch the bus part way along its route. Apparently it was my fault for not knowing the road was blocked either end.

I pointed out to the driver there had been nothing at the bus stops to say no buses running nothing on the buses.

The driver told me it was not the responsibility of the bus company to inform its passengers.

On my way back that night, I asked a more cooperative driver what was going on. I was told that contrary to what I had been told earlier it had not been known all week the road would be blocked and the buses taking an alternative route. The driver had only been told to take an alternative route on leaving the bus station.

Some passengers I learnt had been waiting an hour and a half for a bus!

Whilst it may well have been the council or police diverting the buses as a result of the Farnborough International Airshow, if there was advance notice of this, the bus company should have informed the passengers of the diversion and that the buses would not be running along their normal route.

I had travelled the route several times during the week and seen no information on a diversion. Had I not been on the main Farnborough Road and seen the diverted buses, I too would have been left stranded.

Top Story in The Digital Mission Daily (17 July 2012).

• Loss of Stagecoach Gold bus service to London Olympics
• Luxury buses lost to London Olympics

Loss of Stagecoach Gold bus service to London Olympics

Goldline luxury bus service …

… but not during London 2012 Olympics

The No 1 bus Aldershot – Farnborough – Camberley the Goldline, boasts a luxury coach.

• Goldline route 1

Not though during the London 2012 Olympics. Whilst the Olympics are on, July to September, the coaches used on the No 1 bus route are to be taken up to London and used to transport athletes and the world’s media. Clapped out buses will serve as replacements.

But it is not only Aldershot – Farnborough – Camberley, across Hampshire buses are being withdrawn to service the Olympics.

This is completely unacceptable. Will the bus companies be receiving their public transport subsidy during this period when the public will be receiving an inferior service?

Passengers will be paying for what is claimed to be a premium service, Stagecoach Gold, only that is not what they will be getting.

Not surprising passengers are none too happy.

Will there be a less frequent service? Do passengers get a fare reduction?

This is something individual councillors and councils must be raising with the bus companies.

It is yet another example of the costs of the unwanted London 2012 Olympics.

Top Story in The Digital Mission Daily (Friday 6 July 2012).

• Adidas worker exploitation for London 2012 Olympics
• Twitter shut down account of opponents of London 2012 Olympics
• London’s dystopian Olympics: criminal sanctions for violating the exclusivity of sponsors’ brands

Hampshire Welcomes the World

The Dhol Foundation

free event at farnborough hangar today Keith, set up between Hampshire Music Service and us. Come say hello if you’re free. 11-6 — West End Centre

I only found out about this mid-afternoon, when I got a tweet from the West End Centre in Aldershot telling me what was on that afternoon, and that was only in response to a query from me to something they had sent out the previous day.

I had to go out, got back, grabbed very late lunch, then headed off to where I thought it was located.

I ignored the sign that told me that was not the way in, prepared to climb over, crawl under or negotiate my way around any obstruction on the way. There was none.

Basically I followed the sound and arrived for the last ten minutes. They overran, so maybe I caught 20 minutes.

The location was iconic, an old airship hanger on the site that was the once famous Royal Aircraft Establishment, though sadly long gone.

A cluster of people at the far end. There seemed to be more security lurking around than people.

But even the cluster of people was misleading as they were forming a small group in front of an open space, not filling it as looked from the distance.

I caught the end of the headline act The Dhol Foundation and they were good. Probably sound better live than on CD. A group of mainly drummers, and as I learnt when I talked with them later, drawn from Birmingham and London.

Again Again by Michael McGoldrick. Think fusion Bhangra-dhol-River-Dance and you get the idea.

They had to finish at 6pm, orders from the Council due to noise nuisance.

Get real! They were playing alongside Farnborough Airport with business jets taking off and landing. An airport that day in day out is a misery for local residents.

A cultural event in Farnborough is a once in a decade opportunity as it is a cultural wasteland. A land of Philistines. A world music event a once in a lifetime opportunity!

All the more the pity the zilch publicity.

I had received a tweet the previous evening:

…and don’t forget farnborough event tomorrow either…

What Farnborough event was my thought, because as already noted Farnborough is a cultural wasteland.

I had no idea what was the Farnborough Hanger. I assumed the old airship hanger. Fortunately my assumption proved correct.

Better and more effective use needs to be made of social media.

• Steve Lawson on books, music, communication and sharing

A pity the event had such poor publicity and was as a consequence poorly attended as it was worth attending. My only regret was that I had not got there earlier.

Talking to The Dhol Foundation I picked up their album Drum Struck (their fourth album). They gave me their website and said they were on bandcamp.

I have looked and cannot find them on bandcamp. A pity as they deserve to reach a much wider audience. An oversight I trust they will rectify and upload their albums.

Officially released in 2005, 200 pre-release ‘festival edition’ copies of the album Drum-Believable were available for those who attended Womad Reading in 2004 as a festival edition. These are rare collectors albums.

The Dhol Foundation, a London collective, is both a dhol drum institute in London and a musical group playing bhangra music. The dhol school was founded in 1989 by former Alaap member Johnny Kalsi  (one of the guys I was talking to) when several musicians asked him to be their teacher, and a first album was released by Kalsi and his students in 2001.

Dhol drums are a traditional percussion instrument from the Punjab province in the north of India, from which Kalsi originates. In London he experimented with dance beats and electronic music, which he mixes with the traditional bhangra style in his albums.

They have had their music in Hollywood films such as Gangs of New York and Incredible Hulk, and  also have done work on soundtracks with Peter Gabriel on films such as Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Last Temptation of Christ. They opened the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.

The event was co-hosted by the West End Centre and Hampshire Music Service. Neither organisation had information available, though may have had earlier.

Looking at the programme pinned up, there appeared to have been music workshops earlier.

The West End Centre is a cultural space in Aldershot, an oasis in an otherwise cultural wasteland.

Synchronicity: At the end of the world music festival I had an interesting conversation on culture, Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and German rock group the Scorpions, with who I assumed was one of the organisers. She said the world needed more love. I received a tweet that evening from Paulo Coelho that love was highly addictive!

• After the Rain – The Dhol Foundation
• Kaun Nee Jaandah – The Dhol Foundation
• Hampshire welcomes the World (HWTW)
• Free music
• Musings on musicianship
• Bloko del Valle
• The Dewarists