(no subject)

[essayel]

Colour me peeved!

This is a perfect illustration of how, given some determination, a local authority can make total arses of themselves. As a 'council officer', of course, I am not allowed to say which council because slagging them off is not allowed. The fact is that if we have to lose the cattle market we don't particularly want an ASDA [which is the UK name for Walmart] on the site.

The brief for the site was perfectly clear. A small food store, a purpose built library building to replace the 1903 Carnegie building, which doesn't conform to recent adjustments to disabled access regulations, a cinema and car parking. As part of this it was essential that the oldest buildings [Victorian stone built] on the site should be incorporated into the design.

Boot submitted the same design they used for Tipperary jail, I'm told, intending to sweep the site clean and 'utilise some of the stone to keep the ambience of the site'. Yeah right. This plan was refused - especially since the plan for an underground car park would cut right through what we suspect to be the site of the vicus attached to the 1st century Roman fort which is completely unexcavated.

That plan was thrown out and they have resubmitted - this time with a natty little watercolour depiction of the site and some minor alterations - and on Tuesday, with the right people on the panel, the plans were passed by a majority of 7 to six.

Whoohoo for democracy! Walmart here we come.

Feeling better now.

In other news, my dog has ticklish feet, Mike's phone has broken so I'm assuming he's still alive, and Jen wants me to take her to the Brixton Academy to see Panic! at the Disco. Life's pretty much as normal.

Comments

[innerslytherin]

I hate Walmart. I'll add this to my list of reasons why I've been boycotting them for a couple of years now. I refuse to shop there. It's my little squeak of defiance against the capitalist machine, but... *sigh* All I can do.

[surexit.livejournal.com]

Local councils can be fucking pratts about buildings and architecture and developments and all that stuff. *commiserates*

One thing you should bear in mind is PPG 16. It's not a law, but it is a planning guideline, and normally a planner would need a very good reason to ignore it. It advises that archaeology be considered at a very early stage of the development, and that the preservation of archaeological remains be favoured wherever possible. It also advises that the financial burden of funding any archaeological work deemed necessary rests on the developer's shoulders.

So it might be possible to get a rescue excavation for the fort.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

One of the town councillors is my old curator - a Romanist [incidentally his TV show about Welsh archaeology has been running the past few weeks which is fun]. He stood up and made a huge fuss about it in an early meeting and held up the process for about eight months. Sadly since then they have decided that there's no evidence that the town is EXACTLY where 'in his opinion' he said it was and that they should break ground to see what they find and worry about archaeology if any turns up.

*snarls* We'll be taking it in turns to go look down the holes.

[surexit.livejournal.com]

Idiots. That's just counter-productive for them, let alone for anyone else, because if some does turn up, they'll have to stop work and deal with it and it'll all be a mess and expensive and. GRARGH.

[yakalskovich]

As long as nothing is torn down, there is still hope. Fight them every step of the way, like we are planning to do. They might yet give up. Walmart is not unbeatable, as we Germans proved - they have withdrawn from here.