On 22 Dec 2014 at 10:22pm Belladonna wrote:
Can anyone point me in the direction of the plans for the approved Premier Inn? I'm hoping it will be an interesting addition to the Lewes townscape. Just along the road is the Lewes library which is IMO an excellent building, and looked stunning all lit up at dusk earlier tonight. The Depot cinema also promises to be an innovative building. This area could be gaining some great contemporary additions to the town, so hoping the Premier Inn design will be more than bland pastiche of heritage architecture.
On 22 Dec 2014 at 10:31pm wrote:
LOL
On 22 Dec 2014 at 11:53pm Lacklustre wrote:
I am sure it will be superb, and that the reason why Anthony Dicks, and Robert Cheeseman both wrote to the paper. is that everybody has confidence in the organisations they are running and their knowledge of Conservation Area issues.
On 23 Dec 2014 at 9:44am Southover Queen wrote:
Bizarrely I can't find the up to date plans for the magistrates court site anywhere - the architects are Quora, but their website shows the old proposal. I wouldn't hold your breath: it's perfectly nice but bland and it won't win any prizes.
The Depot cinema OTOH, really might - it's imaginative, modern and respectful of its environment, making creative use of a brownfield site and successfully including the existing building. Apparently we can hope that it will be opening mid-2016 - personally I can't wait!
On 23 Dec 2014 at 10:27am Historian wrote:
2018 ....planing application for a change of use, from a Cinema complex to flats.
On 23 Dec 2014 at 1:18pm Saddened of Lewes wrote:
Lacklustre - you surely cannot be serious! I hope I sense a note of sarcasm in your post!? How they can hold their heads up high is beyond me - and some of their loyal long established members, who have resigned over their support of this planning disaster.
On 23 Dec 2014 at 2:07pm Old Bloke wrote:
Let's face it looking at the centre of Lewes it couldn't be made much worse.
That is unless you stand agog in admiration of Waitrose, a decrepit bus garage, gloomy and grimy nearby public buildings while sucking in the aroma of curry
Parts of Lewes are very pleasingly visual but ridden with swathes of great architecture don't make me laugh
On 23 Dec 2014 at 2:27pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
Very boring design imo, but I suppose it's an improvement on the previous one.
Are there going to be shops on the Friars Walk side, or is that going to be a bar and restaurant?
On 23 Dec 2014 at 2:53pm Southover Queen wrote:
It's inoffensive, which is sad but predictable. It would be good to see a bit of bold modern architecture there, but that's about as likely as Ian Duncan Smith admitting that he's wrong. The idea is that the scale should echo the dark brick terraces of Friars Walk. They've completely modified the elevation facing the car park, and that's a big improvement.
The idea is to have the ground floor space facing Friars Walk and part of Court Road as retail units, with a hotel entrance on the Court Road side (and another from the car park).
(Well found xplorer1 - the planning website is a nightmare to navigate! You'd think they'd link the previous application to the current one wouldn't you?)
On 23 Dec 2014 at 4:07pm Fred wrote:
There's always the chance that Iain Duncan Smith hasn't got it wrong and in actual fact- you have.
How astounding would that be given your vast knowledge
On 23 Dec 2014 at 5:01pm Southover Queen wrote:
I know. I'm amazing really. But how kind of you to draw attention to it.
On 23 Dec 2014 at 5:57pm delphi wrote:
@Fred We are lucky to have our very own Oracle.
On 23 Dec 2014 at 7:04pm belladonna wrote:
Thanks explorer. It does look rather bland.
Anyone who gave me thumbs down on the original question care to explain why ? Just interested why an innocent query and opinion should elicit a negative reponse.....
On 23 Dec 2014 at 7:44pm Clifford wrote:
Fred, surely a minister who has spent so much of his life lying and who thinks 'I believe' is an adequate response to a factual argument is hardly likely ever to be right about anything.
On 23 Dec 2014 at 7:45pm Old Bloke wrote:
Because they found it a bit boring?
It's possible.
Though I myself fund it utterly riveting and of great interest
On 23 Dec 2014 at 8:24pm Drone wrote:
Its gonna have a Subway! Yeah!
On 23 Dec 2014 at 8:25pm Realist wrote:
The artists impressions, I hesitate to call them plans, were changing all the time, last minute changes were made just before the planning meeting which would not show on the plans submitted!! No proper drawings showing the relationship between existing and proposed buildings were shown, you will soon find out how massive this building will be. Agree with you Saddened of Lewes, FoQ and CAAG sold the town down the river. Just read the CAAG submission in Xplorer's link and see how mixed up they are. They say they support it and then list loads of reasons why they don't.
Sad that affordable housing will not be on this site.
On 24 Dec 2014 at 11:09am R Chitecture wrote:
Cold anyone tell me what qualifications Anthony Dicks has in Conservation matters? If changes were made that were approved, but no one had actually seen in consultation, how can anyone, including CAAG have supported them? We regularly see our Planners riding rough shod over due process, and what is worse, our Councillors, voting for schemes with last minute changes, and misleading drawings are assisting them.
On 24 Dec 2014 at 1:52pm saddened of Lewes wrote:
Absolutely right R Chitecture! You have hit the nail on the head completely! Those responsible in the Friends of Lewes and CAAG should have listened to the majority of the town's people and objected to this overdevelopment that has now been granted permission. Most of the members of the SDNPA who made the final decision live miles away from Lewes and know nothing of our town and the two who do live nearby spoke up passionately against it. The Friends of Lewes and CAAG who supported this (and it definitely was not all of them by any means) should resign - IMHO!
On 24 Dec 2014 at 5:21pm Sussex Jim wrote:
Southover Queen, I met IDS in the Con Club when he became leader of the Conservative party a few years ago. He is a quiet man who would probably never be a tub-thumping politician; but he has been given an enormous job to do
The sorting out of the welfare state, that has drifted from an emergency safety net to a lifestyle choice for parasites, is very difficult. I wish him well; and he is probably one of the few public sector employees who deserves his gold-plated pension.
On 25 Dec 2014 at 12:11am Dull Jim wrote:
Hjevmay be nice but he's incompetent, mediocre and out of his depth. The brief is completely out of his league.
On 27 Dec 2014 at 12:01am Local wrote:
Saddened of Lewes ... You complain about the fact that the members of the National Park Authority's Planning Committeelive miles from Lewes. Surely it was obvious to everyone who supported Lewes being inside the National Park that this would be how things were. If you want local decision making, you need Lewes District Council to be making these decisions - not a National Park body.
On 27 Dec 2014 at 1:43pm Saddened of Lewes wrote:
Yes I completely agree with you Local. I for one, did not vote to be in the National Park. I know many others who did, who now bitterly regret that decision. They thought, quite understandably, that the SDNP would protect them from this very type of development and they would want to keep the unique character that the county town of Sussex is so well known for. I would doubt very much they would vote in favour of a similar development in the centre of Midhurst?
On 27 Dec 2014 at 2:14pm Clifford wrote:
Sussex Jim wrote: 'I met IDS in the Con Club when he became leader of the Conservative party a few years ago. He is a quiet man...'
He was so incompetent that the Tories dumped him as leader after two years. He is also a proven liar, having lied twice about his education and qualifications from Perugia University and 'Dunchurch College of Management'. He lives in a country house owned by his father in law and, for this alone, knows little about the difficulties most people have over mortages, rents etc. Fnally, his way of dealing with unpleasant facts is to say that he 'believes' different - a moron as well as a liar.
On 28 Dec 2014 at 9:46am A planner wrote:
@saddened.
The SDNP planning committee forced a lot of changes on that development. It is doubtful if LDC would have done that.
Also, the SDNP authority allowed The Depot's application and lauded it as exemplary. Its very open to question that LDC would have allowed it (at tge very least they wouldn't have given the 'greedy' requirements of the Highways Authority such short shrift, of which the cost of implementation would have made the project unviable).
LDC have been responsible for many travesties in Lewes. Is your memory really so short?
On 28 Dec 2014 at 10:46am Belladonna wrote:
What were the 'greedy' requirements of the highways authority?
who are Anthony dicks and Robert Cheeseman mentioned in connection with approving the premier inn application as mentioned above by various posters ?