Dartmouth and Kingswear Society



Christmas Newsletter 2011

In order to keep members up to date with D&K activities this Newsletter gives a summary of what has been happening since the our Summer newsletter was circulated. lt is coming to you before Christmas because the Winter Market Day Lunch is a week earlier than usual, on Friday 20th January 2012. Details and a booking slip are enclosed, so please book early and definitely no later than 10th January!

In an attempt to improve our efficiency and contain costs we would like to send out as many future communications as possible by e-mail. lf you have an email account and are content to use it for this purpose, would you please e-mail me (john_liane@btinternet.com) as soon as possible, confirming your agreement. Otherwise mail will continue to be posted to you in the usual way, but it adds to the cost!

Recent Issues and Events.

As many of you will know, the D&K has been involved with a variety of issues over the last 4 months.

  1. When it was announced that the Harbour Bookshop would close, the Society set up a Bookshop Group to explore ways of establishing an alternative. Through the Group’s hard work and dedication it has been successful in setting up a not-for-profit Community Bookshop. Through a generous donation from the D&K and other significant loans it was able to purchase the shelves and computers from the owners of the Harbour Bookshop. Through a much appreciated offer from the Dartmouth Trust, it was able to lease the premises at 12 Higher Street at a peppercorn rent for 6 months; and from a generous anonymous loan lt has been able to purchase stock. The Dartmouth Community Bookshop opened on December 5th under Andrea Saunders’s management. lt is now formally constituted and registered as a co-operative in the form of an independent lndustrial and Provident Society (IPS) - so that the D&K therefore bears no further legal or financial liability - but it will continue to rely on donations and volunteers to stay open as a service to the community. A fund raising campaign will be launched in the New Year. Thanks are due particularly to Kathy Stansfield and Tony Fyson for their determination and hard work. Please, therefore, visit and support the new Community Bookshop at 12 Higher Street: we must use it - or lose it again!
  2. The biggest development in Dartmouth for years is now being planned in more detail at the top of town. The scheme is being led by SHDC and the developers, Millwood Homes of Ashburton, as a result of the acceptance, following scrutiny, of the Local Development Framework proposals. The D&K has two representatives on the Steering Group and will try to ensure that the development will complement the existing facilities, structure and needs of both the upper and lower town. However the Society has concerns over recent attempts by Millwood Homes to justify extending the development to the west of Venn Lane (thereby creating ribbon development all the way from Townstal to Norton Park). This is mostly based on their claim that some of the allocated land is too steep to build on and that they only obtained a topographic survey recently. Both these claims appear to us to be spurious: housing has already been built on equally steep terrain quite successfully and topographic slope maps were available during the LDF planning and scrutiny process, so the developers well knew what constraints applied. The problem of the Milton Farm enclave is another issue that requires careful consideration before the final plans are approved.
    At the same time, or rather starting in 2012, there will be major redevelopment of the Dartmouth Academy site and the go-ahead has been given for the Dartmouth & District Indoor Swimming Pool (DDIP) - a huge success for the area as proposed under the auspices of the MCTi and made possible through the hard work of the DDIP Trust, chaired by our President, Sir Geoffrey Newman, with funding mainly from DCC, SHDC and DTC.
  3. The Society has also given its backing and support to KARRD (Kingswear Action on Rail and Riverboat Development), whose Secretary is a D&K Committee member, in the dispute over the legality of the development of the new building at Kingswear Station - without any requirement for planning permission or listed building consent. After a huge amount of work by KARRD, SHDC has finally agreed that independent legal advice is needed.
  4. Next year will see the tercentenary anniversary of Thomas Newcomen’s invention of the first practical steam engine in 1712, the founding basis for the Industrial Revolution by a Dartmouth blacksmith. Our Vice-President, Eric Preston, has written a booklet about Newcomen and the printing costs will be met by the D&K jointly with the Dartmouth History Research Group. Other events will be funded by the DTC; and SHDC has agreed to upgrade the entrance to the Newcomen steam engine display, including removal of the large and inappropriate holm-oak tree that overshadows that corner of the Royal Avenue Gardens.
  5. The Society is also offering support to DALAG (Dart Area Landscape Access Group) in the creation of their Diamond Jubilee footpath, mainly funded by DCC (Public Rights of Way) and Jonathan Hawkins’s community fund. To be called the “Diamond Jubilee Way”, this initiative will sign a walk of about 3.5 miles in the shape of a rough diamond from several starting points, including the Castle, Little Dartmouth and Jawbones. DALAG is one of two project groups (the other being DDIP) resulting from the former MCTi, and the new route provides a much-needed “circular” walk around Dartmouth’s outlying area that will commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee for generations to come.
  6. As a result of being deeply involved in all these issues, the Society has not yet had the capacity to review the status of Coronation Park, but hopes to look into this shortly.

We continue to monitor many other local issues and planning applications and and will keep you informed as these develop. The Society has two representatives on the new DTC-led Traffic Management Planning Group, which is taking yet another look at Dartmouth’s traffic management, public transport and parking situation.

Meetings.

Our autumn/winter General Meetings programme of talks began in early October with a fascinating description of the restoration of the buildings damaged in the Dartmouth Fire by Colin Souch of Paul Carpenter Associates, who showed us many new stunning and disturbing slides of the damage. lt is hoped that a third talk may be possible next season.

Our second talk in November was a witty and enlightening presentation by Wally Fleet on WW2 in Dartmouth through his eyes as a boy at the time. Current Health & Safety officers would have been horrified at his escapades!

In December we learnt all about the Townstal Community Partnership from its Chairman, Daniel Tagg, who showed us what it has achieved for Townstal and why so many other community projects are coming to see how it should be done.

Future Events.

  • Winter Market Day Lunch: Friday 20th January 2012 at the Royal Castle Hotel, 12 noon. Booking Form available on this website (click Application Forms on the Our Programme page). Please return by 10th January at the latest.
  • February 21st : Talk by Brian Parker (Charles ll’s Royal Yacht- diving into danger).
  • March 20th: AGM, followed by talk on Shelterbox.
  • May 16th : Spring Excursion to Saltram House and Gardens, including special guided tours and lunch
  • June 28th: Summer Party at RDYC, Kingswear.

Details for the last two events will be sent out with the AGM papers in early March.

Subscriptions for the coming year are due on January 1st, 2012. Please help us to keep to the existing subscription by paying promptly and/or setting up a standing order and gift-aid form.

Please also remember to send an e-mail to me (john_liane@btinternet.com) to signify that you are content for future D&K communications to be sent to you by e-mail, in order to save costs With very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

John Baldock
Chairman, 10th December 2011