JennyMorgan

Hardly relevant to the debate. Morris Mynah John has had his bit of harmless fun so back to being serious. On the surface this looks to be an ambitious plan but is it right for Acle Bridge? Might Whitlingham be more suitable? Apart from dayboats other boats have toilets and most have showers aboard. The existing toilet block on site has been abandoned presumably because of a lack of demand thus do we really need onshore facilities? Nice to have, yes, but really necessary? Catering, once again, is it really necessary when the Bridge PH is near and handy? Indeed is catering really an Authority duty? Education, surely this is down to the schools themselves. However if we accept the need then is it really the right place? Might Whitlingham be more suitable, especially as it is near to Norwich and in itself has a greater facility to get children outside to explore the Broads environment rather than just moving them from one classroom to another? A statement destination, a landmark building. Well, if I read the maps correctly the proposed location is outside the Acle Improvement Area so, until now, the site has not been earmarked for such a development thus there would have to be a change of policy by the Authority to accommodate its own ambition. It is a fact of history that the Authority planners have already turned down nearby tourist developments yet they intend to build one of their own, draw your own conclusions. Being practical, if you were an a architect, with just a two month deadline, with only the possibility of winning a thousand pounds and with no guarantee that the project is to go ahead be enough to tempt you? The Authority's history when it comes to dealing with public works and projects is hardly exemplary. For example a three quarter of a million pound development at Trowse where the workshop has sadly proven unfit for purpose thus a 'portable' shed has had to be erected to make up the shortcomings hardly fills me with confidence, does it you? Then there was the issue with the 'yellow post' on Breydon that cost many tens of thousands and ended up by being installed by a company that the Authority had rejected at the tendering stage, a story that you can't make up! I'm not going into any depth on the Dragonfly House Saga that wasted not less than a million, or the over the top piling and bank protection at Potter Heigham for the Information Centre that never was. Information centres have been closed as a means of saving money yet another one is proposed whilst we are lead to believe that by selling cups of tea that those costs can be offset. Does that sound remotely feasible or even sensible to you? Is there a need for this rather pompous development? I doubt it. Were it at Potter, or Whitlingham, then I could see the logic of it, but on a cramped site up against a bridge on a main road with few other attractions nearby for people to enjoy hardly justifies the proposed spend. As for the dreaded National Pike, research will show that I have only posted links when i have agreed with the general point that he/she is trying to make. Those with which I don't agree I have tended to ignore.

This looks to be good!

Oh no you can't . . . . . . . . .

Don't, and I could prove it!

Oh no I don't!

Outline planning does not need in depth detail but it does confirm intent and feasibility. It would have been more fair for would be entrants. I don't always agree with the National Pike but in this instance his references to previous planning applications in the area are both apt and relevant.

Many a true word written in jest! http://www.broadsnationalpike.com/2018/05/blessed-white-elephant-planned-for-axle.html

What worries me, the implications are not healthy, but John Packman has announced this wonderful competition and his proposed £750.000 spend and guess what, he doesn't have planning consent, not even outline consent. If you or I owned the site, would we stand an earthly chance of gaining consent not only for any 'landmark' buildings but also for change of use? It does seem to me that JP is both jumping the gun and taking consent for granted and that I find worrying. If this one goes as far the planning stage then I can see it being 'called in': http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN00930

Sensibly UEA Campus has educational potential, overlooking the 'Broad' there. By inland I take that to mean away from the river bank which, from a child safety point of view, is sensible. A classroom, indoctrination centre, does not need to be placed on the river bank. All that aside I see the original suggestion as simply saying 'don't clutter up the river bank'. Is there really a need for a 'statement' building at Acle, Packman Towers perhaps? The Curtiss Shop, part and parcel of the 1960's/70's Broads culture and landscape, perhaps that should be preserved as a facade to a shower block? What is actually and sensibly needed, not just what is wanted please. Hallucinatory, unbridled visions can be somewhat over the top!!

Personally I firmly believe that JP has to show a real, sustainable need for what he is proposing, to date that quite simply hasn't happened. Well said, that man!

Or when anglers get their tackle out!!

£50.00 each but that is less than the cost of two visits and means that you can drop in when passing for a stroll for an hour for example.

Beccles Antique Street Fair tomorrow, Sunday. Likely to be crowded!

I can see much that is desirable about this project but as far as training and talks then that facility is already provided at the Thorpe dockyard site, and that has already turned into a mega bucks fiasco for various reasons.

Playing the education card is a weak hand to play as How Hill at Ludham is well and truly established, and very nice too. https://howhilltrust.org.uk/school-visits/

For those of you with no will power and a long list of excuses: https://www.itv.com/news/2018-05-05/hormone-injection-hailed-most-exciting-treatment-for-obesity-yet/

Chris I agree. I am greatly concerned that the proposed facility at Acle will also become a major drain. Not the building as such, that consideration seems to have been considered but rather the required staffing.

My wife and I have been swimming almost daily now for over two weeks and whilst we have only lost about half a stone each we are both feeling a great deal happier with ourselves, sleeping much, much better and waking far more motivated, and our feet don't ache nearly as much. Today was a new experience in the pool though. Until today we had not encountered the fitness group that uses half the pool twice a week, a group lead by a young Adonis without an ounce of fat on him. The group is largely elderly, largely large to extremely large, indeed Captain Ahab would have palpitations if he happened to drop in on them. It's basically exercises in water lead by an instructor on the bank. Hilarious watching grown adults attempting to emulate their super fit, energised young hero! Meanwhile my wife and I carried on swimming sedately from one end to the other in the reserved lanes, content that we are not the only coffin dodgers trying to make up for lost time!

Jean, like many local facilities, Gunton Hall offers, or used to, membership for folk who want to use their facilities but not stay there. For example my wife and I have season tickets to Africa Alive at Kessingland and Sea Life at Gt Yarmouth and have in the past had memberships at Gunton Hall and Wild Duck at Bradwell when our children were young. Africa Alive is fifty quid a year and is just such a nice place to spend the day or to have just an hour's wander around. The carboot sale at Kessingland on Sundays is probably the best in the area, followed by a visit to the zoo, almost as good as being afloat and good for us older bones. http://www.africa-alive.co.uk

http://www.grist.co.uk/grist-move-offices/ edited by Admin to state that this does not evidence Proof of ownership.

I can see my feet.

More recently than that, it was let to several smaller businesses for a few years.

I think that JP is quite right to consider multi use so I'm enclosing the site plan, and competition details, in order to help you decide if JP is being rational in his ambitions. As yet the Authority has yet to buy the land outlined in yellow. http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1196646/Acle-bridge-design-competition-FINAL.PDF

Maureen, a warm welcome to the NBN. Immediate answer is I don't know but I do know the field base was sold well above valuation so I was happy to accept that. The sad thing though is that the Ludham Field Base was probably if not certainly better placed as a visitor centre, it being more central to the North River hub so to speak. The Base was sold to a business partnership that includes one of our members so I suppose what he paid is his business but equally it should show on relevant spreadsheets that should by now be in the public arena, if anyone here can fathom out how to locate that information.

All the wherries have a tale to tell, any opportunity to visit one or more is worthwhile. On top of that How Hill is a lovely spot.