Vanity Project On Hold!

[MauriceMynah]

Those consultancy fees (included in the £30,000) may well save the BA £750,000. We don't know what the consultants said!

[dnks34]

The consultants probably said.... “you are going to need more money”

[JennyMorgan]

Based on past performance the only time consultants are listened to, and when we are told the result,  is when their report is positive to the cause!

[dnks34]

If any or all of their probable expensive advice is to be disregarded if unfavourable what is the legitmate benefit of paying for the privilege of Consultancy services.  

It all seems very unnecessary to me and makes me wonder if Consultants are needed because those in charge of whatever project have no idea what they are actually doing.  

I would be perfectly happy in providing my services as a Consultant and tell the BA the Acle Project is a stupid idea for free. 

 

[quo vadis]

A55 covering exercise 

[JennyMorgan]

But is it really on hold or 'quietly' going ahead?

Contractors have recently been doing test bores behind the cafe, fifty feet down before hitting anything firm.

Dredged spoil that could have been dumped there has been disposed of several miles away.

A feasibility study was commissioned, it has taken an FOI request in order to get the BA to reluctantly  publish it.

That Report, make of it what you will. I am not convinced that it is entirely helpful towards the good Doctors personal vanity project:

https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1721903/Acle-Bridge-Feasibility-Study.pdf

 

[Polly]

The Dunes Cafe in Winterton is a favourite haunt, They run the Acle Bridge Cafe also, we must give it a try. 

I think it's a shame the project has foundered over costs, and probably location, the drawing looked brilliant. 

[JennyMorgan]

6 minutes ago, Polly said:

The Dunes Cafe in Winterton is a favourite haunt, They run the Acle Bridge Cafe also, we must give it a try. 

I think it's a shame the project has foundered over costs, and probably location, the drawing looked brilliant. 

I am not convinced that it is floundering just over costs. I believe that the Authority was right to buy the site, it provides a valuable resource for the boating public and access to the river for visitors in general. However, in hindsight, it was clearly bought for the wrong reasons. Had the BA been content to enhance what was already there then I would have been entirely supportive. As it is the drawings and plans fly in the face of a number of the BA's own planning and development policies, as do a number of the reports suggestions. Personally I think that it is a grand design, but in the wrong place. 

[Vaughan]

2 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Personally I think that it is a grand design, but in the wrong place. 

Apart from that bit, I thoroughly agree!

I started wading my way through the report (thanks for posting it) until I got to the bit about the boating community being attracted to it from the major centres of Broads boating, which they say are : Horning, Wroxham, Stalham and Brundall. No mention of Potter Heigham, but Brundall? Do they mean the Brundall Navy? Most of them can't even get under Acle Bridge anyway!

And then I got to the section "Boating.  2.5.1" where I saw :

A new visitor centre and associated facilities for the boating community offers an opportunity to provide an important link between the southern and northern areas of the Broads.

Having read that piece of complete nonsense I didn't bother to read any further. Acle Bridge has been an "important link" for donkey's years as that is the place where everyone naturally stops to wait for the tide in Yarmouth. In fact it is pretty well the only reason for the existence of moorings in an otherwise flat and barren marsh, for which a visitor centre is going to make no difference whatsoever.

Attempts have been made to attract more visitors to the southern rivers and even out the river traffic, ever since my father was chairman of Blakes in the 1950s but Acle has never played any role in this.

Yet another obviously expensive document produced by over-educated experts who produce miles of figures, statistics and extrapolations but show little actual practical knowledge of the subject.

[FairTmiddlin]

And did anyone spot the Typo in the report on page 9

" Within the overall hour the population reaches 680,000million people "

Bit excessive I think !

[Chelsea14Ian]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

Apart from that bit, I thoroughly agree!

I started wading my way through the report (thanks for posting it) until I got to the bit about the boating community being attracted to it from the major centres of Broads boating, which they say are : Horning, Wroxham, Stalham and Brundall. No mention of Potter Heigham, but Brundall? Do they mean the Brundall Navy? Most of them can't even get under Acle Bridge anyway!

And then I got to the section "Boating.  2.5.1" where I saw :

A new visitor centre and associated facilities for the boating community offers an opportunity to provide an important link between the southern and northern areas of the Broads.

Having read that piece of complete nonsense I didn't bother to read any further. Acle Bridge has been an "important link" for donkey's years as that is the place where everyone naturally stops to wait for the tide in Yarmouth. In fact it is pretty well the only reason for the existence of moorings in an otherwise flat and barren marsh, for which a visitor centre is going to make no difference whatsoever.

Attempts have been made to attract more visitors to the southern rivers and even out the river traffic, ever since my father was chairman of Blakes in the 1950s but Acle has never played any role in this.

Yet another obviously expensive document produced by over-educated experts who produce miles of figures, statistics and extrapolations but show little actual practical knowledge of the subject.

I take your point about some boats in Brundall, Sweetkingfisher lives in Brundall and goes to the northern broads whenever  possible. I do accept that there plan will not necessarily attract people from far and wide.

[VetChugger]

I'll also give a supportive shout out for Brundall. I was moored at Brundall Gardens and it was a grand place to be. Short chug to two of the best pubs on the Broads and much quieter and stress free boating down south.

[vanessan]

I suppose they have included Brundall as a major centre because of the sheer number of boats moored there. I don’t know how many there are but with the number of boatyards and marinas there, there must be a heck of a lot! The only downside to Brundall is the lack of visitor moorings. 

[Helian]

Maybe they included Brundall based on geographic radius from Acle.....

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[MauriceMynah]

48 minutes ago, vanessan said:

The only downside to Brundall is the lack of visitor moorings. 

Hear hear to that

[Vaughan]

9 hours ago, Helian said:

Maybe they included Brundall based on geographic radius from Acle.....

Who knows, it may have been as simple as that!

I think the reason for my surprise at the inclusion of Brundall is that most of the rest of the boating section of the report concerns hire boats and what I might call boating tourists - their numbers and all sorts of statistics to try and suggest that a visitor centre would help that business. In which case, Brundall is certainly no longer a major centre of hire boating. I wish it were!

The people in Brundall marinas are already boat owners, who love the Broads and so I cannot see how a visitor centre in Acle is going to attract them in any way. Apart of course, from the moorings and the pub, which have already been there since well before the War.

 

[Vaughan]

20 hours ago, Vaughan said:

In fact it is pretty well the only reason for the existence of moorings in an otherwise flat and barren marsh, for which a visitor centre is going to make no difference whatsoever.

By the way, if you ask yourself - why are there hire boatyards in Acle, then? - this also has nothing to do with a visitor centre, or a link between the north and south rivers.

Historically they are located for exactly the same reason as almost all the other main boating centres on the Broads. They are close to a main road and a railway station.

[YnysMon]

I don’t think the ‘report’ sufficiently addresses the possible impact on The Bridge Inn and Pedro’s. They talk about making the food offer distinctive, but the examples pictured suggest not. The current cafe fits in well with the other two establishments.

[Boatingman]

Having visited at least three times over the summer the current set up of the cafe with a small section of foods and consumables for sale works well' it always seems busy.

Why do we want another information centre BA closed Ranworth Potter Heigham and Beccles centre's because of low visitor numbers yet all these three places attract more visitors than Acle ever can

Ray

[JennyMorgan]

Don't know that I'd be happy if when heading along Meadow Dyke I met one of the modern big buggers coming the other way! It's not just that bridge that is a limiting factor.

[JennyMorgan]

On 06/07/2019 at 12:19, JennyMorgan said:

Based on past performance the only time consultants are listened to, and when we are told the result,  is when their report is positive to the cause!

It would be very easy to say that by withholding  the results of the Acle Bridge Feasibility Study, as it did, the Authority is guilty as charged. I doubt that the flimsy  excuse that it contained commercially sensitive information pulled the wool over anyone's eyes.

https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/news/acle-bridge-feasibility-study?fbclid=IwAR3yyX124CPIewbNxNJPQDhE-r-_b0BZo-_uOLfkBLBq4dxIVv7k-2SNs5M