Stylish eco-lodges, a sympathetic planting scheme and the rescue of dilapidated railway carriages have been proposed as remedies for a seaside beauty spot in the East Wight, dubbed a ‘bombsite’.
Andrew Palmer, Director of Duver Enterprises, was centre stage at St Helens Parish Council’s annual meeting on Monday evening, where he laid out plans to redevelop land at The Duver overlooking The Solent.
Duver Enterprises leases the area from the Isle of Wight Council and, for years, there has been anger and upset among residents over the state of the area.
Mr Palmer’s plans follow a 10-year dispute over the leasehold between County Hall and Duver Enterprises, which has now been settled, with the drawing up of a new lease.
Mr Palmer told attendees at Monday’s meeting:
“I am as disappointed as you are about the state of The Duver. It has in fact been in need of a substantial upgrade since we bought it in 2007.
“The caravans, we would like to replace with more contemporary, wooden eco-lodges that are stylish. We also intend to carry out a sympathetic planting over the whole area which the caravans occupy, to allow a restoration of natural flora and flauna.
“The existing railway carriages – we all know they’re in really poor condition and have been for some time – our proposal is that we give those to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway company…their skilled workforce will rescue the carriages.”
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He also mentioned plans to replace some of the carriages with new beach huts, built to look like railway carriages.
In addition, some new huts would likely take the form of more traditional beach huts, subject to the upcoming St Helens Village Consultation, Mr Palmer added.
However, in a following question and answer session, there was still disquiet over the site’s maintenance. One member of the public said:
“Without pinning you to the wood, you’ve had the (new) lease now since January, so…come on.
“As we go past the Baywatch, all you hear is people saying what is that mess…”
About time, the beautiful St Helen’s is starting to look
like Beirut.
W.T.F is going on, also it’s about time someone started cutting
the grass in Seaview, public areas are looking very tatty.
What are we paying our Council tax for!!
It’s No-Mow May.
I wondered why. I forgot it’s No-Mow May.
They will ne busy in June then
Lol
That’ll be Andrew Palmer, ex of Covent Garden Soup co, ex Priory Bay Hotel (but still living at the gate lodge) and ex of a fair few other things. An awful lot of highfalutin ideas badly managed it seems. Those caravans were plonked there YEARS ago….so why now? Set a precedent for the land use, then sell out later to absolutely anyone for anything regardless of their intent maybe? See also the Aria Resorts/Priory Bay plans which threaten to turn it into a year-round cheaper end caravan park, right next door to the other one. The one they already own in Rookley (used to be a quiet country park..) resembles a council estate nightclub at 2am, and sound carries. Kiss goodbye to the peace and natural habitat of the Duver…..
Full of lots of socialist full on bombast in all your posts. What have you personally done to make the Island a better place?