8:20am Friday 6th August 2010
IT has been almost a decade in the planning but this is the latest vision of how a multi-million pound waterfront development will look.
Developers have been repeatedly told to go back to the drawing board to come up with a suitable design for the £80m project at the former Webbs chicken factory site.
But as the public get ready to have their say as part of the consultation process, the latest design for the Bridge Road plot in Lymington has again come in from heavy criticism from planners.
The design has been described as “boxy” and “brutalist” by critics.
The revised scheme is for 195 private apartments, 93 social housing apartments, live-work units, a restaurant/retail and two other shops plus a public riverside walkway, on the site which has been vacant since 2001.
New Forest chief planning officer Chris Elliott said: “They say it picks up the themes of Georgian architecture. I’m not entirely convinced the people of Lymington will see it that way.”
‘Brutalist’ style While Dr Donald Mackenzie of the watchdog Lymington Society said: “Generally the committee feel they are unsuitable for the town. They may be suitable for a clifftop location where there’s lots of space around them.
“The style is too modern and brutalist. While they may have architectural merit they are totally unsuitable for the site.”
He said committee members liked the way Redrow had provided more open space and made the development part of the town with a bridge over the railway.
But four-storey buildings would be too dominant for the gateway site, Lymington should not suffer because a company has to make a profit and some of the finishing was a “tenuous link” to the town’s Georgian buildings, he added.
Redrow design director Trevor Wright said: “We look forward to receiving local feedback following the exhibition, which will be reviewed and considered by the project team. After which, we will continue to liaise with all parties, including the district council.”
The public consultation will take place between 11am and 3pm next Saturday.
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