That would truly be a town of utter desolation, a total pit of a place that would be completely unsuited to human habitation.

That would be Poundbury.

Could there ever be a place so desolate, so soulless and so completely lacking in a single attractive feature? Finding one would be a task on a Herculean scale and one which would make big, strong men blanch at the prospect of undertaking.

To enter Poundbury is to enter the Pit of Despair.

Drive around it and you will not see a single soul, no pedestrians walk the streets, no children play around its chilling exterior and no person dares to knock on a neighbour’s front door in the hope of a cup of sugar. Are they all ashamed to be seen in a such a place? Probably. Are they all mortified at the rush of blood to the head that impelled them to move there in the first place? Undoubtedly. Can the all be seeking the sanctity of their own homes as a release from their dreadful surroundings? Of course they are.

If towns were the lyrics of popular songs Poundbury would be “He made a vow while in State’s Prison, ‘bout it would be my life or his’n” or even “Yummy, yummy, yummy I’ve got love in my tummy” – yes it truly is that bad.

Ghastly, hideous, revolting and appalling, a whole thesaurus could not summon up enough adjectives to describe this total waste of perfectly good bricks and mortar, this nightmare of development that should have been smothered at birth, this appendage to a county town which must now bear its shame for evermore.

In a nutshell I do not like Poundbury.

On that cheery note I should like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and everything that you wish for yourselves in the New Year. As ever, mine’s a pint, thank you very much.

The Poet Laureate in Poundbury, Dorchester. Photo: Michel Hooper-Immins.

THE POET LAUREATE is one of Dorset’s newest pubs, at the centre of Prince Charles’ model village of Poundbury. I visited there with a colleague, following a late-running meeting.

Bright and Christmassy, the pub was surprisingly full on a cold Wednesday lunchtime. We settled on a table in the corner and studied the interesting menu, supplemented by chalked specials on the board above us.

Andy settled for a pot of tea, while I opted for a pint of Butcombe Bitter, real ale brewed in the Mendips. There was also Ringwood Best Bitter.

How to choose between the delights of the Casterbridge Grill, confit of duck and traditional fish and chips? Then I spotted braised beef – a great favourite of mine and often more tender than steak these days. By now, the Poet Laureate was full and with a nice warm buzz. Wizzard wished for a Merry Christmas on the unobtrusive piped music, as lights twinkled on the Christmas tree.

Understaffed

As time went on, we realised that the tables either side of us – who had been in situ when we arrived – still had not been fed! By now, my glass of Butcombe had emptied and on seeking a refill at the bar, I discovered the barman and the two female waitresses were fully occupied serving food. Ten minutes later, the barman brought my beer over and it was to be well over half an hour after ordering that our food arrived.

I was impressed by the cutlery being brought on a tray with a serviette on top – a nice touch. The tender cubes of beef were immersed in a tasty gravy, with succulent herb dumplings and mashed potato – which I much prefer to chips these days. Vegetables came in a separate dish – cauliflower, carrots and broccoli. I asked for Worcestershire sauce, but there was none – not even behind the bar.

Having much enjoyed the braised beef, I turned to the dessert menu. The cherry frangipane was moist and tasty.

With a mix of pews, and dark wood chairs, the Poet Laureate has a comfortable feel with a good standard of cuisine. However, being well understaffed that day meant longer waits for customers.

Our food and drinks bill came to £36.90.

Notes: The Poet Laureate is at 5 Pummery Square, Poundbury, Dorchester, DT1 3GW. Tel: 01305-251511.

Children & dogs are allowed inside.

Open: 11.45am-3pm, 6-11pm.

The landlords are Brian and Gloria Dodge.

The pub is named after the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, whom Prince Charles greatly admired.

Michel Hooper-Immins belongs to the British Guild of Beer Writers, whose members share “a love of beer and a desire to see its virtues communicated more effectively.” He is a leading member of CAMRA’s Wessex Region, and his name can often be found in The Good Pub Guide.

Another view of The Poet Laureate in Pummery Square, Poundbury, taken from the Brownsword Hall by Chris Downer, and reused under Creative Commons Licence.

When the A35 is closed, generally because of accidents, jams quickly build up and frustrated hordes of motorists seek impromptu alternatives through the mass of lanes north of the main road.

Then they meet a lorry that can’t reverse down a single-track lane, and they can’t easily go back because of the number of vehicles behind them… Tempers get frayed, passing places get blocked, verges get crushed.

Snarls-up are identified as a big problem in the new Upper Marshwood Vale Plan, which covers Marshwood, Bettiscombe, Pilsdon and Stoke Abbott. Possible solutions are being discussed at public meeting in Bettiscombe Village Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday, November 11.

Marshwood councillor Ali Cameron said: “The plan is just a bit of paper unless we turn its ideas and recommendations into reality. This meeting is so residents from all parts of Upper Marshwood can get together to start implementing the parts of the plan that is important to them. So if you want a better future, please come along and be prepared to help.”

Possible solutions

To quote the plan: “The survey produced several solutions, which together or separately, would assist.

“These included: a) using diversion signs within the Vale b) a speedy response to removing the obstruction and re-opening the A35.

“The most popular solution, which would supplement the activity at the scene of the accident, was the use of electronically controlled flashing diversion displays with the information “A35 closed ahead”.

“A sign able to display such a message is already sited on the A30 at Honiton and addresses the eastbound traffic towards the A303.

“Another placed on the A35 at Dorchester would direct westbound traffic onto the A37 through Yeovil and thence to the A303.”

The parish plan suggests that the Upper Marshwood Vale Parish Council should approach the Highways Agency so that the potential and effectiveness of A35 signs can be properly assessed.

“There’s a great deal here that wd delight you: the statue of George III, glaring heavily along the front, is coloured; and everywhere in the town one has only to lift one’s gaze from the garish fronts of Saxone, Melias & so on to see the pretty round shallow bow windows & the colour-washed plaster. The harbour & old town is delicious.”

Ever since it was announced back in 2001 that a huge cache of Larkin’s letters, postcards, and telegrams to Monica Jones had been found, I’ve been waiting for the chance to read some of them in book form, and now here they are.

Do they disappoint? No. There’s something fascinating or funny on every page.

After Larkin’s return from Weymouth to Belfast, he wrote again to Monica about how he and his mother had walked to Thomas Hardy’s ‘Mellstock’.

“Hardy played a part in my parents’ courtship, & it astonishes me to hear her repeat snatches of his poems she learnt simply to please my father – We kissed at the barrier, for instance (as apparently they always did). Of course my father was grabbing the books as they came from the press, in the nineteen-hundreds.

“O frigid inarticulate man!”

Hardy is discussed again and again. In 1955, now in Hull, Larkin meets a “Botany prof. … called Good” – described as “not very bright”. The notes don’t say, but I’m sure this must be Ronald Good, who published a book on Dorset flora, now revered for its thoroughness by modern environmentalists. Anyway, Larkin is not put off by his dimness because it turns out that Good was born and brought up in Dorchester and “HE OFTEN SAW HARDY WALKING ABOUT”. And Good told Larkin a “striking” story about Dorchester:

 “…after Dunkirk, Dorchester was full of soldiers, lying about exhausted all about the grass verges of the streets, sleeping it off. During these two days, a meeting was held at the Hardy statue to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth (2 June 1840) – with the soldiers lying around snoring. He saw it as ‘This England’ – NS & N [New Statesman & Nation, as it then was] – but I see it as pure Hardy.

“How he’d have felt it!”

Letters to Monica is not officially published until October 20 but you can buy it now for nearly half-price on Amazon and I can’t recommend more strongly that you do.

The plans include:

• 23 new shops, including a Waitrose with twice the sales area of the current store
• A new underground car park with 485 public spaces
• Around 50 cycle parking spaces
• A 63-room hotel
• 18 affordable homes
• Public toilets
• Offices and separate parking occupied by the district council
• A potential library and adult education centre provided and paid for by Dorset County Council
• Landscaped lawns between the development and South Walks

Simons says the development will create the equivalent of 124 full time jobs while the scheme is built and an extra 660 once the scheme is up and running, excluding those in the offices.

The planner’s view

Cllr Fred Horsington, Chairman of West Dorset District Council’s Development Control Committee, said after the meeting: “We listened carefully to the many views for and against Simons’ redevelopment plans. The committee felt that the Charles Street site offers the best option to expand Dorchester town centre. The proposal meets Government policy of focusing new shops and offices in or next to existing town centres.

“The committee concluded that the scheme presents a unique opportunity to improve the special appeal of Dorchester and reinforce its role as the county town.”

The developer’s view

Mark Newton, Development Director at Simons, said: “These proposals represent £60 million of future private investment in Dorchester at a time when few towns in the UK are seeing this kind of commitment from developers.

“The new retail, leisure and residential units will help to secure the future of the town centre, benefiting existing businesses in Dorchester as well as attracting other retailers into the town.

“We have undergone extensive consultation with the local community and now believe we have the right plans at the right time.

“Everyone in Dorchester will be aware of the long-standing desire to redevelop this site. We now finally have the opportunity to make this vision a reality.”

The council leader’s view

Cllr Robert Gould, Leader of West Dorset District Council, said: “Dorchester and West Dorset is the ideal place for local and national businesses to invest. With our population due to hit 100,000 in the next year or two, we look forward to welcoming more small independent and larger High Street names to the county town.

“We have that enviable combination – a historic built heritage and exciting plans to redevelop key sites in the county town of Dorchester.

“The retail-led Charles Street and residential/leisure-led Brewery Square schemes put Dorchester and West Dorset in an ideal position to emerge strongly from the recession.”

Consent for the Charles Street scheme is subject to various planning conditions and legal agreements.

Editor’s Note: This is a very slightly edited version of a press release issued a short while ago by West Dorset District Council. It is sometimes very useful to see exactly how organisations like local authorities chose to report upon their own actions.

I like the fact, for example, that Mark Newton says honestly that Simons has “undergone extensive consultation with the local community” (my italics). Not undertaken, but undergone, as if it had been a painful process, which you can see from their point of view it probably was.   

For counterblasts see http://www.dorchesterforum.com/

Wednesday morning update

Simons says that work will begin early next year. The new district council offices and the library will go up first, followed by the shops. The whole complex is expected to be open and trading by 2015.

There should be almost 13,500 sq m of new retail space, alongside 1,500 sq m of open green space on South Walks Road.

Mark Newton, development director for Simons, said: “We are delighted with the Development Control Committee’s decision. The redevelopment of Charles Street has been a top priority for the town for many years, and this decision enables that to come forward.

“The plans represent a major investment in Dorchester at a time when retail developments across the country are struggling to get off the ground. We firmly believe that the redevelopment of the Charles Street site will be of huge long-term benefit to the town centre and surrounding area.”

Mr Newton continued: “We’d like to thank all those who have supported the scheme, especially those who took the time to write and inform the council of their views.

“We now look forward to working with West Dorset District Council, local businesses and the people of Dorchester to ensure this development is successful.”

There’s a report of the meeting, with a useful list of how councillors voted, here

A framed certificate will be presented by CAMRA Regional Director John Buckley at the start of the West Dorset branch’s annual general meeting at the club on Wednesday 22 September.

The Colliton Club in Dorchester - CAMRA's Wessex Regional Club of the Year 2010.

The Colliton Club won the award after being visited by three judges and some of their comments are published in the citation. One said: “No background irritants or musak. A good selection of six cask ales covering four breweries. The club is clean and tidy.”

The second judge praised the warm welcome, a pleasant atmosphere and free wifi, while the third judge commented: “This is a restful club with a nice atmosphere and six cracking real ales on handpumps. Good service and excellent product knowledge from the hard working steward and his staff.”

Colliton Club Steward Neil Gatehouse was ecstatic at again being judged among the 16 top clubs in the UK. He said: “It’s nice to see that in the present economic climate, people still appreciate real ale.”

The club was automatically entered for the Wessex regional award after winning West Dorset Club of the Year. The CAMRA Wessex region comprises Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and parts of Wiltshire and Somerset.

The Colliton Club now goes forward to CAMRA’s national Club of the Year competition against 15 other clubs from around the UK.

West Dorset CAMRA Chairman Dave Harris said: “We in West Dorset CAMRA are delighted to have such a vibrant club in our area. We wish the club every success in the national competition!”

FOR JUST six hours visitors will be allowed to walk across the mosaic floors of Dorchester’s Roman Town House.

The ancient tesselated pavements of the best preserved Roman Town house in Britain can normally only be seen through the windows of a modern protective structure.

But this August – between 2 and 4pm on Wednesdays 11, 18 and 25 – the doors will be opened.

Because the mosaics are fragile, visitors must wear suitable footwear. That means no heels.

Admission is free but donations are welcome.

The house can only be opened up because volunteers have agreed both to supervise and to answer questions about its mosaics, its underfloor heating system and its history.

Dead babies

Its history is fascinating.

The buildings were uncovered in 1937.

The First Interim Report on The Excavations at Colliton Park at Dorchester, 1937-38 was quickly written up by Lt Col C D Drew and K C Collingwood Selby and their words still palpitate with surprise – though very much in the style of the time.

“It was a dwelling house of some importance and from its style must have been built by people of position and means.”

The authors also express no qualms about the Romans’ bloody imperial conquest of Britain, as evidenced by the skeletons uncovered earlier in the 1930s at Maiden Castle.

“The advantages of Roman rule, with its comfort and security, were demonstrated to a newly conquered people by the establishment of a well-ordered town [Durnovaria] in the vicinity of their old stronghold, a town which was the centre of the civil adminstration of the district, of trade, and from which would spread the ever growing waves of Roman thought and culture.”

What shocks the authors is the evidence they uncovered of the house’s – and the Roman Empire’s – decline and fall.

“It is evident that the mansion degenerated into a slum, whose tenants treated it with scant respect. They knocked holes in the floors, some for the burial of their unwanted infants, and they built a ramshackle fireplace, partly of broken roof-slabs, for their cooking.

“One cannot say how long their tenancy lasted, but it is probable that it was not long before the end came… it is probable that the house was completely abandoned by the end of the 4th century.”

The bones of three babies were found in shallow graves.

Editor’s note: The Town House is tucked away behind County Hall in the centre of Dorchester. The county council’s advice is to use  town centre car parks and walk to the site. The best approach is to follow the route of the Roman Walls, along West Walks and enter the site to rear of County Hall.

The council today published a notice inviting construction companies to bid for the job of building a new 4-storey office block, library and adult education centre on the Charles Street site in Dorchester town centre.

The value of the contract is said to be between £8.3 million and £9 million.

The deadline for applying for the job is June 21. A shortlist of between five and 10 contractors will be announced in August, with a final decision expected to be made before the end of the year.

The notice says that work should take 60-70 weeks, with completion scheduled for May 2012.

There is, of course, one big potential obstacle; the scheme has not yet received planning permission. Indeed, an application by Simons Developments was only submitted to West Dorset District Council at the end of April and it is likely to attract substantial opposition.

To read the legal notice, click here.

The developers of Brewery Square were planning quite soon to start building a block of 48 apartments above shops and a basement car park.

But an offer came in for the space that was due to be taken up by 34 of those flats – an offer of providing budget hotel accommodation that developers now want to see succeed.

The main reason is spelled out in an application to West Dorset District Council.

“The proposal assists in the delivery of the main square and the commercial elements around it, and improves the viability of the overall Brewery Square scheme.”

This artist's impression of the future of Brewery Square could be more easily brought to life if permission is granted for a budget hotel, say developers.

The proposal is also meant to complement the establishment of a Four Star hotel in The Brewhouse.

If the budget hotel scheme is approved – and Dorchester Town Council has raised no objection to it -  45 new jobs would be created in management, catering and cleaning.

Fourteen flats would still be built in the so-called Ammonite building, which is to be located just over the road from the railway station.

However, there could be a knock-on effect on the overall number of affordable homes provided as part of the Brewery Square scheme. Affordable properties are supposed to make up 30% of the total of new dwellings: that’s 182. There could now instead be 10 fewer: that’s 172.

There would also be one less shop on the ground floor of Ammonite, so that the hotel can have a reception.

You can find out more about the application by clicking on this link. 

Comments should be made to West Dorset District Council by May 21, quoting reference number 1/D/10/000659.

Editor’s Note: One of the interesting things about this plan is the question of whether it could have any effect on the controversial proposals for the £60 million redevelopment of the Charles Street site in Dorchester. At the end of April, developers Simons submitted plans for a range of facilities including a new £10.7 million district council HQ and a 60-bedroom hotel.

At the time, on this site, Claire commented: “I am sure that a new hotel is called for, but if it were really so, surely a private developer with business savvy would be looking at buildings already in the town? As someone whose business depends rather heavily on visitors and 2nd homers I appreciate that we need to invest in tourism. but why does it have to be the Council to speculate first, with our money?? Surely they should be investing in those of us already living here?”

The Brewery Square / Ammonite scheme would suggest that “a private developer with busines savvy” has indeed been looking around. Everything about this scheme has been agreed; it only needs planning permission.

Dorchester was widely agreed to be short of hotels, aside from The Kings Arms, The Wessex Royale, and The Junction. If there are now going to be two more at Brewery Square, will there be a need for a third on the Charles Street site?

Waitrose has agreed terms to relocate from its current store in Tudor Arcade and is now in detailed discussions with the project’s developer Simons.

Waitrose's current Dorchester branch could be replaced. Photograph copyright Nigel Mykura, reused under Creative Commons licence.

The full application includes a range of new shops comprising over 146,000 sq ft of retail space, a new public car park with 484 spaces, a 60-bedroom hotel, affordable housing, new public toilets, new offices for West Dorset District Council and a proposed new library and adult learning centre for Dorset County Council.

The scheme would bring £60 million of private investment into the area.

Mark Newton, Development Director at Simons said: “The submission of this application is a significant milestone in the history of this project.

“As everyone in Dorchester knows, this site has been earmarked for redevelopment for many years, and now we move one step closer to making this a reality.

“The plans have undergone extensive public consultation, and we were delighted with the amount of people who attended our public exhibition in December and returned our feedback forms.

“We are arranging to set up an information kiosk in Dorchester for people to find out more about the planning application, further details of which will be released shortly.

“We have submitted exciting plans that represent a significant investment in Dorchester, and will create a new retail and leisure destination that will benefit the whole town centre as well as the surrounding area.”

West Dorset District Council Chief Executive David Clarke said: “Receiving this planning application is a landmark step forward for the district council’s plans to enhance the vibrancy and economic well-being of Dorchester town centre.

“The planning application will now be checked and registered. This will take a few days.

“Once the application is registered, people can then come in and view the planning application at the council offices in person, look at them on the council website and submit their views at www.dorsetforyou.com/planningapplications/west or visit Simons’ information events.

“The application will be considered by West Dorset District Council’s development control committee following public consultation.

“You can have your say by telling the council what you think of the plans during a consultation period.

“Those that comment will be invited to speak at the development control committee.

If planning permission is granted, work would start on phase one of the scheme early in 2011.

Simons recently won an award for Best Regeneration Partnership for its work with West Oxfordshire District Council on a mixed-use development scheme in Witney.

Editor’s Note: This is a slightly edited version of a press release issued on behalf of Simons. As has been said before on this site, there is sometimes a merit in seeing exactly how businesses and local authorities choose to present their case. They can spend a long, long time thinking how to do so.

Here, four sentences at the top have been condensed into two, and the word “controversial” has been added by me to the first line; here are some links to some other stories and comments to show why.

Dorchester voters reject plan for new district council HQ

Dorchester town centre debate: “Beware West Dorset’s white elephant” 

Dorchester town centre plans move a step closer

(The last link above sets out in some detail arguments for the redevelopment of Dorchester town centre, and includes a West Dorset District Council video)