New plans for Bridport’s South West Quadrant

NEW plans for the redevelopment of Bridport’s historic South West Quadrant are to go on show on Friday, December 10.

People are invited to view landowners Haywards’ latest proposals for the St Michael’s Trading Estate area in the Red Brick Café between about 11am and 2pm.

Haywards’ last scheme – for a mix of 175 new homes and commercial “regeneration” opportunities – was intensely controversial. It would have had a bigger effect on Bridport than any development since the 1970s.

The South West Quadrant of Bridport is the old quarter of town roughly bounded by the River Brit to the west, West Street to the north, South Street to the east and St Mary’s church to the south. Precise definitions vary.

Despite Haywards working in partnership over several years with West Dorset District Council, and making joint planning applications with the council, district councillors twice turned their proposals down.

Last year, Haywards decided to appeal.

Not one person wrote to the Planning Inspectorate to support them, and two strong campaigns of opposition were mounted.

One fight was led by artists, who feared ejection from St Michael’s Studios and the ruination of what has become known as Bridport’s artistic quarter.

The Trick Factory, Bridport. Will its future be up in the air again?

Another was led by users and supporters of the Trick Factory, Dorset’s only indoor skate park. This facility – which is particularly popular with teenage boys – would have been demolished.

Earlier this year, Haywards were ignominiously refused permission to go ahead with their appeal.

After that costly disaster, Norman Hayward spoke exclusively to Danielle Hoffman of the Western Gazette, whose whole piece is still well worth reading.

Mr Hayward suggested that he would try again.

He said: “It is the most important site in Bridport and something needs to be done for it.”

He went on: “The artists were never going to be moved, they are my own tenants and we have helped them out over the years. The area is special to Bridport, and the intention has always been to work with the town not against it.”

And he concluded: “I am hoping that next time round people will see the bigger picture and see that the whole site needs money spent on it.”

Well, “next time round” now seems to be upon us.

Artist Kit Glaisyer blogged in October: “recently there have been some indications that developers are once again eyeing up Bridport’s historic St Michael’s Trading Estate, in the hope they can get mixed-use planning permission (it’s currently just light industry), cash in and convert it into Poundbury mk.2, despite the fact that it is now home to a thriving Arts and Vintage district.

“What these misguided architects, developers and Councillors don’t appreciate or understand is that the majority of people love this untouched part of town just the way it is, and certainly don’t want it to be ‘gentrified’.

“The other key concern is that if the new development plan is anything like the last one, then it will turf out dozens of small businesses – that rely on low rents – and replace them with units that only solicitors, accountants and estate agents will be able to afford.”

West Dorset District Council appears not to have been involved with Haywards’ latest proposals. The council owns the bus station part of the South West Quadrant, which is looking smarter than it was a year ago. Even the shop there has reopened.

Editor’s Note: It will be fascinating to see what the new plans propose, and to what degree Haywards try to “work with the town”. It’s imposible to believe that there won’t be some changes.

Last time round, for example, it’s extraordinary to think that the Trick Factory wasn’t even referred to. Its destruction was just casually assumed to be something that no one important would care about.

Can there be any other reason for the fact that it wasn’t even mentioned? It was certainly a wrong assumption.

I was talking to Kit Glaisyer the other day about what might happen to St Michael’s Trading Estate and the South West Quadrant. One significant point is that the area seems to have got busier and more popular over the last year, with the growth (for example) of the vintage markets.

In other words, there is even more at stake than there used to be.

One final point for now, on the cost of previous attempts to redevelop the South West Quadrant. The Bridport News established that West Dorset District Council spent £170,000 on quadrant plan fees between 2007 and 2009. Council solicitor David Wignall refused to reveal how much Haywards spent. But Norman Hayward told the Western Gazette that he’d agreed a 70-30 split with the council. So if West Dorset spent £170,000 (30%), did Haywards spend approximately £390,000 (70%)?