YOUR EMAILS....Dear Brixham...

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BLACKBALL LANE KILNS TO INDUSTRIAL & FISHERIES HERITAGE

Dear Torbay Council

Friends of Furzeham Green have received letters from Torbay Council officers Keith Humphreys and John Burton seeking to justify the demolition of Freshwater Quarry kilns to widen Blackball Lane. At FFG's meeting of 25 January 2012, committee members considered these letters. They then reconfirmed their opposition to this destruction of Furzeham's heritage, declared that the kilns belong to Brixham people and Torbay Council has no right to demolish them, and objected further to the widening of Blackball Lane on the grounds that it will lead to higher speeds and accidents, on a road where there has never been an accident before.

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

1. Who was the ‘adviser' who looked at the kilns ‘in passing' and informed English Heritage that they were not worth listing?
2. Is the consultant company which advised Torbay Council that regeneration required the demolition of the kilns permitted to tender to carry out the demolition work?
3. What has been the cost so far of purchasing and maintaining Bridge House, including the opportunity cost of not selling it or renting it out?

1. 1. Is failing to respect precious industrial heritage, specifically the Torbay Paint Factory kilns, representing the most significant occurrence in Furzeham's history, the invention and production of rust-preventing paint, vital to the industrial revolution. Background information is attached.
   2. Hides behind English Heritage's mistaken decision about the kilns' national significance.
   3. Fails to take note of EH's statement that the kilns have important local significance.
   4. Fails to recognise the tourism potential of promoting the history of Torbay Paint Factory and the kilns and failed to respond to FFG's offer to progress this.
   5. Failed to include the kilns west of Brixham town centre in its Heritage Action Plan, while including
   6. all those to the east.
   7. Failed to consult a partner community group, Friends of Furzeham Green, set up by TC itself in 2004 (and which has raised over £100,000 to improve the Furzeham area, actually TC's responsibility), about a major project in their area affecting valuable heritage. An email costs nothing.
   8. Failed to mention demolition of these kilns in the two consultations of Brixham people regarding regeneration (Library 2004, Scala Hall 2010).
   9. Failed to provide full information of the historical and heritage significance of the kilns to Councillors in the report to DMC on the project to widen Blackball Lane when the first planning application was submitted.
   10. Failed to provide access to Oxen Cove when redeveloping the Fish Quay.
   11. Failed to trial traffic lights as a possible solution to the visibility problem on Blackball Lane
   12. Refuses to rethink the project in the light of 1) residents' objections to loss of heritage and 2) poor prospects for development in the current economic situation.
   13. Refuses to accept the compromise proposed by FFG to widen the road by 2 metres beside the kilns, preserving their unique right-angled configuration and both arches.
   14. Does not question the advice from the consultants that the kilns must be demolished, though these same consultants appear to be expecting to carry out the work at a price of £280,000. A resident of Dalverton Court, who objected to the original planning application and is also an engineer with considerable professional experience in this field, advises FFG that traffic lights would solve the visibility problem and a temporary trial would prove this, costing very little.
   15. Does not question the advice from the consultants that road-widening is necessary to attract a developer for Fordwater Quarry and Oxen Cove. Developers are motivated by confidence in the market and the prospective return on their investment; in a development boom, the width of an access road is a minor factor as long as it is wide enough to bring in construction equipment, which Blackball Lane currently is. Demand for dwellings in the cove would depend primarily on the traditional attractions of Brixham and Devon; wide roads are not one of them, heritage is.
   16. Does not take account of the current economic situation in pressing ahead with demolition. Economists are forecasting a decade of stagnation, and there is likely to be zero interest in carrying out this development until at least 2020. In the unlikely event that TC is able to sell the land before that it will have to accept a price well below its true long-term development value. TC is about to spend £280K and destroy our heritage only to end up with very little to show for it.
   17. Fails to recognise that regeneration is currently under renewed scrutiny in Brixham, with the organised protest against a Tesco in the town, and the ousting of Brixham 21 as TDA's partner. This is no time to rush into irrevocable destruction of heritage, it is a time to pause, reconsider and consult honestly with the people of Brixham.

       While not doubting the personal integrity of all those involved and their belief that ‘there is no alternative', Friends of Furzeham Green consider that a few people agreed in error that this was the best course and persuaded a lot of others to go along with their decision. We'll forbear references to lemmings or Gadarene swine, but we subscribe to the commandment ‘Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil' (Exodus 23-2)!

       As Torbay Council has commenced a formal complaint procedure, Torbay Council should continue it. When FFG is informed of the outcome, the committee will consider whether to refer the matter to the Ombudsman.

Yours sincerely

On behalf of Friends of Furzeham Green

Brixham Town Councillor Lynne Armstrong MA MSc

Secretary, Friends of Furzeham Green.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BLACKBALL LANE KILNS TO INDUSTRIAL & FISHERIES HERITAGE

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