Bourne Hill proposal goes to planning committee
A PLAN that could see Salisbury District Council's Bourne Hill offices get an £18.9m makeover will be considered by its planning committee on Thursday.
A year on from a fiercely-fought public campaign to save the Secret Garden', which resulted in the ousting of the council's Tory administration last May the new Lib Dem and Labour administration is seeking approval for its own extension scheme.
The council hopes to build a smaller extension to the listed building, which allows the garden to be retained, but at a cost of nearly £3m more than the original scheme.
A planning application was submitted in February following seven months of consultation and design work, as the council reviewed the original proposal.
Garden "will be improved"
Salisbury District Council's portfolio holder for finance, Cllr Andrew Roberts, said: "We promised that we would listen to the concerns expressed by the local community and this new scheme has been designed to take into account local people's views. I am particularly pleased that in response to views expressed the Secret Garden will not only be saved but it will also be improved with many of its original features reinstated."
Last summer, more than 10,000 people responded to a survey on the Bourne Hill project with 53 per cent saying the original scheme should be modified.
Local residents, councillors and interest groups were also invited to a series of consultation workshops during January 2008.
The first workshop looked at the overall scheme and the other workshops focused on defining the design brief for the Secret Garden.
A full report on the workshops has been included as part of the new applications submissions.
The scheme aims to provide much needed public office space, a new register office and areas for community use.
Eco-friendly
The new extension to the building has been designed to be environmentally friendly and will include sustainable features such as a green and a brown roof to encourage ecological diversity, rainwater harvesting, natural ventilation, and daylight and lighting control.
An extensive tree planning and ecological strategy has been drawn up to include proposals for the planting of 48 semi-mature native trees and tree protection zones for existing trees. Bat and bird boxes have already been installed in the surrounding parkland.
If the planning application is approved construction is likely to start this summer and it is hoped the new building will be open for business at the beginning of 2010.
3:13pm Sunday 11th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Yarna, Salisbury on 4:05pm Sun 11 May 08
Excuse me if I'm wrong but what the h3ll are the Lib Dem/Labour administration playing at? I feel disgusted and let down that many of us were conned into voting for the Lib Dems, who said that they would abandon the Bourne Hill offices project. They lied. And they must have known that it wasn't financially viable to abandon it, at the same time as they were writing 'No to Bourne Hill' on white sheets and standing at city roundabouts on election day. Talk about duping the electorate and we fell for it. It wasn't just about saving the Secret Garden - do they think we're thick or something? It was also about spending an obscene amount of taxpayers' money. Bat and bird boxes? Whoop dee doody doo. At least the wildlife will be able to sleep soundly at night - because I don't know how the current administration does.
Excuse me if I'm wrong but what the h3ll are the Lib Dem/Labour administration playing at? I feel disgusted and let down that many of us were conned into voting for the Lib Dems, who said that they would abandon the Bourne Hill offices project. They lied. And they must have known that it wasn't financially viable to abandon it, at the same time as they were writing 'No to Bourne Hill' on white sheets and standing at city roundabouts on election day. Talk about duping the electorate and we fell for it. It wasn't just about saving the Secret Garden - do they think we're thick or something? It was also about spending an obscene amount of taxpayers' money. Bat and bird boxes? Whoop dee doody doo. At least the wildlife will be able to sleep soundly at night - because I don't know how the current administration does.
Posted by: Cazzkins, Wiltshire on 1:49am Mon 12 May 08
Hopefully, what will also be discussed as a priority is the need for any makeover at all because although the building is long overdue for repairs and refurbishment, with the proposed new Unitary Authority, the building could soon be redundant and need to be sold off! That would save a fortune for us all!
Hopefully, what will also be discussed as a priority is the need for any makeover at all because although the building is long overdue for repairs and refurbishment, with the proposed new Unitary Authority, the building could soon be redundant and need to be sold off! That would save a fortune for us all!
Posted by: Derek Brown, Salisbury on 9:35am Mon 12 May 08
Yarna has every right to be outraged. 5300 people of a District total of 116,000 in a consultation, described by lawyers as flawed and legally defective, voted to make the building smaller and spend £3.5million on the garden which is smaller than a football pitch!!!Every man, woman and child is being asked to pay over £30 each for this nonsense.
Not only has the Administration been dishonest but they are reckless with our Council Tax.
Yarna has every right to be outraged. 5300 people of a District total of 116,000 in a consultation, described by lawyers as flawed and legally defective, voted to make the building smaller and spend £3.5million on the garden which is smaller than a football pitch!!!Every man, woman and child is being asked to pay over £30 each for this nonsense.
Not only has the Administration been dishonest but they are reckless with our Council Tax.
Posted by: Conductor, Bulford on 11:42am Tue 13 May 08
Yarna and Derek are both right, Cllr Sample stood on the roundabout with his banner saying NO and in his/the Lib Dem election leaflet said 'we will cancel the Bourne Hill office project', [bold]not consult or change but cancel[/bold] . ALL of the Lib Dem candidates including Sample were told in writing by the Council Chief Executive before the election that cancelation would bankrupt the council - still they said they would cancel the project.
THEY LIED TO THE ELECTORATE.
They knew that the council had made a binding legal commitment in January 07 to build the revised Bourne Hill after full council had voted for this at their December 06 meeting. Contract signature date is not when the legal commitment was made. They knew this and carried on promising to deliver a cancellation knowing they could not.
THEY LIED TO THE ELECTORATE.
They said after the election that now they knew the facts they could not cancel but would have to amend the design. They already had the facts before the election but chose
TO KNOWINGLY LIE TO THE ELECTORATE.
There is no escaping the facts - the Lib Dem and Labour parties LIED to get into power and once they were the adminstration they undertook a legally flawed consultion on Bourne Hill in which they again LIED to the Electors about the costs of the various options.
Yarna and Derek are both right, Cllr Sample stood on the roundabout with his banner saying NO and in his/the Lib Dem election leaflet said 'we will cancel the Bourne Hill office project',
not consult or change but cancel . ALL of the Lib Dem candidates including Sample were told in writing by the Council Chief Executive before the election that cancelation would bankrupt the council - still they said they would cancel the project.
THEY LIED TO THE ELECTORATE.
They knew that the council had made a binding legal commitment in January 07 to build the revised Bourne Hill after full council had voted for this at their December 06 meeting. Contract signature date is not when the legal commitment was made. They knew this and carried on promising to deliver a cancellation knowing they could not.
THEY LIED TO THE ELECTORATE.
They said after the election that now they knew the facts they could not cancel but would have to amend the design. They already had the facts before the election but chose
TO KNOWINGLY LIE TO THE ELECTORATE.
There is no escaping the facts - the Lib Dem and Labour parties LIED to get into power and once they were the adminstration they undertook a legally flawed consultion on Bourne Hill in which they again LIED to the Electors about the costs of the various options.
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