CIVIC SOCIETY VISITS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Over the past twenty or so years members have made over 300 visits and walks which encompassed historic houses and buildings, town and country explorations, many churches, theatres and cinemas and public buildings. Most have been in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire but some have ventured further afield into London and its outskirts.

Locally we have visited the Town Hall, the Magistrates’ Court, back stage of the Pavilion, the Pier Theatre (before its closure) and the now demolished Winter Gardens. The town centre churches and both the Orthodox and the Reformed Synagogues have featured.

Country houses have included Bingham’s Melcombe, Mottisfont, Highclere Castle, Brownsea Castle and Rotherfield House. We saw the Boscombe Hippodrome after it closed as a night club and dance hall with its cast iron ironwork of its theatre still extant and then, later, its transformation as a new banqueting and events venue O2.

Visits to breweries included those at Blandford, Bridport and Ringwood and to Masonic Centres in Bournemouth and Poole. On foot and led by local guides we have explored Wimborne, Devizes, Blandford, Dorchester, Devizes and Christchurch.

Other visits were to the ECO composting site near Hurn as well as to the recycling centre at canford magna and the Sewage Works in Christchurch. Walks also explored the Bourne from its source to the sea; the Wimborne Road cemetery; Boscombe Gardens and the two Royal Parks.

During the years leading up to and following the new millennium the Civic Society continued to get involved with and comment on plans and proposals affecting Bournemouth’s built and natural environment. It also, just like in its earliest years, spoke out on Council plans for leisure, arts, tourism and economic development schemes.

The closure of the swimming pool in the Bournemouth International Centre and its conversion to more conference and exhibition facilities were opposed. The closure of the Winter Gardens concert hall was opposed but subsequently the imaginative scheme for a new concert hall and mixed residential/commercial development designed by famous London based architect Sir Michael Hopkins (but never built) was generally welcomed.

The conversion and renovation of the listed former National Sanitorium, built in 1855 and situated in Branksome Wood Road next to the Town Hall was supported. Likewise renovation of Shelley Manor and the creation of new medical facilities and residential apartments alongside this historic Boscombe villa were supported. Unfortunately the restoration of the theatre within the Manor remains a long unachieved hope – the most recent scheme falling when national lottery funding was not forthcoming.

Plans for new facilities at Hengistbury Head have been commented on – the E-learning Centre on the site of the 1960’s building in Broadway some years ago and more recently the interpretation and visitor centre adjacent to the former Ranger’s thatched house. The most recent AGM featured a talk on the Head by Mark Holloway and a donation toward the new centre was made in lieu of a speakers fee.

Nearby the Honeycombe Chine development with new public and leisure attractions together with the renovation of the listed Boscombe Pier were supported with reservations. The demise of the artificial surf reef is a disappointment to everyone although the improvement to the public realm and the re-planning, thinning and refurbishment of the open space along Boscombe Chine has much better stood the test of time and is a real credit to the town.

Plans have been agreed earlier this year by the Council to demolish the IMAX and Waterfront complex, on the former Pier Approach Baths site and so by the time this history is being read the building may no longer be standing. Nearly a decade ago, once the building had been completed and its rear elevation was proving to be so controversial the Civic Society produced several schemes to soften its impact. These involved planting tall trees along the edge of the Bath Road car park and creating a large mural on the blank rear wall of the building itself. Neither idea was taken up by the Council.

Once the railway station had been restored and improved the problem with its far from easy connectivity with the adjacent travel interchange led the Civic Society to draw up plans to improve the situation. These were not taken up and to this day regular letters appear in the local newspapers about how the whole travel interchange/railway station and Lansdowne area need to be better linked together and routes into to the town centre for visitors arriving here improved.

Various plans for The Pavilion and development of the adjacent car park have been commented upon by the Civic Society. The original scheme including within it a new freestanding modern building for a casino led to a meeting with the Trevor Osborne Group and the more recent scheme substituting of a multiplex cinema for the casino has likewise been closely monitored. The renovation of the listed Pavilion, improvements to the theatre, its features and facilities and the open space close-by have all been welcomed by the Civic Society but concerns remain about the impact the new multiplex cinema complex will have on the street scene as well as, of course, the closure of the original much larger and well established cinemas in Westover Road.

Former members’ service has been recognised by memorial benches in attractive public open space areas close to where they lived. Sidney Kirk is commemorated by the Wick riverside gardens near Tuckton and Penny Rigby-Hall in Alum Chine close to her Hansel and Gretel like listed lodge in Westbourne.

To mark the official opening of the newly remodelled Square in February 2000 by the Mayor, Cllr Jim Courtney, the Civic Society sponsored a new bench which remains there to this day. It also donated toward the fund to renovate and restart the Lansdowne College clock together with funds for the Roll of Honour book for the Royal Hampshire Regiment, the Baden Powell memorial and for the Moordown Halifax memorial. Under the initiative of Keith Rawlings the Civic Society sponsored the reprint of editions of several out of print local studies booklets and these are still available and popular in local libraries.

In 2004 a West Cliff heritage information board sponsored by the Society was unveiled on the promenade below the Highcliffe Hotel, by the Mayor, Cllr Anne Rey, accompanied by John Barker , Jean Bird and other committee members.

Always keen to work with and support local groups who have similar aims the Civic Society has long had good relations with partner organisations. Residents’ associations in Muscliffe, Throop & Holdenhurst as well as in the East Cliff and Town Centre, Talbot Woods, Meyrick Park, Southbourne, Boscombe, Pokesdown and Kinson have all been involved in joint campaigns over the years be these defence of the green belt, fighting off redevelopment schemes or working together to comment on Council strategies or plans.

Good links have been developed over the years with the Council and a professional relationship maintained with councillors and officers. In the last forty years Borough Planning Officers including Ken Cross, Lesley Coombes, Peter Challen, Inglis Thompson, Andrew Duckworth and Mike Holmes and Chairmen of the Planning Committee stretching through Gabriel Jaffe, Barbara Evans, Margaret Hogarth, Bob Lelliott, Ken Mantock, John Beesley to David Kelsey have all received letters, reports and deputations from the Civic Society on plans before them and their colleagues. Monthly digests on planning applications of interest to the Civic Society prepared by John Soane and agreed by the committee at each monthly meeting are now emailed to the Planning Officer and Planning Board members for their information.

As well as contacting, writing to or meeting with councillors and expressing views on matters of interest the Civic Society also regularly meets officers to hear updates on plans, exchange views and help keep communications open and useful. For many years members of the Civic Society have met Mike Holmes, now Director of Planning and Transport, at least three times a year and discussed such issues. Likewise officers and councillors have been invited to speak at open meetings or AGMs and have always, despite sometimes controversial topics being discussed, received a good welcome.

A good friend of the Society, David Atkinson, former MP for Bournemouth East, sadly died recently. Having worked with him for many years on issues including the railway station, greenbelt and Stour valley villages it was good to hear him at our 2011 AGM presenting plans for the Moordown Halifax Memorial. We were all saddened to learn of his untimely death.

The Civic Society was an early member of the Bournemouth 2026 Partnership and is now also a member of the Bournemouth Council for Voluntary Services. John Walker has recently become a member of the Council’s new Lower Gardens Trust Board and Ken Mantock has been Vice-Chairman of the Council’s Local Development Framework Steering Group since 2007.

Council strategies and plans have long been studied and commented upon by the Civic Society ranging from Management Plans for open spaces such as Hengistbury Head or the Stour Valley, County Structure Plans, Regional Spatial Strategies and Borough Plans or Local Development Frameworks shaping the future of the town, site specific plans including Honeycombe Chine, Boscombe Spa and the Waterfront building, area proposals such as the Town Centre Master Vision, Exeter Road Design Strategy and most recently the Night Time Economy.

Interestingly the newest town centre night time economy report, well created by consultants Feria, makes some good very points including some first suggested many years ago in the Fitch Report which the Civic Society welcomed.

During 2008 and 2009 John Soane researched and prepared a characterisation study covering East Boscombe and Pokesdown which was presented to the Council to enable it to be considered when fine-grain area-by-area policies are created under the Local Development Framework and Core Strategy processes. The report, extensively illustrated with photographs, highlighted areas where conservation, improvement, consolidation and redevelopment could be best directed.

Civic Voice, the national group representing Civic Societies across the UK and successor to the Civic Trust has very good links to the Civic Society, Bournemouth being one of the new founder members. Members from Bournemouth have attended Civic Voice AGMs and meetings in London, Guildford, Sheffield, Bath and Bristol and casework from Bournemouth has featured in the national Civic Voice newsletter.

In 2011 on the first national Civic Day in June a garden party was held in the beautiful grounds of Throop Mill Cottage, owned by members Jim and Rosemary Fisher and three guided walks were led through the nearby lanes and fields.

On June 2012s Civic Day Beryl Parker, Paul Newsome, Sally McGrath, Keith Barnes, John and Eileen Barker and Ken Mantock manned a display stand at Castlepoint Shopping Centre and engaged with passers by to raise interest in the Civic Society and launch the national Civicwatch survey. The Civic Trust Awards still exist and for many years Sally McGrath has served as an assessor on regional judging panels along with architects and planners.

The Civic Society also look a prominent role in events and publications leading up to the town’s Bicentenary in 2010. Members John Barker, Eileen Barker, John Soane and John Walker all provided contributions or helped produce the “From Smugglers to Surfers” commemorative book and David Bird served on one of the Bicentenary Sub-Committees. The Barkers and John Walker also supported the Cllrs Cooper in their provision of “the Founders of Bournemouth” plaques alongside The Pavilion. In 2011 during a Civic Visit to Netanya, one of Bournemouth’s twin town’s organised by Cllrs Anne and Michael Filer, the City Mayor was presented with a copy of the “From Smugglers to Surfers” book by Ken Mantock whilst Rod and Elaine Cooper and John Walker presented her copies of the Bournemouth history books they had also written.

Some problems appear to be intractable -

Whilst the fate of some listed buildings in Throop and Muscliffe that were of concern in the 90s is now secured: Throop House, The Piggery, and The Shack for example all now renovated and lived in by caring owners - others remain in doubt. Throop Mill has not been opened to the public for many years now, the owners carry out the legal minimum of maintenance and show no inclination to fully explore its future as a heritage cafe, interpretation centre or public facility.

Nearby Throop UR Church and The Manse, both originally Georgian buildings, have been empty and neglected for several years now. With the Mill and Church we support local campaigns by Cllr Ron Whittaker and residents to seek their protection and re-use rather than continued decline.

In this area we also continue to be vigilant regarding threats to the green belt and the conservation area villages. Housebuilders and landowners have earlier this year suggested sites for development as part of the Local Development Framework’s Core Strategy examination and although the Inspector has not released any new land he has indicated that Bournemouth will need to review it is achieving it housing commitments within the built up area more regularly in order to continue to justify not doing so.

Similarly the green belt has been threatened by three potential gipsy and traveller sites whilst a car park near the Lansdowne faces a similar threat. The Civic Society has objected to all four sites and believes Bournemouth, Christchurch and East Dorset Council’s should be allowed to work together to find sites rather than be forced to find sites in each and every Borough.

Across on the East Cliff, the Cliff End Hotel in Manor Road, close to the junction with Christchurch Road, remains an empty boarded up wreck and has been so for approaching a decade now. Plans were passed many years ago to restore the historic core of the building as a boutique hotel and build sympathetically designed residential wings in place of the existing ones. However the freeholders and lessees have been in dispute leaving the Council and Police to deal with the derelict site, trespassers and near do wells. There is talk of a compulsory purchase so we hope this will occur to rescue the building and see it renovated before arsonists do their worse.

Early 1970s can be considered the absolute nadir in respect of the social, economic and environmental fortunes of Bournemouth as a premier maritime resort. Between 1945 and 1970 Great Britain had basked in an Indian summer of post imperial glory, buttressed by a captive overseas market in manufactured goods, with negligible competition from Continental Europe and Japan – still recovering from World War II. The middle classes still appeared strong and confident and they still frequented and dominated in large numbers the more select seaside resorts on the South Coast, such as Eastbourne, Bournemouth and Torquay.

Especially during the 1950s they appeared to exude an optimism in the future which was little different in essence from what had appertained during the great expansion of these places at the end of the nineteenth century. In Bournemouth such circumstances had been to the great advantage of the resident population and had engendered after two decades of reasonable prosperity, a presumption within Council circles that good fortunate would last indefinitely.

This benign state of affairs was to be rudely shattered by the youth revolution of the 1960s, the complete retreat from empire, the increasing social, economic and cultural impact of a resurgent Europe and Japan and the serious oil and financial crisis following the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1973. As the old consensus of values steadily crumbled, the ambience which had sustained them began to crumble as well. Moreover, with the ending of rent control in 1956, the well-to-do could no longer afford to come to Bournemouth in the same numbers for such long periods and in quite the style they had done in the past.

Standards began to slip: two of the best known four star hotels – the Imperial and the Grand – closed; fewer first class shops were seen in the town centre; night clubs and cheap food outlets of a type never previously seen in the resort, began to appear in Old Christchurch Road and at the Triangle; increasing numbers of houses in respectable neighbourhoods which had previously been well maintained for persons of modest means, began to be used in an undesirable, crowded manner. Worst of all, the Council seemed unable to give a positive lead and hoped, against hope, that past glories would see the town through. Alas, with the growth of cheap air travel by 1970 the increasing numbers of holiday makers who now visited foreign resorts which guaranteed better summer weather, meant that the hitherto widespread tradition of seaside holidaying in Britain was now sacrificed to changing leisure trends.

In addition, ever since the Second World War, clear decisions as to the correct direction the Borough Council should steer the built up environment of Bournemouth had been compromised by the divisive impact of Sir Patrick Abercrombie’s Report (1946) on future planning policies within the Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch conurbation. His main suggestion that Central Bournemouth should be completely re-structured as a modern administrative and economic centre, involving the replacement of many Victorian residential properties, went right against the still existing ethos that had been the principal creative force behind the evolution of the town.

The result had been over twenty years of planning drift, with little or no control of the poorly designed blocks of high rise flats that were now beginning to disfigure well established neighbourhoods such as the West Cliff.

By the early 1970s, the Council, while still unwilling or unable to take a positive lead in respect of the future of Bournemouth, yet increasingly desperate to enhance the hospitality industries at almost any cost, became embroiled in the ambitions of an American development company – the Bournemouth International Group (BIG) – which, as events turned out, nearly brought disaster to the resort. Municipal leaders had long talked about the need for a high profile, modern conference centre, that would help restore the smart appearance of the town centre and boost the declining retail and holiday infrastructure of this area. Many councillors were therefore quite enthusiastic about the BIG scheme, which promised a 6,000 seat convention hall, 14,333 sq. metres of exhibition space, and four enormous tower block hotels with casino facilities containing 2,000 bedrooms. Had approved been given to this gigantic enterprise, it would have changed for ever the existing linear, horizontal character of the central sea front concourse and a complex resembling a passage imitation of Reno, Nevada, would have arisen instead.

After the initial euphoria had died down, people began to realise that what was being proposed was a complete North American style leisure centre, in which the resulting hotel/ casino/conference/entertainment package would have dominated the Borough Council and the whole of the existing hospitality industry. Furthermore, persistent rumours began to circulate that BIG had strong links with organised gambling interests in the Western United States and the Bahamas. Alderman Harry Mears spoke for the town when he said that Bournemouth should be allowed to evolve with dignity in its own manner by retaining its distinctive “sense of place”. He felt that if the proposed undertaking went ahead, not only would many British visitors be priced out of the resort, but the unique environmental character of Bournemouth would be destroyed for ever.

With the eventual rejection of the scheme by a large Council majority in October 1972 – in conjunction with the commencement of the economic recession in the following year – the Borough Council learnt a hard but valuable lesson as to how it should face up to the problems of future growth. Despite considerable uncertainties, the resort had to find another way of keeping it economically viable, whilst at the same time respecting its unique character. It was now realised that if Bournemouth was to remain an attractive and vibrant resort, the established picturesque environment would need to be augmented considerably by more extensive and up to date visitor and consumer facilities in the town centre. However, there were many who wondered if the Borough Council fully understood the new scope of the planning responsibilities it might now have to undertake.

Until the mid-twentieth century, a considerable proportion of urban expansion in Bournemouth had been effectively provided by private entrepreneurs who had taken advantage of the fashionable developmental momentum of the resort in a situation whereby the Council had been content to exert a relatively light guiding role. Now that a completely different situation had to be faced, in which a much more comprehensive change in the basic structure of the central hospitality areas of the resort would be required, did the Council have the ability to accomplish this transformation?

Should a Continental style pavement, café culture be introduced? Would this initiative be incompatible with ingrained British culinary habits where, even in Bournemouth, the appearance of hot food takeaways was a reminder of the more permanent retreat from fashionability? In addition, there were other reminders by the 1970s of precipitant decline: the excessive number of shops to let in Old Christchurch and Westover Roads; the spread of cheap clothing outlets and souvenir boutiques in Poole Road and Commercial Road.

These were reasons enough why any plan for the visual enhancement of the town centre would be fraught with considerable difficulties. Even more serious was the extent to which the viability of the vital holiday and leisure industries were now threatened by the general degradation of neighbourhoods on the periphery of the urban core.

In a rash attempt to diversify the economy of Bournemouth a large segment of relatively non-descript, late nineteenth century, residential property centred on Cotlands Road, Holdenhurst Road and Oxford Roads had been comprehensively demolished in the 1970s in order to create a centre of service employment to be housed in modern office blocks. Unfortunately, on account of the concurrent property slump, no sites were purchased and so for the best past of a decade, the cleared area degenerated into an ugly rubbish tip, to the last shame of the Borough Council. Faced with such visual decay and the lack of a long term plan for future growth, it was not so surprising that not only did the entire town centre appear to be heading for irreversible dilapidation, but in addition, with the continuing reduction of many long-term respectable residents, considerable numbers of houses in neighbourhoods of intermediate social status in West Boscombe, Charminster and parts of Springbourne, were transformed permanently into houses of multiple occupation. (HMOs)

As a final blow to the most lamentable decade in the history of Bournemouth, during the 1970s there appeared to be an increase in drug trafficking amongst the extremely varied young people who were attracted to the extensive popular music scene in the resort. The writing was certainly on the wall because the 1981 Census revealed that during the previous decade, the population of the town had declined from 150,000 to 144,000 – whereas that of Poole, for long the unsung service monopole of the conurbation, had enjoyed a spectacular population rise of over 20,000.

Of course, given the existing socio-spatial structure of Bournemouth, it could never imitate the particular morphology of its neighbour. However, by the later 1970s a consensus of opinion was beginning to take shape which felt that an increasing degree of economic diversification, assisted by an enhanced civic level of environmental and infra-structional improvement was probably the only practical way forward for the resort. In effect, between approximately 1977 and 1985, fundamental changes were beginning to affect the general planning policies of the Borough Council. It was no longer possible merely to keep up the existing social tone of the resort; the hugely increased variety of visitors that were now drawn from every possible social background, now necessitated a far more pro-action stance.

The most demanding aspect of this new way ahead would be to ensure that declining hospitality standards (the continued closure of good quality accommodation; empty premises leased by fancy goods emporiums and wine bars; the spread of HMOs) could be permanently turned round in conjunction with the introduction of alternative white collar forms of employment.

What actually evolved during the last two decades of the twentieth century was that with considerable caution and several false starts, Bournemouth Council set out new planning policies that had a direct bearing on the long-term improvement and modernisation of tourist facilities; the steady amelioration, appropriate regulation and more suitable occupation of many older villa properties in areas on the edge of the town centre; the construction of substantial but not over-large, retail and educational projects and, above all, the provision of very considerable capacities for international conferencing and the establishment of appropriate centres for the operation of the financial services industry.

According to the Bournemouth Local Plan 1977 (with subsequent revisions up to 1985 and beyond), the older and more established, adjacent, coastal areas of the resort would still be reserved for general residential and leisure use – while in a series of strictly zoned sectors stretching back from the sea, accommodation and tourist facilities would merge with the principal retail areas (along the spine of Old Christchurch Road, Commercial Road and Poole Roads) for residents and visitors alike. Further inland, a combination of converted or redeveloped apartment blocks would gradually connect with more recently built, lower density, family house suburbs.

Irrespective of the changing socio-economic structure of Bournemouth, the unique central green belt of the Upper, Central and Lower Pleasure Gardens (soon to be declared a protected open space) that ran through the Lower Bourne Valley, would be permanently retained in order to support the well established, low density, linear building tradition of the town and so by extension, the application of this spatial characteristic in the outer built up areas of Bournemouth where the construction of new office capacity would be especially encouraged.

The intention of such a policy was to inject a new body of relatively affluent white collar workers into the resort, which it was hoped would have a positive effect on the well established, but now relatively declining, retail sector of the economy. Indeed, by 1980, employment in non-tourist activities for the first time exceeded the number of people working in the traditional leisure industries. It was therefore a considerable achievement when in 1985, the then Chase Manhattan Bank (now the JP Morgan Bank) entirely based in London, decided to move its administrative headquarters to Littledown, a former landed estate in East Bournemouth, following an agreement with Bournemouth Council.

However, although there was now the theoretical prospect of up to 1,500 employees and dependants, many with established sophisticated tastes, helping to revive the general economy of Bournemouth by around 1990, the problem was still to make the town appealing enough to persuade a considerable number of metropolitan newcomers to relocated easily into the established activities of the town. For even if by the mid 1980s tourism in south east Dorset was still quite a successful undertaking, with over two million, generally better off visitors spending nearly £600 million during the summer season, it could appear that the successful marketing of Bournemouth as a fashionable alternative to metropolitan life for prosperous working inhabitants, would not be achieved exclusively by a general enhancement of existing visitor amenities or the construction of modern, well designed, office working environments.

For in addition, the continuing presentation of Bournemouth to the wider world as a vibrant and progressive residential resort would need to be consolidated, not only by first class hospitality facilities, but also by the presence of a proactive, social dimension in respect of the day to day activities of the place. It was therefore inevitable that a momentous step in this direction would be taken by the planning and eventual construction of the Bournemouth International Centre by the Borough Council between 1981 and 1984.

The successful completion of this enormous project, which ultimately cost £17 million, was essential in creating a fundamental re-orientation of Bournemouth as a modern, late twentieth century/twenty first century resort. The motives for a visit would no longer be exclusively individual fulfilment but would now be conjoined increasingly with pragmatic considerations in respect of important sectors of the economic and political life of Great Britain.

The future promise of regular numbers of conference delegates on the West Cliff would be the economic saviour of many adjacent, three and four star hotels that latterly had been forced to welcome a much reduced number of longer term guests at discounted rates (the Winterblossoms) either side of the high summer season.

The uncertainties as to the right scale of the new conference centre, the structure of public financing and the proper range of facilities it should contain – very much influenced by the near disastrous, monster scheme that the Council nearly sanctioned from the Bournemouth International Group – were largely responsible for the considerable delay before the chosen design (Module II) was selected and final clearance of the site near Bournemouth Pier in Exeter Road could go ahead.

The restrained, classical, modernist exterior of the structure had been given a pronounced, horizontal emphasis to ensure that the principal elevations did not protrude above the height of the nearby cliffs. The building, which was brick built throughout, had been designed to cater for major conferences of between 2,000 and 6,000 delegates, but in additional there was also provision for exhibition space, dining, private meetings and also at first a specious indoor swimming pool. The main events would take place in these enormous interior spaces: the Windsor Hall with 4,000 seats; the Tregonwell Hall with a seating capacity of 1,200 persons and the more multi-purpose Purbeck Hall added a few years later.