Southport Cyclone GONE!

[Marky66]

Work has started on demolishing the southport cyclone,

Amanda Thompson should hold her head in shame!

http://www.southportforums.com/forums/s ... 2050367586

[EAS]

The council has not been noiified, there has been no wildlife survey, there is asbestos on site...


http://www.southportcyclone.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1

[porterm]

Very sad day indeed. I didn't get to hear or see any media coverage of these horrid images so am not sure if all of the structure has now disappeared. I hate BPB right now; no more trips there until there's a change of more passionate ownership I feel. Hey, I don't even think any major US park chains would act in such indespicable ways.

I've added some un-glowing comments on BPB's customer service answerphone service. I doubt if it'll do much good at this late stage, but I felt I had to do it.

Martin

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Only the lift hill is gone, and the police have been called. The work was done without permits and has hopefully, once again, been halted. Fines to Amanda and the demolition contractor should be secured in sufficient amounts to rebuild the damage as per the wish of the people on publicly owned land.

This is unthinkable, and yes, would not happen in the USA.

Council members must certainly be on the take.

[porterm]

Hi Jim,

Good 'ol USA! - glad to hear that it would not be allowed to happen there (more democratic than the current UK it seems). I hope you didn't take any offence with my "major US parks" comment; I was doing it a bit "tongue in cheek" knowing what people like Six Flags have done to some of their property in recent years. At least they were upfront about it though, having some common courtesy.

I wish I could emigrate now really. I love the USA.

Martin

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Yes, Six Flags did take down a woodie not long ago, but it was built in 1976 and not well maintained. It was a replica of the Coney Island Cyclone, but built on like a 20% larger scale, so a pretty good one. A sad loss.

Maybe it's because our history as a nation isn't as old, but we see things even from this last century as part of our ongoing history and worth saving. The worlds second oldest operating coaster is, as we speak, being moved. The park it's in closed, so they offered it for sale to the highest bidder (who bought it for a token amount) and were prepared to let it stand as long as needed until a home was found.
They felt that even though they could no longer care for it, someone else could.

There's NO REASON the Cyclone at Pleasureland couldn't have been offered for free and moved. Had the work begun back in September when they started cutting it up, it would be gone by now and the new owners would have paid the costs to move it. Instead, Amanda Thompson is running up huge costs and delays doing it her way. I hope she pays contractors and fines up the wazoo.

[Bob]

Only the lift hill is gone, and the police have been called. The work was done without permits and has hopefully, once again, been halted. Fines to Amanda and the demolition contractor should be secured in sufficient amounts to rebuild the damage as per the wish of the people on publicly owned land.

This is unthinkable, and yes, would not happen in the USA.

Council members must certainly be on the take.

What Permits. No Permit would be required. It is not a listed building. It is not in a Conservation and does not require street or road access to be restricted or present any danger to the general public. They may require a permit if they work outside of normal permited hours which are normally 08:00 to 18:00 Mon to Fri. and 8:00 to 13:00 Sat

[EAS]

Actually had it been a building they would have been required to call the council and give notice.

In this instance at the moment it's structure.

Also of course the wildlife issue required DEFRA permits. Which have not been applied for.

And yes they have closed off part of the pavement...

[Strongbow55]

Its very sad BUT this is save dreamland not save southport
perhaps mods could remove non dreamland related topics ? or is this save every park in the UK forum

[Neil]

Well it's a Joylandbooks forum. I guess it's up to Nick, but I'm happy with other topics, although perhaps they could be moved to another area.

[EAS]

I think some of us recognise the vulnerability of the tiny cluster of all historic coasters left in the UK and are naturally concerned for them all.

Tearing down one historic coaster gives the impression that these aren't worthwhile. This isn't true in the eyes of us who are aware of their place in social history, but it does feed the views of the Philistine.

It's never going to be a 'save every park' forum as really there is now only a tiny number of historic coasters and amusement park buildings left. However, yes, there is a better part of the forum for this maybe, but once a thread has begun it's hard to do anything about it.

What is tragic about the Southport scenario is that BPB say Cyclone is being demolished as English Heritage say it is of no historic interest..
EH has had a report since September 25th telling it that its assessment of Cyclone was wrong. It has had frantic e-mails and calls too to ask it to hurry up with the requested re-assessmnet. Of course there is nothing now which will enable Cyclone to be listed as the damage is too great.

What is interesting and appalling is that some of the reasons given for not listing fly in the face of what happened with the Scenic Railway, and shows just how arbitrary our protection of historic structures is.

Once I get more time I intend to write a chronology and ask the DCMS for an investigation into the chaos which seems to happening both there and at EH now where listing is concerned.

I sent new information, an informed report on coaters in the UK and Cyclone's place in that, refuting EH's Inspector's report (which was inaccurate) on September 25th, requesting an immediate review. The Review Officer at DCMS carried that out, and the report she wrote simply repeated EH's report - without any reference to my report.

I compalined - I had a long talk with a senior official at the DCMS (who I know from other things I'm imvolved with) and compalined long and loud.

As far as I know, the review is still going on - too late for Cyclone.

This also involves the Scenic Railway - being considered as part of a small but important cluster of historic coasters, each with its own unique historic qualities, and not just a one-off, would have been good thing for the future. It would have been a recognition of the type, not just one structure, and Scenic's role in that cluster is paramount.

Don't knock those of us who are interested in the bigger picture - it will have spin-offs for Dreamland.

[EAS]

Private Eye report today - p 30 - also mention of Dreamland.

Please watch - and weep:

http://www.southportforums.com/pics/r/DESTRUCTION.wmv

[AJ]

That is really horrible to watch. Only found Southport 3 years ago and made an annual day out on our weekend to Blackpool. Every time we went we had a fantastic day a Pleaseureland. The Cyclone and the Mistral were great.

[EAS]

A very historic site indeed ... the River Caves dates back to 1908, moved in 1922.

[Jim Douglas Jr.]

Strongbow,
While I totally see your point, I now consider many of the folks here as friends and this place worth a look-see every day or two. Since there's been really nothing new posted here in weeks re: Dreamland, I'm grateful we have something to discuss. Inactivity leads to loss of members. Perhaps something we learn discussing similar topics will be useful in the future.

What we learned here is that local officials can not be counted on to make good decisions (that sounds familiar...) Now, that may be a lesson we already have learned, but perhaps seeing it play out in a bad way strengthens our resolve, reminding us not to let our guard down for a second.

Grade II listing isn't a total guarantee of anything.

This, I would think, makes Margate actually that much more attractive. The fewer seaside resorts, the more unique they become. A really spiffy Dreamland would be a real feather in the cap.

Anyway, another lesson we may have learned, and I hope everyone sees this, is that you never know what's going on behind the scenes. The Cyclone was operating one day, and being dismantled 2 or 3 days later. Just because it's off season for the park, don't for a minute think that Waterbridge isn't still looking for ways to sink Dreamland. The lack of activity here is quite frankly, scary.
I hope in the off season, members here are brainstorming ways to keep Dreamland on people's minds and looking into the public records to see which council members might have ties to or investments in local developement or other dealings with Waterbridge. Real estate and lease agreements are all public record.

We now have a member with valuable experience in this matter, so all in all, although the Cyclone is going, EAS has valuable information on the processes involved with leading a fight. Had someone learned the information about the Cyclone beforehand, chances are good it would still be standing, and we all, especially the locals, need to look for warning signs, permits being pulled, etc.

It's good that we all have different viewpoints and interests. Keeps it lively and the ideas moving.