BREAKING NEWS: 'Weymouth Eye' approved (From Dorset Echo)
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BREAKING NEWS: 'Weymouth Eye' approved
11:52am Wednesday 24th August 2011 in Local News
A 53-METRE observation tower overlooking Weymouth Bay has been unanimously approved by Weymouth and Portland planners at a meeting today.
The Echo exclusively revealed the details of the tower, nicknamed the 'Weymouth Eye', earlier this summer.
Sea Life Centre-owners Merlin Entertainment Ltd is behind the proposals.
See Thursday's Echo for the full story and reaction.
Comments(38)
Weymouth Ex-pat
says...
12:01pm Wed 24 Aug 11
marabout
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12:09pm Wed 24 Aug 11
However, this is absolutely fantastic.
What really great news and a real significant boost the the prospects for Weymouth
Oldgrumblebelly
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12:39pm Wed 24 Aug 11
From the Echo 14 Aug, 2010:- "Railway Touring Company managing director Nigel Dobbing says Weymouth’s popularity as a resort and the chance to travel in style have made the services a hit.
Mr Dobbing said one hurdle at Weymouth for steam trains was the fact the town has no turntable. This means the company has to fork out an additional £6,000 for an extra locomotive to haul the train back to London.
He said: “We’ve got a turntable, we just need the land at Weymouth on which to put it and would be happy to talk to the authorities about this.
“We’d be able to run more trains through the summer if we had a turntable in there.”
Mr-tumble
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1:11pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Oldgrumblebelly wrote:Ok thanks, but back to the 'Weymouth Eye'. Well done to the Weymouth and Portland planners. Hope it is a success as Weymouth needs more interestingand diverse attractions.
What a hugely popular spectacle the Seaside Express and Dorset Coast steam trains are, and what an excellent way to attract visitors and their wallets to Weymouth? How much fun it could be for visitors to travel in style to see the Olympics while relieving the traffic on the the new Upwey Bypass ? What a shame there's no plan to accept the offer of the train turntable, another small, and comparatively inexpensive attraction in its own right, and increase the number of trains (and visitors) every year. What a welcome Olympic legacy that could have been. From the Echo 14 Aug, 2010:- "Railway Touring Company managing director Nigel Dobbing says Weymouth’s popularity as a resort and the chance to travel in style have made the services a hit. Mr Dobbing said one hurdle at Weymouth for steam trains was the fact the town has no turntable. This means the company has to fork out an additional £6,000 for an extra locomotive to haul the train back to London. He said: “We’ve got a turntable, we just need the land at Weymouth on which to put it and would be happy to talk to the authorities about this. “We’d be able to run more trains through the summer if we had a turntable in there.”
islandman
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1:38pm Wed 24 Aug 11
boobooweymouth
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1:41pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Duckorange
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1:46pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Oldgrumblebelly wrote:One train per day with - what? - a couple of hundred passengers? That's small fry compared to the numbers they predict for the TOWER OF CERTAIN DOOM.
What a hugely popular spectacle the Seaside Express and Dorset Coast steam trains are, and what an excellent way to attract visitors and their wallets to Weymouth? How much fun it could be for visitors to travel in style to see the Olympics while relieving the traffic on the the new Upwey Bypass ? What a shame there's no plan to accept the offer of the train turntable, another small, and comparatively inexpensive attraction in its own right, and increase the number of trains (and visitors) every year. What a welcome Olympic legacy that could have been.
From the Echo 14 Aug, 2010:- "Railway Touring Company managing director Nigel Dobbing says Weymouth’s popularity as a resort and the chance to travel in style have made the services a hit.
Mr Dobbing said one hurdle at Weymouth for steam trains was the fact the town has no turntable. This means the company has to fork out an additional £6,000 for an extra locomotive to haul the train back to London.
He said: “We’ve got a turntable, we just need the land at Weymouth on which to put it and would be happy to talk to the authorities about this.
“We’d be able to run more trains through the summer if we had a turntable in there.”
.
Also, I think it should be called the TOWER OF CERTAIN DOOM.
Lizzy Bennett
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1:50pm Wed 24 Aug 11
roger goss
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2:11pm Wed 24 Aug 11
roger goss
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2:11pm Wed 24 Aug 11
roger goss
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2:11pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Duckorange
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2:57pm Wed 24 Aug 11
roger goss wrote:Total cost to council tax payer = £0.00
glad my council tax is no longer being wasted by your council,there must be more worthy causes to spend money on, the financial climate at the moment should never allow this brain wave idea to leave the planning office
.
FAIL
martaaay2
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3:29pm Wed 24 Aug 11
martaaay2
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3:30pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Oldgrumblebelly
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4:02pm Wed 24 Aug 11
s, I should have explained. The subject matter is about investing in a new, as yet unproven revenue stream for Weymouth. I mentioned the train service as an existing, proven and scaleable one.
The attraction for visitors from London and Bristol of steam trains and a seaside town like Weymouth complement each other well. The train service is profitable to the Railway Touring Co and a proven revenue stream for Weymouth businesses. Business-wise, the two complement each other well.
The Railway Touring Co has stated that it could guarantee more summer visitors into Weymouth, and are eager to provide the hardware to enable that, with a little local input. It would not be too difficult to predict the break-even point for the required outlay, which would be sooner rather than later if Weymouth was open for this business five or seven days a week, not just two.
While I genuinely wish the Eye every success, from a business point of view it's an expensive gamble. It will be interesting to see when it actually starts to make a profit, and how that compares with today's estimates.
The train service has a good track-record (!) from which to base future predictions. We won't really know how popular the Eye will be until after the money's been spent.
I'm guessing that steam train rides to the English seaside will be an attraction to city-dwellers long into the future; I hope the Weymouth Eye proves to be even more so, but I know where I'd invest my money.
kathryn1
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4:06pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Now you have an Olympic Doughnut to go with our Olympic Hamburger!
gary55
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6:57pm Wed 24 Aug 11
how quickly planning permission can be made when it benefits the minority,will the local tax payer get a reduction on there council tax when profits are made,i think not,
islandman
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7:23pm Wed 24 Aug 11
etaoin shrdlu
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8:33pm Wed 24 Aug 11
Tinker2
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10:33pm Wed 24 Aug 11
dt4 9bj
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11:35pm Wed 24 Aug 11
i think that sort of money could have been put to better use in local needs for example the waves project on chickerell road or the skate park at the sea life center or even the bike track at wyke, any if not all of these could be achieved to extremly high standards with a fraction of the money the council are intending to waste on a one hit 3 million pound wounder. thank you and i hope others that feel the same try and stop this project and move the council towards real local benifical projects instead of playing keeping up with the jones`.
ETV
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12:20am Thu 25 Aug 11
.
Looking forward to having a ride so I can look down on all the nimby's ;-)
Techie
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1:55am Thu 25 Aug 11
dt4 9bj wrote:Echo: Instead of a security word how about getting all these bozos to type "I confirm I have read and understood the article I am belming forth about" before being allowed to submit a comment?
this is the most disgusting waste in council tax money, when there is more benifical ways to spend that amount of money, doing all this for the olympics is sheer over compensation that is not needed, we think it will be ugly and completely ruin the weymouth beauty.
i think that sort of money could have been put to better use in local needs for example the waves project on chickerell road or the skate park at the sea life center or even the bike track at wyke, any if not all of these could be achieved to extremly high standards with a fraction of the money the council are intending to waste on a one hit 3 million pound wounder. thank you and i hope others that feel the same try and stop this project and move the council towards real local benifical projects instead of playing keeping up with the jones`.
Techie
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2:08am Thu 25 Aug 11
Tinker2 wrote:Why 'suspect' when it's so easy to check this stuff out? It was a full planning application.
I expect thw WPBC approval is provisional 'outline' permission. A detailed application will have yet to be submitted and lots to thrash out. The Development brief submitted by Merlin was scant and I wonder where they are with it? Sorry to be realistic, but a 'permission' in theory is one thing, funding it and building it is another. Are we expecting this mast to be up by the Olympics? a tight timescale, and will it just be the mast amoungst the old existing bits of buildings on the pier, or will they have time to build their shop/ticket building and what about toilets??
marabout
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8:28am Thu 25 Aug 11
dt4 9bj wrote:Please read the article. Your post is absolute rubbish. What were you discussing?
this is the most disgusting waste in council tax money, when there is more benifical ways to spend that amount of money, doing all this for the olympics is sheer over compensation that is not needed, we think it will be ugly and completely ruin the weymouth beauty.
i think that sort of money could have been put to better use in local needs for example the waves project on chickerell road or the skate park at the sea life center or even the bike track at wyke, any if not all of these could be achieved to extremly high standards with a fraction of the money the council are intending to waste on a one hit 3 million pound wounder. thank you and i hope others that feel the same try and stop this project and move the council towards real local benifical projects instead of playing keeping up with the jones`.
islandman
says...
8:51am Thu 25 Aug 11
Merlin are funding the project.
Merlin are paying the wages.
Weymouth people will find employment there
Duckorange
says...
9:55am Thu 25 Aug 11
Techie wrote:I'm more in favour of a short written exam, which you have passed for the correct use of "belming"
dt4 9bj wrote:Echo: Instead of a security word how about getting all these bozos to type "I confirm I have read and understood the article I am belming forth about" before being allowed to submit a comment?
this is the most disgusting waste in council tax money, when there is more benifical ways to spend that amount of money, doing all this for the olympics is sheer over compensation that is not needed, we think it will be ugly and completely ruin the weymouth beauty.
i think that sort of money could have been put to better use in local needs for example the waves project on chickerell road or the skate park at the sea life center or even the bike track at wyke, any if not all of these could be achieved to extremly high standards with a fraction of the money the council are intending to waste on a one hit 3 million pound wounder. thank you and i hope others that feel the same try and stop this project and move the council towards real local benifical projects instead of playing keeping up with the jones`.
Panyan
says...
11:04am Thu 25 Aug 11
islandman wrote:Lets hope that Merlin pay a living wage from their profits and not one needing to be enhanced via donations from everyone else via 'tax credits'.
Don't you just want to scream when someone like DT4 9BJ pens such drivel. For one last time,
Merlin are funding the project.
Merlin are paying the wages.
Weymouth people will find employment there
Crabber
says...
11:23am Thu 25 Aug 11
sandwich face
says...
4:47pm Thu 25 Aug 11
ijwufo68
says...
7:39pm Thu 25 Aug 11
gary55
says...
8:34pm Thu 25 Aug 11
Gnositcal2011
says...
8:38pm Thu 25 Aug 11
Panyan
says...
9:48pm Thu 25 Aug 11
ETV wrote:Why pay for looking at a view you can see for free. The phrase ‘ a fool and his money are soon departed' comes to mind. However, congratulations on beating the recession if you have spare cash to give to Merlin. My hard earn pennies need to go towards keeping my home warm and family fed through these difficult times.
This is absolutely brilliant news for Weymouth! At last we have an attraction that will draw people in from miles around!
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Looking forward to having a ride so I can look down on all the nimby's ;-)
knickerlessparsons
says...
9:55pm Thu 25 Aug 11
or an attraction similar to Coral reef or Splashdown. Has anyone got a few million they'd like to invest?
biggestoaf
says...
10:37pm Thu 25 Aug 11
gary55 wrote:Not silly at all. The Council WILL be charging Merlin Ltd rent for the area of land used and (I would guess) they will also pay business rates.
The Weymouth eye will be funded by Merlin,even the ill-informed can understand that, ,Islandman, commented about the ill-informed, how silly are we even to expect the council to charge rent for the ground or even business rates on the new attraction,how silly are we.
etaoin shrdlu
says...
2:10am Fri 26 Aug 11
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islandman says...
11:58am Wed 24 Aug 11