Bath Street (land east of The Sycamores)

The developer of the land previously used for car parking (see picture) is making what seems to be a pig-headed attempt to remove important conditions placed on the planning permission finally granted on appeal in March this year. Despite the planning inspector making it clear that, in order to preserve the character of the conservation area, conditions are needed in respect of external materials such as roof slates, rainwater goods, render finishes and window frames. A further planning application BH2023/01843 has been submitted in the hope that cheap and no doubt nasty materials can be used to maximise the developer’s profit. The Council’s Heritage Team has inevitably recommended refusal.

Red Pillar Box Blues

The MP for Pavilion has been in correspondence with Royal Mail over its decommissioning of the pillar box (see picture) outside the T@the Dials café in Dyke Road. During the Covid pandemic this was designated a “priority post box” but has been decommissioned for more than a year. According to Royal Mail, the café owners claim ownership of the land on which the pillar box is situated and will not allow the box to be removed (and perhaps re-positioned) during the working day. This would seem to be an unreasonable stance; the café has, after all, been allowed to use the pavement, which it clearly does not own, to place its tables, chairs, and planters. The loss of what was probably the most convenient pillar box for many West Hill residents is further depressing news about a postal service which fails to deliver (and now fails to collect).                            

Reasons to be cheerful

Homes in Clifton Street and Compton Avenue have been restored and are now enhancing the character of the West Hill conservation area. 

The pictures below of  2, Clifton Street show the front elevations before and after the works were carried out. The disfiguring of the original façade probably occurred in the latter part of the last century. The balcony in particular is now an attractive feature.

At no 18 Compton Avenue the flint and brick front wall has been repaired, and new cast iron railings set in particularly good stone coping. The balcony has  been reinstated, the steps refurbished and the garden replanted.