Passion In Port Erin

[lisner]

There was a public meeting tonight in connection with Port Erin Commissioners plans to sell off the Bradda Glen Cafe. Manx Radio Notice here

 

A local Bradda man, John 'Mano' Maddrell had provided much publicity to the cause by presenting a memorial at the bar of Tynwald on Thursday 12th July 2007 Click here for link to transcript - go to Page 958

 

It is not a common occurrence for members of the public to be allowed to have their say in Tynwald, but the motion put forward by Peter Karran MHK (Onchan) to suspend Standing Orders to allow John Maddrell to do so was passed, although it is perhaps significant to note that one Rushen Tynwald Member, Pam Crowe MLC spoke against the motion. . .

 

Well at 7pm tonight there were more cars parked outside Four Roads School than on an average school Sports Day. The school hall was packed to capacity with people in the corridors too. Extra chairs had to be brought in but these were those diddy ones that infants school children use. Still, better a li'l' chair than no chair at all.

 

All the Port Erin Commissioners (bar one who was off the Island) were there at the front. Phil Gawne MHK (Rushen) was sat with them, but the way the meeting went he probably would have rather sat with his pals Quintin Gill MHK (Rushen) and Juan Watterson MHK (Rushen) who sat with the great unwashed masses. Peter Karran MHK (Onchan) was there too, but he was out in the corridor. People in the South can be a bit uninviting to thems from over the bridge.

 

Brian Rae (Surby) chaired the meeting. He seemed keen to control the proceedings from the start. He was to assert his authority on a number of occasions.

 

You can't beat a good laugh at the start of a meeting and where the chairman failed in his opening speech, Port Erin Commissioners Chairman Ben Bennett certainly succeeded although quite inadvertently. In explaining the various options considered for the Bradda Glen building he mixed up selling the building to "Manx National Heritage" with no other than "Heritage Homes". An easy mistake to make, when you might consider that one is a money-minded egotistical power-crazy organisation that wants to own half the Isle of Man and the other is a successful building company. Mmmmhh.

 

Anyway, from the mood of the meeting it was clear that the Commissioners were going to be in for a hard time. Ben Bennett had his work cut out, but somehow his Thames Estuary English accent was never going to be a match for Hugh Davidson's well versed and impeccably spoken arguments. "You must have known this would be an emotive subject - why didn't you hold a public meeting in February?"

 

The reply of "It's one of those things" drew cheers of derision from the crowds.

 

Juan Watterson MHK immediately stood up as if to support the Commissioner's Chairman but it seemed more like an attempt to bask in the attention. The gathering was having none of it though and cheered Mr Rae for his slapping down of the young buck MHK for speaking out of turn! Aye, such a meeting is only as good as the chairman and this looked like it was going to be entertaining enough. There followed a short explanation that the Commissioners were only acting on behalf of and for the good of the people in Port Erin. This was met with quite a few sneers "I can't walk my dog on the beach anymore" and "I can't take my grannie up Bradda Head in the car because you lot locked the gate". Mis-placed arrogance this was later to be described.

 

Phil Crellin did a fair bit of talking. He is quite in his element in front of such a crowd, although I, and perhaps quite a few others suspect he was doing a bit of PR electioneering. He should have no problems getting back on the Commissioners next year, but he has made it quite clear to the people of Rushen he is really seeking the big-time of Tynwald. I can't imagine Phil as an MHK but in saying that, he only just missed out last time. (by 257 votes)

 

Then it came to John Maddrell's turn to speak. Like a mis-shaped John Wayne lookalike he strode to the front of the hall amid loud applause. There would be guns blazing from the people's hero alright. I would say that the majority of those people are quite new to the Island and don't really know John. But that is neither here nor there, they needed a hero and the ex-commissioner was keen to step into the breach. He accused the commissioners of something that he was asked to withdraw. He wouldn't withdraw what he said and told the chairman he would say it as much as he liked. Although he didn't. President of Tynwald Noel Cringle was watching intently at the back - there was no back chat from the lad Maddrell when he was running the proceedings in Tynwald! It seemed there were a few things John had to get off his chest, and who was to deny him that for all his efforts? Besides, it would take a churlish chairman to insist our man keep to the subject of the Bradda Glen. Anyway, Malew and Onchan have nice new offices so why shouldn't Port Erin have them too?

 

Eventually John sat down, the crowd was well behind him and applauding him all the way. I am sure he felt that at last he was backing a cause that would be a winner and make him popular with the people of Port Erin. And the only people agin him would be the Commissioners and that omnipresent Clerk. "Yep, it doesn't get much better than this" I imagined him thinking.

 

Steve Bradshaw of the Silverdale Cafe had a few pragmatic points to make. His ownership of the now delapidated Port Erin Swimming Baths making his words even more potent.

 

There were other fine speakers, including Professor Trevor Norton, a resident of Bradda and well known public speaker, Jennie a previous tenant of the Cafe and Charles Faragher ex-MHK and former Port Erin Commissioner. They had intelligent and well considered points to make.

 

The Port Erin Commissioners could surely not have imagined the strength of opposition to their plans.

 

The meeting was more or less summed up by former school teacher Mrs Edwards in her passionate and pleading delivery. Like a class being given the end of term summing up we all listened intently, including the disheartened folk at the front. A clear, concise dictum in perfect grammatical English. The Chair of the Commissioners could only retort with "We are not going to do nothing over the next few weeks". . . . . if he only knew how his use of double negatives irritated schoolteachers.

[Tempus Fugit]

what a superb account of the proceedings, I almost feel I was there

[grant]

what a superb account of the proceedings, I almost feel I was there

 

Yep, very good, the poster must be a good listener.

[WTF]

I too aggree, a great account of a meeting i wasn't at. perhaps Lisner should be writing for the local papers?

 

 

the sad part about the whole story is that the powers that be have taken rent on the place for years without doing anything useful in the way of maintenance with an its alright attitude, and now it's an eyesore that needs a fortune spending on it they want to pass the buck to the private sector with a load of conditions attatched.

[bluemonday]

"Heritage Homes".

Hope I'm wrong but will this end in thousands of tons of concrete and a pox of 'executive apartments' on the place?

[The Reverend]

Excellent piece of reporting, if you wrote for the local papers I'd start reading them again!

 

Cheers!

[jim]

Ben Bennet not Colin

[jim]

Steve Bradshaw of the Silverdale Cafe had a few pragmatic points to make. His ownership of the now delapidated Port Erin Swimming Baths making his words even more potent.

 

You should have seen how quickly he ran out the door when a lady in the audience suggested the cafe might end up an eyesore like the old baths, he didn't stick around to make any comments about that!

[Declan]

You missed ... despite living two minutes from the contentious eyesore Declan couldn't be bothered to attend, since the Glen Cafe has always been an empty shit heap and he feels the Commissioners should spend less time giving a second thought to that ugly waste of space and more time to maintaining the glen itself, which has become overgrown of late, with several paths closed off, including the bridge around Spaldrick Bay which has been closed off all summer.

[crazyorhythm]

"Save the glen"

so much of Port Erin has been destroyed, gone for ever, beautiful hotels pulled down willy nilly,

and replaced by bland apartment buildings, for no apparent reason these fine structures could have been re deployed

 

it is a crying shame that something could not have been done to save the promenade,

 

Mr Maddrell has to be totally applauded for his contribution to save the resort,

 

without him and others like him, Port Erin will fall into a total shambolic village with nothing to offer the Island as it once did many years ago....

[Wake Up Call]

OK, we agree that the public of Port Erin won the showdown in the school hall last night? Some great moments and it is clear that the Bradda Glen building should not be sold to any private body.

 

However, what will happen now? Will these 'passionate' residents of the village be standing for election next May?

What will happen to the Bradda Glen? Over 300 where present last night and there wasn't any real solution offered to solve the problem. A lot of time was dedicated to criticising the actions of the Commissioners and judging by the reaction of the board, there wasn't a feasible argument to defend the reason for selling the building.

 

The Board should have identified that they were in for a grilling and rolled over with an apology at the start of the meeting. All of the 'passionate' residents could then have discussed achieving a solution.

(In case anybody asks, I have two remedies for this problem;

1. utilise the building by charging rent to tenants in the living accommodation. This would cover a lot of the running costs for the building for the year and the main function room could be used for community meetings/activities/weddings/parties/fun etc as Port Erin does not have a village hall. Alternatively, if you want to go completely off the wall, think about this........

2. Port Erin Commissioners sell there new premises and move their office and administration activities to the Bradda Glen building. Incorporate a small information centre and cafe for the walkers and tourists as well. Then, have a small office in the high street (Old flower shop?) where rents can be paid, tourist enquiries answered and be completely accessible to the public. Both premises would be networked to complete all admin activities. The sale of Bridson Street would net about £300K (the rent for the old flower shop may be £12K?)Thus making a big saving and the extra cash could be spent on regenerating the village or on even bigger firework displays.)

[Pragmatopian]

Given that they're not proposing to put Bradda Glen itself under private control then I really don't see what all the fuss is about. I couldn't give two hoots who owns the cafe: it is of limited architectural or historical significance.

[Mrs Merton]

"Heritage Homes".

Hope I'm wrong but will this end in thousands of tons of concrete and a pox of 'executive apartments' on the place?

 

Was Heritage Homes a freudian slip perhaps?

 

Sadly you could be right. Shall we wager Heritage or Hartford?

 

I'm just waiting to see which one of their hoardings is erected at Derby Castle with 'Phase 1 - Summerland Apartments'. Are we gradually selling off our Island to developers?

[homarus]

"Heritage Homes".

Hope I'm wrong but will this end in thousands of tons of concrete and a pox of 'executive apartments' on the place?

 

Was Heritage Homes a freudian slip perhaps?

 

Sadly you could be right. Shall we wager Heritage or Hartford?

 

I'm just waiting to see which one of their hoardings is erected at Derby Castle with 'Phase 1 - Summerland Apartments'. Are we gradually selling off our Island to developers?

 

Don't you mean "We are"?

[nipper]

I think this whole episode stems from the Commissioners scheme to raise cash without consulting the inhabitants of Port Erin or anyone else for that mater.

 

The George Herdman Institute was sold off and is now a private house (The building along from the arcade/cafe on the lower promenade). Once bitten twice shy.