Redevelopment at the Folly

Don't think the SPS have visited the Folly very often have they :rolleyes:

"SPS consider that the front riverside houses are too close to the bank such that they will be disruptive to the tranquil zone"
 
ariadnemyc said:
OK. Something needs to be done, but is this proposal the right answer? Have a look at the proposal and the objections by Solent Protection Society
http://www.solentprotection.org/2014/03/redevelopment-folly/
Click to expand...

Why does something need to be done? OK, it's a year or two since I was there but I loved the place - the Folly Inn itself as a pub doesn't do it for as not "dancing on the tables to pub music" type of person but I thought the area was fantastic.
 
The site north of the Folly seems to have been waiting for some sort of redevelopment for many years.

This can only be an improvement but the huge size of the hotel is apparent when you look at the visuals and see how large it is compared to the Folly Inn.

The houses on the shore line look nice though. I could imagine myself living there with a little boat on a mooring in the river. I could go food shopping by boat up to Cowes or Newport. Or for a pint by boat. Pleasant thoughts.

Wonder what the prices will be?

Cheers

Garold
 
Ariadnes observations are about right ime .

Development is just that-develop a site to maximise it.

Anyone know the developer, their track record, recent examples completed?

The visual impact by night and by day would clearly be noteworth. irredeemable of course, if you like, such is the nature of progress and redevelopment.
The now raised number of flats and houses proposed is interesting.. ( its always about selling units , the rest is window dressing with trees, sustainable work units blah blah, whatever gets it thru planning).
Waterfront condos make profit, the rest I would guess is a sop to perceived and current planing criteria..

Am I agin it? Not really, I don't go there , but it should -i feel- be arranged so as not to dominate what is quite a pretty piece of river.

Well done Ariadne for the heads up
 
I thought ' the area to the North of the folly ' was farmland ?!

I'm all for any boost for the IOW, too many skilled people underused, but I have to say I'm not sure what this development would do for the locals; for me as a yottie only requiring a berth for the night and a pint in among countryside and history, it would be a great loss and probably cross the place off my list - and it's one of my favourite spots...
 
Seajet said:
I thought ' the area to the North of the folly ' was farmland ?!

I'm all for any boost for the IOW, too many skilled people underused, but I have to say I'm not sure what this development would do for the locals; for me as a yottie only requiring a berth for the night and a pint in among countryside and history, it would be a great loss and probably cross the place off my list - and it's one of my favourite spots...
Click to expand...

Have to say, I cannot picture what it is, but a look at Google Maps (satellite view) would suggest otherwise. Large sheds, pretty derelict when the image was taken (you can see a big hole in one roof), and a sizeable area of concrete or tarmac "hard". So, not farmland, but there are lots of trees at present.

I don't think the plan does away with the pub itself.
 
Just NE there was the old SARO works ( something to do with Saunders Roe as in flying boats, then Hawker Siddeley Group later on ) but it's not large as I recall, I've been there a lot but not recently.

It might not replace the pub but it would utterly change the character of the area, and not for the better; I doubt locals would be buying the apartments, what's really in it for the Island, as opposed to The Developer ?...:rolleyes:
 
It is a large derelict eyesore - from the road and from the water - it's the old plywood factory. It will fill the gap between the Folly and the other housing development which is spreading down to the river south of the old power station. It is a brown field site and the development will be far more pleasing to the eye than the huge construction filling most of the view on the other side of the river up at the old cement works, it will barely be visible from the pub. Local feeling seems to generally support it.

There is a picture in this article which shows it's position in relation to the pub: http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/latest-plans-unveiled-for-luxury-homes-51031.aspx
 
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If they want to sell the apartments common sense dictates that the development must make the area attractive.

If treehuggers or protection societies are against it my first act is to be for it. My second is to research the facts and the third is armed with the facts my first act of voting against the tree huggers was correct. Let them that want to leave everything as it is live in a field of grass.
 
Seajet said:
I thought ' the area to the North of the folly ' was farmland ?!


and it's one of my favourite spots...
Click to expand...


Not sure what it was, but it's look like a small run down and abandoned industrial estate to me. Has looked abandoned for years. Beside the Folly.

And then there's fields/farmland next to that. A bit further north-ish.

I guess the Folly will have a few more year-round customers on their doorstep if it goes ahead.

Garold
 
Garold,

as I mentioned that was the old Saro plywood works; SARO as in Saunders Roe flying boats.

Sailfree,

I don't think I qualify as a tree hugger, I just think this development would be another place plasticised, from my selfish point of view.

I don't know if you remember the old visitors' section at East Cowes Marina but it was a treat, a little ' bay ' complete with dog walks, camping and an excellent cafe; just along from there was was a handy drying slip with posts too.

Now all that is gone, built over, and all one has on site is the plastic Lifeboat pub which has all the soul - and welcome - of the moon.

I understand the commercial reasons for development, and as I said I'm in favour of any shot in the arm for the IOW no matter how small it may be, but that doesn't mean I have to like it when my personal favourite bits are consigned to history !
 
Seajet

Your a NIMBY and not comfortable with change.

It was always better in the old days!

Old designs are best - solid

Undeveloped areas have charm they are quaint.

pick what applies!!
 
Sailfree,

oh thrusting developmental one I'm sure :rolleyes:

I'm actually happy when development works; in general I think it fair to comment when it works for me !

I have no preference about age of designs, there are good and bad in old times and the white-hot present day.

I presume you either didn't read what I said about the old visitors' section at East Cowes Marina or haven't been around long enough to know what I'm on about ?

Port Solent for instance is / was a major improvement on that which went before it...:)

Anyway, if anything I'm a NISEBY - Not In Someone Elses' Back Yard !
 
Can anybody point me at some online views of the site taken from the other side of the river? Google Earth has some from the end of Folly Lane but hedgerows conceal the site at that point and are of no real help in assessing impact and contextual appropriateness.
 
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Ian_Rob said:
Can anybody point me at some online views of the site taken from the other side of the river? Google Earth has some from the end of Folly Lane but hedgerows conceal the site at that point and are of no real help in assessing impact and contextual appropriateness.
Click to expand...

Not from ground level but the views on here show the site. https://marinas.com/view/marina/7522 I don't think the proposed buildings go above the sky line when seen from the river.

It is the site immediately on the right in this picture: http://images.redfunnel.co.uk/images/island-guide/towns-and-villages/river_medina.jpg
 
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Thank you l'escargot for the links to better photos.

The development is certainly going to have a profound effect on this portion of the river.

I will leave it to others to comment on whether the IOW economy justifies this but it seems to me that the proposals largely fail to understand and adequately respond to the context.

The site may or may not be an eyesore but that is besides the point. What matters is that if a development of this nature is justified, the design really could and should be much better than this.

PS Whether the development breaks or doesn't break the skyline isn't necessarily relevant but from the drawings it would appear that that hotel will do so when viewed obliquely from the river.
 
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That artists' impression looks, well frankly rather biased / optimistic; so they're really going to have trees in front of a lot of the hotel room windows which look out over the river, and what height is the artists' perception based upon, to have all the rooflines magically coincide with the background trees ?! :rolleyes:
 
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