I just posted the following on the Sailing school news bit.
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You might be interested to know that the new designs submitted to the council this week show most of the car park you use to rig in being taken over by Carpenters to use as public/hotel car parking with a few spaces reserved for the lake users. This is due to the fact that so many spaces will be lost in the Dee lane car park. Carpenters will control and charge for parking there. Some of the car park will be reserved for lake license holders
I suggest you let the council know if you _object_ before the council meeting next week Apr 9th.
The plans can be seen here at the council site
You can email me at paul at collisters dot com if you need help to get your views heard.

I also sail on the lake but haven't been windsurfing for many years now.

cheers,
Paul C.

As expected CI did not deliver on underground parking or marine lake facilities, where's the chandlers and now they are nicking the marine lake car park.

Far from listening to lake users requirements they are only interested in there own commercial benefit, they will receive revenue from public parking.

Remember them saying the Dee lane car park is under used?

For full details see http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=121&MId=358&Ver=4 and look for item 15.

From the report

"3.2 To mitigate the net loss of public parking provision on the Dee Lane site, Carpenter Investments propose bringing the car park in front of the sailing school into wider public use. This car park is currently only available for lake licence holders and as aresult is under-used. Periodically the car park is forced to close in bad weather but such inclement weather invariably reduces the number of visitors to West Kirby anyway. Carpenter Investments proposes retaining use for lake licence holders as part of the terms of that licence, with a pay and display provision for the general public. The car park would be actively managed to ensure that preference is given to lake licence holders at peak times for sailing. A revised site plan (see appendix 2)

3.3 The Director of Regeneration is supportive of these parking proposals subject to provision for lake licence holders being maintained in line with current provision. Carpenter Investments would manage both car park sites and receive the revenue from parking tickets. However, further discussion with Carpenters on the details of such an arrangement will be required."

How will they prioritise for sailors will they close the car park when it's windy or when its under water?

Councillor Bob Moon is responsible for tourism and leisure http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=153
Councillor Jean Stapleton is responsible for regeneration
http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=123

You can find the rest of the cabinet members here http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=121


What do you think now Ernie, how about contacting CI?

robbie_rash wrote:

What do you think now Ernie?

pretty much what I always have....

Nowt wrong with a small hotel in WK
I welcome a redevelopment of the Lake facilities.

However it is becoming increasingly clear that Carpenter Investments don't seem to have the first clue about what they are talking about.

On a warm sunny breezy summers day the car park can be filled two times over(in the old days at least) by windsurfers. Add in the "butty chuckers" who try to minimise the amount of walking they do and will want to park on the car park and we will have windsurfers ringing in the streets a la Rhosneigr.

....still, I expect all those clever councillors on the planning committee will work all this out...

I agree about the marine lake facilities, Crosby marine lake is a good example of what could be achieved.

A hotel is not out of the question, but the Dee Lane site is not suitable, a small hotel will not generate enough revenue and a larger hotel results in a complete loss of the car park.

hello, just thought I'd add a few comments. I'm a lake license holder and use the lake regularly.

So there's to be no barrier and warden to control access to the car park? hows that going to work. If there's pay and display then its first come first served surely! Perhaps we will have car parking wardens checking on licences as well. Might even get a ticket if your board is parked in a marked space?

Speaking of which, the plans indicate car parking spaces, no provision for vans, trailers etc, and obviously very little room between. So I guess we'll all be rigging by the lake, which is o.k. except when there are high tides - then where are we supposed to go?

And is the access for windsurfers for licence holders only? What about those people that use a day ticket? Many windsurfers travel a great distance to use WK, what if they arrive and all the spaces are taken? There was a guy there a few weeks back - came all the way from Essex. It's not going to look good for the future of the venue if access for users is given over to general pay & display car parking.

Imagine sharing the car parking with day trippers, I'm sure like me we've all got little dings on our cars from the occassional piece of kit flying around. Put kids in buggies etc in the same space then image the conflict with safety and the complaints from the public. Once the car park is open to the public regularly I'm sure we'll see many more people assume that the lake is public too, I've been told off in the past by people trying to enjoy their picnic in the rigging area, this will only get worse - nice place for a dip too. Health and Safety nightmare!

Also I was under the impression that the council were retaining the sailing school and lake, and that Carpenters we rebuilding the school as part payment for the loss of car parking. Now it seems that they are just being given another car park to use as well.

The developers will claim there will be plenty of space for boards, rigging, trailers etc, but the reality is they cannot do that. They were originally planning to build underground or raised parking on Dee lane in order that the net parking spaces available would be the same or better than before. However costs and credit crunch have put paid to that, even if it was ever practical.
Looking at the plans which show parking spaces going into peoples gardens and beyond over boundaries, plus they haven't yet shown spaces for deliveries and coach parking, the net result is a total loss of public spaces, i.e. all of Dee lane car park will be used by hotel guests, spa and conference users and staff. So the cars using the 170 spaces which often get fully used in the summer will now need to park on the Lake park. If Carpenters are generous and let you have all 32 spaces along the front edge to the lake that leaves 78 for the other 170 cars. I expect there will be a constant procession of cars circling around looking for spaces and as the vehicle route along the prom will be closed, Dee lane will get very congested.
I think the developers are showing contempt for the lake users. We want a centre of excellence, we have the waters and the winds, why give up a great space so a developer can have parking spaces for his boutique hotel when there are other sites in West Kirby where he could build.
Cheers,

Paul C.