Weymouth Seafront Masterplan is criticised by town council

The Weymouth Seafront Masterplan was described as "a waste of council taxpayers' money" by members of the town council's services committee.
As reported, Weymouth Town Council commissioned consultancy firm Hemingway Design - led by celebrated designer Wayne Hemingway - to draw up a blueprint for enhancing the seafront and beach area.
The council allocated £25,000 in its reserves to cover the cost of the development of the masterplan and enable the commissioning of any required consultancy services.
The document, which contains proposals for different sections of the seafront and promenade along a stretch of coast from the Pavilion to Lodmoor, follows a survey in which local people and visitors were asked for their views.
But much of what has been proposed cannot be delivered by the town council unless the authority is able to get other partners on board. Concerns have also been raised that the project does not include costs.
Councillor Ryan Hope gave assurances that a plan for the seafront will eventually delivered but said more work is needed, including more engagement with locals.
He added that the consultants "were not willing to listen to any suggestions from the public, as (the consultancy firm) believe they know what Weymouth wants."

After the meeting a spokesperson for Hemingway Design said the firm "went above and beyond to deliver the best possible outcomes for Weymouth."
But in order for the plan to come to fruition changes to road layouts and pavements would need to be made by Dorset Council who, according to councillor David Gray, have not been spoken to at length about this.
Describing the Hemingway draft masterplan as "botched" Cllr Gray said the report by officers was "the most disappointing he'd seen in three-and-a-half years."
"Given that we signed off council taxpayers' money to get this report, the guy completely ignored the instructions," he added.
"What we've ended up with is a botched version - we wanted things that we (the town council) could do to improve our beach area and promenade  what we didn't want was to rely on others to do it  I feel that we've wasted our money."
According to Cllr Peter Dickenson the consultants did not stick to the brief and the finger should not be pointed at council officers overseeing the project. However Cllr Luke Wakeling believes clearer instructions need to be provided to Hemingway Design on which parts of the seafront fall under the town council's control.
Cllr Kevin Brookes quipped that he has a collection of three failed proposals on a shelf, which were put forward by former councils, before highlighting how the latest plan has failed to include costs.
Cllr Christine James suggested that if consultants did not stick to the contract the council should "throw (the plan)s in the bin" and start again - suggesting that a public meeting should be held at the Pavilion to hear what residents and stakeholders want.
Following a unanimous vote, council officers will now re-examine the proposals and create a priority list of what can be delivered by the authority.

In response to the comments a spokesperson for Hemingway Design said: "Our track record in delivering regeneration across the country shows that partnership working is essential. 

"Yesterday we heard some great Levelling Up Fund news when four projects we have been close to, including two of our seafront masterplan projects received a combined £97.7 million. Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire were awarded the full £18 million for a transformational regeneration of its seafront. This could not have been achieved without the full support of the council, councillors, the public and the press.

"For Weymouth seafront to achieve similar success it has to work together with the town centre and the harbour. And to achieve that we spent extra time making sure the projects had the support not just of the town council and local community but of Dorset Council as well. This is in addition to a range of other projects that can be delivered by the town council. 

"We went above and beyond the terms of our brief in order to deliver the best possible outcome for Weymouth and we did this with the full support of our clients at the town council.

"The report has received so much positivity, uncovered so much potential, and there is already interest in delivering some of the projects we proposed. It would be a crying shame for Weymouth if this momentum were to be undermined by a small amount of negativity and we hope the announcement yesterday of £19 million funding for Weymouth Harbour is just the start."