Non Descripts Club – Car Parking Update at June 2008
At the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, our previous venue, The Forest Lodge Hotel, underwent a refurbishment, the result of which was that we lost the use of the basement meeting room which we had previously used for indoor meetings through the winter. We continued to use The Forest Lodge through the summer of 2007 whilst we searched for an alternative venue.
The Non Descripts club in Lyndhurst was chosen, and is an ideal venue for our purposes with an excellent meeting room, cheap beverages, and other facilities offering the potential to hold other events there. Both clubs agreed there were significant synergies if Wessex used the Non Descripts Club as a venue and terms were agreed which included sufficient car parking space being made available to us.
Parking space is clearly a key issue for our group, and space is currently restricted at the Non Descripts Club, however, this is to be overcome by converting the large paddock area to the rear of the club which already has planning permission for use as a car park.
The issue to be overcome is access to this area. It was anticipated initially that access could be gained through the main Lyndhurst Car Park, but New Forest District Council have initially rejected this proposal. An alternative was proposed to use the drive way of the adjoining Social Halls, and then make an access gate into the paddock. This proposal has unfortunately been declined by the Social Halls Committee.
The final proposal is to clear an access route along the side of the Non Descripts Club (there is sufficient room to do so), and create a trackway to the paddock behind. It has not been ruled out to go back to the Council, but the latest option has several benefits, not least, that the proposal is entirely within the clubs boundary and under their control.
The latest development at June 2008 is that a pre-planning application has been made to New Forest District Council to create the car park, and initial comment from them is that there are no obvious reasons why this should be declined, but a full planning application is required for the proposal to be considered further. In the meantime, permision has been granted to remove the trees currently on the site, and the TPO notice expired on 10th June. This tree clearance work can now commence.
The full Planning Application is currently being drawn up by the Non Descripts Club Management Committee and we await the decision of NFDC. Both clubs are aware of the urgency of this situation, and both clubs are keen to reach a positive outcome.
The delay in this matter has clearly been a frustration for the Wessex Group Committee but we still believe this venue offers significant benefits for the club, and we wish to see through the planning application to its conclusion, which we hope will be a positive one. In the meantime, alternative arrangements have been made to hold our flagship summer events at IBM Hursley whilst this matter is resolved.
If the proposal is accepted, we will be looking for volunteers to help clear the track and paddock.
In the meantime, I will keep members updated with developments.
Nigel
Group Leader
I thought you might be interested in the note below from Jim Whyman, Secretary of the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs Ltd, which was e-mailed to me by a Wessex Group member. As classic car enthusiasts, by definition, we have an eye on the past and appreciate technological innovation. Lets hope through collective action, this archive can be saved....
This is not an appeal for money; it is not even an appeal for anything of direct benefit to FBHVC, but it is important. This is being sent to everyone in my e-mail address book - if you have had it before, or receive it more than once, please forgive the duplication.
It is an appeal by FBHVC to you to do something to help save, preserve and display the technological and innovative treasures that are held in the collection at the Science Museum and thus effectively belong to the nation. You can help do this simply by making a phone call or sending a text or an e-mail at the right time. Let me explain.
The Science Museum has around a quarter of a million exhibits showing the history of man's ingenuity. This includes a substantial collection related to transport. Presently, the museum has space to display only a small fraction of these items with the remainder in storage in less than ideal conditions in dilapidated WW2 hangars on a 500 acre site at Wroughton, near Swindon.
The Science Museum plans to reconstruct two of these giant hangars and link them with a state-of-the-art atrium to provide acres of exhibition space that will enable it to display the whole collection. The emphasis is very much on using the ingenuity of the past to inspire the developments of the future - and that gives the project its name - Inspired . It is all about stirring the imagination of the young and encouraging the scientists, technologists and engineers of the future. You can see a "flythrough" of the proposed museum on our website, www.fbhvc.co.uk .
I said this was not an appeal for money: it isn't, but money does come into it - lottery money, a £50 million lottery jackpot that is to be decided by a public vote following a series of TV programmes that will go out in December.
The Science Museum Inspired project is one of six projects vying for this 'winner take all' funding. The other projects are all worthy causes, but none is so urgent or so important for our future: as one colleague commented "cycle paths and tree-top walkways can be built tomorrow, endangered artefacts can't wait" .
See www.voteinspired.org.uk for more information (that's deliberately not an active link to reduce the risk of this message being eaten by aggressive anti-spam systems!).
You can help secure this essential funding in any, or all, of four ways:-
1. Commit to vote at the appropriate time - good intentions are no help, it needs you to be certain to act. You can register your intention to vote NOW on the website noted above and you will then receive a reminder nearer the time.
2. Tell your friends, spread the word - perhaps by copying this message to everyone in your address book.
3. If you are able to get some information into a club publication, on a website, or distributed through any other kind of network please do - the staff at the Science Museum will be delighted to help with leaflets, text and links to put on websites etc.
4. If you chat on any web forums, get a thread started.
And if you can think of anything else, please let me or the Science Museum know!
Above all, recognise that unless all of us with an interest in science and engineering take the trouble to vote , £50 million of lottery money may go to fund a tourist attraction leaving national treasures (which, having been received by a national collection, cannot be sold) to moulder and decay.
