The Society's View

The Society welcomes the Draft Document on the Lymington Conservation Area. High ideals however are of little use if the reality is that the guidelines are ignored when applied to actual decisions. Recent decisions such as the granting of permission for the Fenner's building in St. Thomas' Street and the CCTV system indicate that the guidelines are not being adhered to.

If the mistakes of the past are not to be repeated then all planning application need to be assessed against these guidelines to preserve the town's geogian heritage into the future.

• All additions to the area such as the recent CCTV cameras should be subject to assessment against the Conservation Area criteria even if they do not need formal planning permission.
• Every effort should be made to avoid the mistakes of the past which allowed buildings such as Boots, Woolworths, Tescos to be built. The recent rebuilding of the Fenner's building in St. Thomas' Street indicates that buildings totally out of character with the surrounding buildings are still given planning permission.
• The possibility of using European Union grants to allow an earlier redevelopment of these building should be investigated.
• The Society does not agree with the suggestion that if the Post Office is redeveloped, the building line should be brought back in line with the rest of the High Street. The current small open area with trees is felt to give a pleasant "town square" feeling to the High Street, which the Society feels should be retained.