Bohemia Village Voice

A Scandal in Bohemia – written by Bernard McGinley

 

As a building, the curious temple-like building at the top of Cornfield Terrace is compromised neither by its commercial role, nor by the ornateness of the St Peter’s complex alongside. Initially built as stables for the Wheatsheaf and subsequently a home to a succession of businesses reflecting many decades, it remains simple, versatile and effective.

But achievement can be unlearnt. The string of buildings in lower Bohemia, between the village and the Museum, is a persistent disappointment, being little but a succession of brick boxes:

• the filling station,
• the YMCA,
• Lidl supermarket,
• the fire station,
• the police station,
• the magistrates’ court,
• the register office nearby,
• St Mary’s school,
• the ambulance station,
• the swimming pool.
• Summerfields Business Centre (which has all the gravitas of a Portakabin),
• the newish housing at the top of De Cham Road.

This necklace of mediocrity is a form of evidence. The buildings seem all to vie with one another for lack of distinction, and Hastings Council approved them all. The Council could have required other designs, or have kept the site largely as it was, when Magdalen Terrace and Bohemia House made the townscape.

Before there was the YMCA, there were St Paul’s Schools. Bohemia Farm preceded the ambulance station. Urban flux suggests that there has to be change: the change however need not be so remorselessly dull and lacking in merit. There is plenty of admirable modern architecture: technologically innovative, imaginative, efficient, well executed, beautiful – but not in Hastings.

The lack of good design in building here since, say, 1945 gets steadily more noticeable. Is that misfortune or is there another explanation? Despite the millions of public money spent on regeneration in Hastings, there is little to show for it. The new college on Station Plaza is a bloated and blocky homage to the Peter Jones department store in Chelsea – but without the elegance.

In failing to achieve anything worthwhile, the Council and its advisers also systematically abuse what is already held. Hastings’ standing as one of the finest Victorian townscapes in the country is steadily being eroded, by demolition and ill-judged infill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Bohemia, the Farm gave way to the House, and later the Mansion. Eventually there were extensions and Summer Fields school. In World War II the Town Hall relocated there, but in 1972 it was demolished. The fine pine and iron staircase was taken into Council protective custody – they soon lost it. The Councillors may protest that it was not they but their predecessors that took these decisions, but the cumulative record is not good, and in law it makes no difference. (This is the same Council that demolished without notice the seafront arch between Hastings and St Leonards one night in 1895.)

Convent

Now they are to decide on the future of All Souls Convent, Magdalen Road – but what is on offer is not preservation, but destruction. When the nuns ran it, the Convent was frequently adapted and redefined. Something comparable would be more in the spirit of the history of the site. CABE, (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment), could provide reputable advice about, say, tenure and eco-housing possibilities.

Other local authorities treat these matters better. All of the Convent site is within a Conservation Area. That should mean a presumption against development – not its salivating opposite. Planning decisions affecting a Conservation Area should be taken mindful of whether they enhance or preserve the Conservation Area as a whole. Covering the Convent’s playing fields with blocks of flats, houses and parking spaces for many hundreds of people, in order to save a ‘Pugin’ chapel, does not obviously do this.

Why not save the open spaces instead, in accordance with the Hastings Local Plan? The Council is clear about this : Trees, gardens, spaces between buildings and other open spaces (and particularly parks and gardens in conservation areas) which contribute to the character of the area should not be lost (note 1).

The policy on Private Open Space is also unambiguous: Development which would result in the substantial loss of identified private open space will not be permitted, as these areas make a valuable contribution to the visual amenity of the neighbourhood (note 2).

The planning application mentions pleadingly – and irrelevantly – that the language school at the Convent makes no money. However, not many businesses operating for roughly one month a year do, and language schools abound locally. The implication is that the developers should be allowed to treat St Leonards like the coast of Spain.

Tellingly, the planning jargon includes ‘heritage receptors’, but not ‘overdevelopment’.

Bernard McGinley

Note 1 Policy C1(c) Hastings Local Plan 9b, p183.
Note 2 Hastings Local Plan 10 b, p205]

 

COMMENTS

From: J Charles, St Peter’s Road, (August 2010) I’m not sure what all the fuss is about re the proposed Magdalen Road development. It’s not as if the general public had any access to the site and will now be missing it. I’ve lived round here for years and have NEVER seen inside it.

From: Will Leggott (August 2010)  Dear Mr. McGinley, I read your article [A Scandal in Bohemia] with great interest. I have been away from Hastings for three months and was shocked when I came back to learn of the possible demise and destruction of All Souls Convent, Magdalen Road. The Council seems to follow a pattern, destroying, virtually vandalising, beautiful buildings which should be retained for visitors to see and enjoy, properly marketed. When I first came to Hastings in the fifties we had Bottle Alley, fascinating! We hardly ever failed to wander along it when returning from Hastings Town and gaze at the bottle bottoms and the mosaic of the glass tiled walls and watch the bronze framed windowed bays being closed against the spray of the high seas, enjoying numerous little cafés along its length. Now I never walk down there. Like so many Hastings attractions it has been allowed to ‘fall into abatement and low price’. It has a foul henhouse smell and some very dubious characters sitting around. Plus dogs. Bottle Alley, to all intents and purposes, is finished as an attraction, like the pier! Don’t let us lose any more interesting and lovely buildings. Let us keep and use them to attract visitors. Why doesn’t the Council take notice of its own Local Plan, as quoted in the Bohemia Village Voice? I hope you will read this letter and thank you for the interesting and informative article in the Voice. There are many beautiful and interesting building and areas in our town and each one has a story. Tell it! Will Leggott.

From: Clive Astle (August 2010). Dear Sarah Janes, your enjoyable booklet this month is a good read. ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ – relates to development on inappropriate areas of our community. Where was your voice of disapproval of the development on Horntye Cricket Ground? Yes – 100 flats to be authorised for building on a cricket ground?!!! Is it because they pay to advertise in your mag that you were quiet? The convent do not advertise – so…?? Lastly I enclose a cheque towards Bohemia Walled Garden restoration – a most uplifting enterprise. Clive Astle, Bohemia Road.

From: Sarah Janes (August 2010). Au contraire! Issue 75 was my first Bohemia Village Voice as editor and the Magdalen Road development was the most pressing issue at the time of going to print. The fact that Horntye advertise with us would not affect the way we tackle the subject of their planned development at all and my predecessors have reported on this subject from a very early stage and with a great amount of energy and honesty. I personally am very concerned about this development and especially the combined impact we may feel if the Magdalen Road site goes ahead. Summerfields Woods is also my favourite part of Hastings and St. Leonards, it is a very special and tranquil place. Lastly, Sue of the Bohemia Walled Garden Association thanks you sincerely for your most kind and generous contribution towards their efforts, and I quite agree, they are doing a wonderful thing. Sarah Janes.