Official Coventry Thread 5

[NewTroll]

Originally Posted by skybluecity

You're right, I wasn't paying particular attention and had a bit of a bad experience, so my view was perhaps a little clouded. It was a good 6 years ago too. Will make a return their at some point to have a proper look around. I know a few people who regularly go over the civic hall and speak quite highly of the place, so I was being unfair.

I've been there to loads of gigs since 1989 - in fact, I've probably been to Wolves more than anywhere else for gigs (And also Bilston as well - Robin 2 - a couple of times.) I can't be bothered these days as it's hard work sorting out the kids and then I just can't arsed to drive up to Wolves.

If Wolves can manage to have a music venue and it's closer to Birmingham than Coventry, why can't Coventry?

I've even seen bands play Wolves AND Birmingham.

I really do thing that it's up to the council to invest in something - I can't see a private investor building something from scratch. That's what they should be doing, anyway, not endlessly tarting up their failed post-war disaster. It might fail, but ho hum, at least there'll be a building that can be turned into a complex of bookies, fried chicken places & hairdressers. Seems to be biggest growth area at the moment here!

[NewTroll]

Originally Posted by skybluecity

May I suggest you also take a trip to Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Wolverhampton. Coventry won't seem all that bad then.

Actually, I know that you don't mind Wolverhampton because you've mentioned it here before. I'm not keen personally, although I have only been once in recent years.

Well I'm from a terrible small town in Lancashire, just outside Burnley and not far from dumps like Blackburn and Preston.

But all three of those have a music venue, though. Blackburn has a rather nice Victorian Hall, Preston has the Guild Hall and in Burnley there's the Mechanics which I've seen a few bands at (Including, in the 1980s, Coventry's very own Primitives.)

So... why does a city 3 or 4 times the size not have one? (Historical quirk?)

[NewTroll]

Planning application for the 'depot' site:

http://planning.coventry.gov.uk/port...et?PKID=741612

Looks like they want a mixture of 'town house' type of thing.

The Design and Access statement is pretty scathing about the 'drapers field' development:

To the south of the depot site and to the east of the car park site is Drapers Fields, a
residential development built during the 1990’s. The development comprises
apartment blocks and individual dwellings built as terraces ranging from 2-4 storeys
in height. Although of reasonable quality where it fronts onto the Coventry Canal
opposite the southern end of the former Central Depot site the scheme overall is
has a poor layout and has little architectural merit.

I have always thought this. A waste chance to build a landmark building that fronts the canal, similar to developments in other cities. It doesn't look too bad, quite dense... I wouldn't want to live there, myself, but I'm sure lots of others would!

The historical analysis is interesting as well.

[skybluecity]

Originally Posted by NewTroll

Well I'm from a terrible small town in Lancashire, just outside Burnley and not far from dumps like Blackburn and Preston.

But all three of those have a music venue, though. Blackburn has a rather nice Victorian Hall, Preston has the Guild Hall and in Burnley there's the Mechanics which I've seen a few bands at (Including, in the 1980s, Coventry's very own Primitives.)

So... why does a city 3 or 4 times the size not have one? (Historical quirk?)

Nelson?

I know Burnley quite well, more than I'd like to be honest. Has a certain charm though.

[skybluecity]

Originally Posted by NewTroll

Planning application for the 'depot' site:

http://planning.coventry.gov.uk/port...et?PKID=741612

Looks like they want a mixture of 'town house' type of thing.

The Design and Access statement is pretty scathing about the 'drapers field' development:



I have always thought this. A waste chance to build a landmark building that fronts the canal, similar to developments in other cities. It doesn't look too bad, quite dense... I wouldn't want to live there, myself, but I'm sure lots of others would!

The historical analysis is interesting as well.

I know it's only an outline application, but I'm a little disappointed in that. The scale of the development isn't a large as I thought. I always imagined it would incorporate those godawful car dealerships and car washes, but looks like they are staying, unless I am mistaken...

[NewTroll]

Originally Posted by skybluecity

Nelson?

I know Burnley quite well, more than I'd like to be honest. Has a certain charm though.

That's the town. It's absolutely horrible. A fetid dump. I hated growing up there and could not wait to move away and go to Uni. Luckily all my family have moved now, but when I drive through it I just can't believe how they have managed to destroy what was, in the 1960s, a pretty little Victorian Town. They tore down most of the centre and replaced it with a shopping mall that's now virtually empty... When I was a kid they pedestrianised the main road through it and killed it.

Burnley does have some decent buildings & nice streets, but like Coventry, they slapped down a shopping precinct and made a bit of a mess of some of the surrounding streets. Having said that, Burnley's precinct is far better linked up to the surrounding town than Coventry's.

I never liked the place much, although I saw lots of bands at the Mechanics and drunk a lot of beer there!

What is about British towns? So many of them had their hearts ripped out and replaced with horrible shopping malls or soulless precincts! I saw some photos of Nelson as it was in the 1950s and I couldn't believe I was looking at the same town.

[NewTroll]

Originally Posted by skybluecity

I know it's only an outline application, I'm a little disappointed in that. The scale of the development isn't a large as I thought. I always imagined it would incorporate those godawful car dealerships and car washes, but looks like they are staying, unless I am mistaken...

Yes!

What they should do is look at Eccleshall Road in Sheffield and try to redevelop the whole of Foleshill Road like that. That would involve removing all those shitty dealerships and car washes and turning it back into a proper built up street all the way down. There's a decent old factory down there.

[CovAD]

Personally i think it's alright. Stuff fronting the Foleshill Road, stuff fronting the canal, potential for some nice homes that could attract some slightly more affluent people.

Yes, it'd be nice if it was bigger and included some of the stuff further up the road, but if those weren't up for sale they can't. It's a start, and if it works out well it could see the start of the change of the rest of that street.

A cautious thumbs up from me.

[NewTroll]

The statement says that frontages in the public realm will be 'active' whatever that means!

[NewTroll]

This must be what is going on at Ryton.

100 new jobs in a warehouse.

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/new...2746-31969044/

Of course, Coventry tried to get the Network Rail HQ here, but they went to Milton Keynes.

[NewTroll]

I saw a film clip the other day showing the ringroad under construction. They had demolished so many buildings around it (Spon End) that it didn't even look as if there had ever been a city there.

The sheer scale of destruction wreaked on the city to construct that road is quite immense. I suspect it actually dwarfs the damage caused by the 1940/1941 bombing raids.

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by NewTroll

The statement says that frontages in the public realm will be 'active' whatever that means!

Any frontages to the public realm (whatever bit that is I haven't check the layout properly - could be a footpath or street etc) will be in use, so direct realm access to homes, shop frontages etc etc... A passive frontage is something like a frontage that isn't the main access point. Might have a fire door but that's it.

It's about time this area was put to good use, although I think they could have increased the density a little. Checkout the thread on the Birmingham Ickenield Port Road development... we've got something kind of similar going in soon. A shame that the canal doesn't go through Coventry town, could have made a great footpath route in.

[NewTroll]

Originally Posted by Typhoon2000

Any frontages to the public realm (whatever bit that is I haven't check the layout properly - could be a footpath or street etc) will be in use, so direct realm access to homes, shop frontages etc etc... A passive frontage is something like a frontage that isn't the main access point. Might have a fire door but that's it.

It's about time this area was put to good use, although I think they could have increased the density a little. Checkout the thread on the Birmingham Ickenield Port Road development... we've got something kind of similar going in soon. A shame that the canal doesn't go through Coventry town, could have made a great footpath route in.

I thought it was something like that. This is good, as Coventry has a history of creating street frontages that consist of blank walls.

The canal basin/canal could be a lot better, but the poor quality of the developments in the 1990s don't help. More density.

The canal basin's doomed while the ringroad is there and it's surrounded by poorly connected streets that have nothing on them!

[CovAD]

Originally Posted by Typhoon2000

Any frontages to the public realm (whatever bit that is I haven't check the layout properly - could be a footpath or street etc) will be in use, so direct realm access to homes, shop frontages etc etc... A passive frontage is something like a frontage that isn't the main access point. Might have a fire door but that's it.

It's about time this area was put to good use, although I think they could have increased the density a little. Checkout the thread on the Birmingham Ickenield Port Road development... we've got something kind of similar going in soon. A shame that the canal doesn't go through Coventry town, could have made a great footpath route in.

I'm not exactly sure what type of people theyhope to attract to this development, but I've always thought the canal would be a good selling point for more upmarket homes, something which the north of the city and the city centre need more of, which means lower density.

The canal COULD be a fantastic journey but as always it's all back to front - frontages face the roads so the canal just has service yards which spoil it a bit and make it feel a bit isolated and potentially unsafe. Having houses face the canal massively reduces this.

I can understand that layout from its industrial past, but why on earth the decision was recently taken to preserve it this way is beyond me. It's such a waste and could be used to massively improve the socio-economic mix in the north. I'm still really, really annoyed at the bullshit reasons given for blocking the Courtaulds development.

[NewTroll]

Good news for Coventry... hi tech automotive centre...

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandeve...llion_national

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by NewTroll

Good news for Coventry... hi tech automotive centre...

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandeve...llion_national

The UK automotive technology base starts now then...

[NewTroll]

Originally Posted by Typhoon2000

The UK automotive technology base starts now then...

Interesting to me, as I work in hi tech automotive!

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by NewTroll

Interesting to me, as I work in hi tech automotive!

Trouble is that since the late 80's, and with exit of Ford Europe's base from Dunton (Essex) in the late 90's/00's accelerating the process, the technical base in the UK started to become really quite fragmented. MIRA hadn't seen any decent investment until recently, and it's only pretty much now that, particularly with what resurgence and confidence that is building at JLR, everyone has started to re-focus their efforts within the UK to get together and get organised. If we keep up the momentum, made in Britain will have a truly mainstream meaning around the world, with some clout to back it up.

BUT WE NEED MORE HOME-GROWN ENGINEERS!!!!!!

[NewTroll]

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/new...2746-31996599/