LYME MATTERS with Philip Evans

All pals again on Three Cups future

LYME Regis Town Council’s involvement in the working group set up by Palmers Brewery to find a suitable use for the Three Cups Hotel got a bit messy with claims and counter claims about the suitability of the council’s representatives.

Originally, the Mayor, Councillor Michaela Ellis, and councillors Owen Lovell and Ann Bradbury were nominated to represent the town council and attended the first meeting at which we were told “decisions were made” and non-confidential minutes produced.

However, the suitability of councillors Lovell and Bradbury was questioned by Daryl Turner when he made his notable return to the council chamber after an absence of three years.

He claimed that Owen and Ann had a vested interest as they were the owners of bed and breakfast establishments and it could be reasonably argued that they might not wish to see more hotel beds in the town.

Councillor Turner also claimed that all three councillors had contravened standing orders because they had been a party to the “decisions” made at the Palmers’ meeting without a mandate from the council.

Regular followers of Lyme council will be aware that our councillors are almost paranoid about declaring their interest, whether personal or prejudicial, on matters being discussed. On occasions this has resulted in meetings being declared inquorate because so many had ruled themselves out of the decision making.

No other council covered by View reporters are so subservient to the Standards Commission, the body that polices councillors’ behaviour. This is because so many of them have been reported in the past, probably more than any other council in the area, with one of their number, Stan Williams, actually being suspended for six months.

This is not necessarily an indictment of the integrity of our councillors; more probably an indication of how passionate the electorate can get from time to time and their desire to settle a few scores.

On occasions the clamour to record an interest has bordered on the farcical. Councillors having to look over their shoulders all the time is not condusive with effective local government.

Both Owen Lovell and Ann Bradbury quickly denied that they had any ulterior motive in serving on the Palmers’ working group but Owen withdrew his nomination after Councillor Turner’s allegation, stating clearly: “It’s safer to keep away”.

The matter was also raised at the recent annual town meeting after which Owen decided to take legal advice. He was told he had nothing to worry about and then claimed that Councillor Turner, who also sits on the working group representing the district council, had just as big an interest because he ran a painting and decorating business in the town.

A little levity was brought to the proceedings by old hand Ken Meech when he commented: “I feel an election coming on”. Guffaws from the press bench.

After Councillor Lovell’s declaration that he had nothing to worry about, suddenly there was a change in the mood of the meeting. They all got pally again and Councillor Turner even proposed that Owen should continue to serve on the Palmers’ group. Owen graciously accepted.

He will be joined by the mayor and Councillor Stan Williams, who has well and truly declared his hand by saying he is definitely in favour of the Three Cups being re-opened as an hotel and he doesn’t care who knows.

He went as far as saying it wasn’t even Palmers’ decision to make; the district council should compulsory purchase the building and find a hotel group to buy it off them.

It is rumoured that there are interested parties, despite the Palmers’ report that claimed it would cost between £3 million and £4million to return the Three Cups to an hotel.

Ann Bradbury and Lucy Campbell’s names were also put forward but they did not win enough votes in an open ballot.

In giving their representatives a mandate to follow at the Palmers’ meeting, the council also decided that any future use should include some form of additional beds.

I think this is something of a u-turn as in past discussions the council was determined to keep an open mind and were not fully in favour of the protesters’ tactics.

It was stated that the council’s desire for seeing more beds was discussed on three previous occasions but I have no recollection of that.

Still, that view will please the campaigners who are working hard to get the Three Cups open as an hotel again.

The Save The Three Cups Action Group, led by John Dover, is pursuing a policy of discussion and negotiation with Palmers and will be staging another public meeting in May.

Councillor Turner has advocated a town referendum to find out what the town really wants, an idea which is gaining support from many quarters.

A town poll would probably cost £1,500 to stage so there’s the question of who would pay for this.

It may be difficult for the town council to do so as the Three Cups is not a public building, as was the Marine Theatre when it was the subject of a referendum a few years ago.

My understanding is that nothing will convince Palmers that it is feasible to re-open the Three Cups as an hotel but they are committed to seeing the building returned to a use acceptable to the town and profitable to them.

One thing is for sure. The Three Cups will be commanding many more column inches in the View over the next few months.

In a recent column I stated, incorrectly, that Daryl Turner had fought the last Dorset County Council election as a Liberal Democrat against Conservative Colonel Geoffrey Brierley. This was incorrect.

Councillor Turner fought the previous county election, the last one being contested by Chris Savory on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. I am happy to put the record straight.

It's a funny old game

I TOOK the boys from my editorial and production department over to Dorchester on Thursday evening to see one of my boyhood idols Jimmy Greaves.

They have been working really hard of late on our new digital Dorset Weekender and deserved a treat.

Greaves became one of the greatest goalscorers of all time during my youth but ended up a raving alcoholic towards the end of his playing days. He then enjoyed fame if not fortune in television with the “Saint & Greavsie” show and, at the grand old age of 70, is now a regular on the after dinner circuit.

I actually brought him to Lyme in the early 1980s when we organised a sporting festival to raise money to build the pavilion at Uplyme Cricket Club. In those days Jimmy was fighting his drink problems but he kept well away from the bar at the Marine Theatre and provided a great evening’s entertainment.

Greavsie remembered his visit to Lyme when I spoke to him at Thursday’s event at Dorchester Football Club. He has lost none of his razor sharp wit over the last 20 years and is still in great demand. He was very funny indeed.

I’ve organised a few sporting dinners in my time and it gets ever more difficult to get speakers at a cost that makes it viable to organise such events in small towns like Lyme. Some of the bigger names in the game command several thousand pounds for a 45-minute speech.

I usually rely on contacts made when I worked in sports publishing in London in the 1990s. Last autumn former West Ham, Everton and England striker Tony Cottee, whose autobiography I published back in those days, agreed to speak at a dinner co-hosted by Lyme Regis Football Club and the Rotary Club of Lyme Regis.

It was a splendid occasion and we raised £1,700 for the football’s club’s new dressing rooms.

As it was the club’s 125th anniversary season we asked Tony if he would be prepared to act as our patron. He readily agreed and is now planning to return to Lyme again in July to present the trophies at the club’s annual dinner and have a game of golf the following morning with some of the boys - at no cost.

In these days of obscene greed in football, it’s nice to know that there are still a few gentlemen left in the game.

The quintessential Lyme event

AFTER such a long and miserable winter, it lifted the spirits to see Lyme bathed in sunshine on Easter Sunday (my favourite time of the year).

Lyme’s growing reputation as a near all-the-year-round resort produced thousands of visitors over the holiday wekend.

The annual Easter Bonnet parade, organised for the 12th year by the indomitable Barbara Austin, attracted a record number of entries and a huge crowd watching the parade in Broad Street.

One major factor in the continuing success of this event is the number of children who don’t live in the town but are visiting their grandparents and take part in the bonnet parade.

For many it has clearly become something of a family tradition and one hopes that when the children are grown up they will have very fond memories of Lyme.

It was, of course, the first of many parades that will take place in the town over the summer months which got me to wondering if there is any other town along the south coast that has more parades than Lyme.

Congratulations to Barbara and her team of helpers and sponsors for putting on yet another quintessential Lyme event.

A special word of praise for Judith Pothecary who puts so much energy and flair into the prizes for the bonnet winners

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