ASR will be back to fix Boscombe's surf reef, council confirms (From Bournemouth Echo)

With all the cuts, we are paying them upfront to do the work they should have done in the first place!!!
Absolutely unbelievable. And these are the people to whom the government is supposed to be devolving more powers.

perhaps its a ploy to get them back to repay the 2000,000 pounds for shifting sand and 30,000 of diesel that the Audit Commission declared that Bournemouth council paid ASR, were required TOO GET REFUNDED AS OVERPAYMENT TO ASR. Also hope we are not paying for their accommodation again will someone check. If this fiasco works the are only owed 95,000 left of the money held back or we actual paying them contrary to all reports we would not. So they will owe Bournemouth residents £80,000 please ensure its repaid before they leave after finishing a job they should have completed 2 years ago so Councilor Charon do you duty and get our money back as you are cutting services and £230,000 will help pay towards front line services

Get over it u muppets! It will work, who cares how much it cost! Boscombe beach is a much busier place, look at urban reef, sorted surf, reef encounter etc.
The people that moan about it are the idiots who never go to the beach.

kayackie wrote:
Get over it u muppets! It will work, who cares how much it cost! Boscombe beach is a much busier place, look at urban reef, sorted surf, reef encounter etc. The people that moan about it are the idiots who never go to the beach.

I work on the water, it will never work 100%. Pigs will fly first.

kayackie wrote:
Get over it u muppets! It will work, who cares how much it cost! Boscombe beach is a much busier place, look at urban reef, sorted surf, reef encounter etc. The people that moan about it are the idiots who never go to the beach.

Sisyphus.

Freeloading and the Council go hand in hand. Time to kick back and send these Councilors and Council Officers (drain on our money) back to working for a living?

Dispatches soon to blow this and several other shams out of the water. Hold tight Sharon n Co, you are due a welcome back to the real world. You have unwittingly brought about a new transparency

kayackie wrote:
Get over it u muppets! It will work, who cares how much it cost! Boscombe beach is a much busier place, look at urban reef, sorted surf, reef encounter etc. The people that moan about it are the idiots who never go to the beach.

If it will work why are the council back money ? If you dont care how much it costs why not get your parents to stump up the money.

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As to the beach being busier that is a joke. I walk along that part of the beach most days. This summer was one of the quietest for somewhile - even with the 'stacation'.

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There is nothing there for families, hardly anywhere to park and the wondrous regeneration has not appeared.

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After spending nigh on £12m we are left with virtually nothing - other than millions of debt and the inevitable future cost of remobing this worthless heap of sandbags.

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At the moment seafront services are going to have to face massive cutbacks to fund the losses and there is the fear that the capital fund will have to be raided to prop up this nonsense.

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What is sickening is that the council are paying the cost of chucking a few more sandbags in the water, ASR would not do any work over the £55,000 then chance that the council make up the difference later. This absurdity has been falling apart ever since it was constructed. What guarantee is there it won't continue doing so after ASR have scarpered. Lumbering us with a deserted beach and a massive bill to pick up.

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Anyone next going down there should take a good look at the beach opposite the sandbag heap and see what has happened to the beach. A huge big bit of it has been washed away from an outpipe coming from the Moneychine development leaving a three foot drop next to the volley ball nets and a beach covered in shingle. Who is going to pay to fix that ? Wait to see what a few spring tides will do.

In the current economic climate with services to the disabled and elderly suffering massive cuts it is obscene that the Council are wasting ratepayers money in this way.
Not a further penny should be spent on this obscenity.
If it is so brilliant, then here is a suggestion. Lets have the Council introduce surfing permits whereby anyone using a surfboard from a Bournemouth beach must have a permit and pay for the privilege.
That way the ratepayers can recoup the money the Council spent and it can be ploughed back into resources for the residents.
If it's as good as all these surf bums reckon it is, then they wont mind paying for it will they?

Bob, if you hate the beach and surfers so much why don't you just abandon your daily walks? Then you don't have to spend the remainder of your time lamenting on the daily echo message boards.

On the subject of the reef, i'm surprised they're asking for improvements because it already works pretty well.

What exactly does work 100% even mean? If you can't recognize the improvements on the seafront then you have vision problems both literal and figurative.

What the area really needs are people who are excited about the future and ready to build a better community. Not depressing crabs that wish it was 1970.

Did I hear correctly on South Today last night that this coc-up has cost £36million! Please tell me that this is wrong. If it isn't then this council needs to be voted out next year.

The only sure way of fixing this is to control the weather!

I will use Bob49's figure above of 12 million to answer your question. This is the cost of the reef, refurbishment of the Overstrand and Seafront, and the rebuild of the Pier.
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This is to be paid from the sale of the car park to Barratts and the sale of the Beach Pods, whether these figures will in fact balance remains to be seen.
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The total inward investment by Barratts in building the flats and the business's now operating in the Overstrand probably pushes the figure over 36 million, but this is not Council money.

Has Cllr Charon never heard of the expression 'throwing good money after bad'? Would he be so keen to fork out his own money to some dodgy builders to finish a job on his property, just to 'see it through'? I doubt it.

Hire a boat today and dump the 150,000 smackers overboard on top of the reef. Might improve the waves but will definately save time. I think the justification is there to get some heads examined at the Council.

Moby Dick wrote:
Bob, if you hate the beach and surfers so much why don't you just abandon your daily walks? Then you don't have to spend the remainder of your time lamenting on the daily echo message boards. On the subject of the reef, i'm surprised they're asking for improvements because it already works pretty well. What exactly does work 100% even mean? If you can't recognize the improvements on the seafront then you have vision problems both literal and figurative. What the area really needs are people who are excited about the future and ready to build a better community. Not depressing crabs that wish it was 1970.

What a ridiculous post. My walking along the seafront was stated merely as a reply to Kayackie's post - though I'm sure your wish that local residents don't use that area fits in with the overall aim.

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Pointing where there are faults does not mean someone hates it, so what not address the subject matter rather than making up stuff to reply to it (as with your 100% claim).

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The 'improvements' you talk of ARE NOT what were originally claimed, nor do they represent good value for £12m.

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The reef DOES NOT work. That is why no one uses it, why the council is having to get ASR back and has issued warnings that, far from being fit for purpose, it is a danger to anyone going near it.

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So maybe Moby Dick if you don't like to read that everyone else knows it's been an expensive flop then why not abandon your reading of these threads - or better still, put your money where your mouth is and pay for this latest addition to the sandbag heap. I'll happily let you pay my share as will many, many more.

The decision to make an advance payment of £55,000 to ASR for them to 'tweak' the surf reef to make it 'work better'.
The balance (£95,000) will be paid upon seeing that this was successful.
So what if it isn't successful? - will BBC pay a further advance in 12 months time to try again and where will it end if 'total success' is never achieved?

If anyone watch the BBC South Today news and the interview with Sally Taylor and Mr. Charon, he quoted that the cost was £13m (Actually £12.6), yet in this story he quotes £3m (Actually £3.6m).
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I am at a loss as to why he though it was pragmatic to get ASR back, and sort the problem then pay them for doing it. As already pointed out, they have already been overpaid for a job that has failed from day one. Therefore it is quite right to point out that if one had building work done, and it did not conform to the plans, then that building company would be called back to fix it without further renumeration.
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Mr. Charon and his Leisure Committe are just splashing out more money in hope to fix an embarrassing promblem that has made them the laughing stock of Bournemouth, and Bournemouth the laughing stock of the Surfing World.
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Yet at the end of it, we will still not have a working Surf Reef. A few sand bags will not make any difference. Save them to barracade the Town Hall in case of an emergency.

At the end of the day this is another £200k to be spent where we already have millions invested. Should it be spent? That remains to be seen, not spending it will mean that the reef NEVER works and spending it means things MIGHT improve. All of us on here arguing over whether it should have been spent or not is quite obviously irrelevent. As a beach town with the need to bring in tourism we have to gamble sometimes on new ventures. This was an expensive gamble granted, it might (a big might grated) yet pay off. I say we spend the £200k and then if it fails look at alternative routes for Boscombe. I supported this from the outset and am as disapointed as the next person that things have not worked out. Bob and Moby Dick, it's Christmas not a time for scrapping!

AJ70 wrote:
Dispatches soon to blow this and several other shams out of the water. Hold tight Sharon n Co, you are due a welcome back to the real world. You have unwittingly brought about a new transparency

Great!
I look forward to seeing you expose the real situation.

"As a beach town with the need to bring in tourism we have to gamble sometimes on new ventures."

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I don't think you have quite grasped this Mike. The idea was NOT to bring in extra tourists - that's why Sea Road was quickly covered in double yellow lines, car parking was massively cut and the council openly stated that the aim of the reef was to attract high quality surfers from London to, not only buy the appartments, but rent the surfpods. That was the reason that NO family attractions were located there. Rather scary that you were not aware of this despite it being regularly made public.

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That has been the objection of so many of us, that our heritage was handed over to developers and the money then used to promote the sales of THEIR properties. Conned ? Only those who hadn't bothered to read what the council was putting out.

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Likewise it is NOT £200,000, it is £150,000m- as in the first sentence of the Echo report. Sorry if this sounds blunt but this sham needs a bit of blunt talking.

Folks, we have been asked to clarify something - the £55,000 won't be paid until the work is finished, although ASR will get it regardless of whether it "works" or not.

Sam Shepherd wrote:
Folks, we have been asked to clarify something - the £55,000 won't be paid until the work is finished, although ASR will get it regardless of whether it "works" or not.

Why hold it back then? All ASR have to do is throw in one more sandbag and pick up £55k.
Another one of the councils cunning plans??
Their financial incompetence is frankly frightening.
I'm sure ASR will be looking for another invite next year

BOB49 -- i think moby dicks right open your eyes and look at the difference down there now ? heritage are you having a laugh it was a dump before this all started ?

bourne free wrote:
BOB49 -- i think moby dicks right open your eyes and look at the difference down there now ? heritage are you having a laugh it was a dump before this all started ?

And it is still a dump, which has had a £12m refurbishment. None of which is any use to anyone. Unsold Pods, a Surf Reef that does not work, and will not work. No where to park. All in all, a dump, no sorry, a bigger dump.
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Sam Sheppherd, from what I can recall from last night interview on BBC South Today, Mr. Charon said that it had been agree that the £55k will be paid, so that ASR can come back with their buckets and spades and fill a few more sand bags, and if it works after this, the £95k will be handed over.
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Surely in any build, if the work is not up to the specifications, then the work should be rectified without further payments, whether it is theirs or not. Lets be honest, with the costs of accommodation, fuel, and other perks, ASR have already done well.
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I do not believe the security words:
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WAVE-WAVE

Cllr Charon stated in minutes of meeting (avaliable to anyone on the BBC website) that the first offer would be to get them to come back for nothing, and only pay them once monitoring proved it worked. He then added that if ASR didn't accept this, then BBC would have to up their offer. Genius negogiating.....it ieems like ASR read those minutes!!

district so you think its no better now than it was before then !!??

This still does not rectify the £230,000 owe to the residents of Bournemouth it cost to sift sand and diesel they used last time they were here. the audit commission required Bournemouth Council to re-coop from ASR, so when is some one going ask when ASR are going to pay this back. Has any of our councilors have the bravo to push this matter don't ask a Conservative councilor as they as like lemmings (perhaps someone can show them where WEST CLIFF is)

bourne free wrote:
district so you think its no better now than it was before then !!??

Dumb comment of the year, so why not stop avoiding the question and address the subject of the Echo report (the clue is in the title).

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Should we, the taxpayers pay for work on something that was shoddily built in the first place and still have no gurantee that it will work after the payment ?

BOB49 thanks for you valued comments

Wow- a story ( well sort of) on the surf reef, a story (again sort of) on the Imax, a (sort of) story on the Pavilion and a piece on the forthcoming cold weather to boot.

I think if there was an "award for services in keeping the local old whingers who are stuck in a time-warp with nothing else better to do with their redundant existence than moan at any type of change when their opinion doesn't really matter anyway", then todays column would most definitely win it.

Cue the usual moans about tax-payers money, bad and naughty councillors, expensive contractors, misleading reports etc etc.

Yawn, heard it all before.

There's plenty of other things to do in life for the "regulars" on this column, if they had the initiative to do so.

kayackie wrote:
Get over it u muppets! It will work, who cares how much it cost! Boscombe beach is a much busier place, look at urban reef, sorted surf, reef encounter etc. The people that moan about it are the idiots who never go to the beach.

So £3M spent and just a very small few businesses have gained, on that basis it would cost 100's of £m to redevelop the rest of Boscombe's shopping/business area then. Money well spent my a*se, would have been better to dump the Imax there, probably cheaper and more effective.

Bob, I use the reef as do others. How do you know it was shoddily buil? Do you dive it on a regular basis? Surf it on a regular basis? Have anything to compare it to.

Every comment you make starts out...I walk by it almost every day...

well did you walk by it this day?

http://magicseaweed.
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to.php?photoId=19265
4&browseSession=17da
80fec938f4a4d64f15ad
35f2bd5e

what about on this set?

http://magicseaweed.
com/photoLab/viewPho
to.php?photoId=19620
1&browseSession=17da
80fec938f4a4d64f15ad
35f2bd5e

Then you're going to continue saying it doesn't work? Open you eyes bob and come into the 21st century. Boscombe reef and the sea front is the most exciting and progressive thing to happen in the area historically.

Individuals such as yourself are an embarrassment in my opinion. You should be celebrating improvements and if you don't feel that way leave or stop paying rates.

put it to the people in a referendum do you want services to vunerable people cut or a surf reef(working or not)and i think i know the answer

well said moby ,so bob if you have such a problem down there dont go there simple man.

The problem is, some people are just frightened of change, progress and improvement.

We all know the sort.

colmc1 wrote:
The problem is, some people are just frightened of change, progress and improvement. We all know the sort.

I'll go positive with all of those.
1. Change, yes.
2. Progress, yes.
3. Improvement, yes.
Only problem at the moment is that there is precious little of 2 and 3 in most of the changes that occur.
I think most people have a reasoned view, are not frightened of change, and want Bournemouth to be a successful town.
They are sufficiently bothered by what goes on to make their views known when standards are dropping and strange decisions are being made. It's 'their' taxpayers money being spent and they have the rights, as do you, to make their point.

Blimey the terminally stupid are out in force today. One bleats about there being so many post on the Echo forum yet convenoiently omits to tell us what part of his/her ever exiting life he/she is missing by trawling through these threads - and why ?


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Up squeaks another one with some photos. As relevant as a picture of a man falling off a cliff is to human flight. The poof is in the puddling as they say. There is never anyone on the reef. It doesn't work. Thats why the expert from Plymouth University says it doesn't work. That's why Bournemouth Council says it doesn't work and even ASR who built it admits it doesn't work - that's why they are coming to try and fix it. it doesn't work.

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It gets worse, a fantasist posts up this extraordinary claim " Boscombe reef and the sea front is the most exciting and progressive thing to happen in the area historically." Historically ! ! ! A set of post war beach huts that can't sell, 60 appartments that still haven't sold and a Victorian pier turned into a jetty because the promises of exiting arts and entertainments failed to materialise - as did the cafes and high quality shops on its approach (check the original plans), plus a pile of sandbags in the sea that cost £3m and are now a safety hazard. Wow, silly old me (as a kid) thought that we would be flying around on our own little space craft in the 21st century not being expected to marvel at a heap of rotting sandbags and the remains of a Victorian pier. Get with it daddio ! You can even have a beach hut with cartoons on the wall. The excitement, the progression.

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However, not for me the exitement of this half empty wonder of modern science, in keeping with the intent of this land grab I am advised to stay away, irrespective of it being a very convenient and pleasant way to walk to work. Unfortunately closing the carpark, putting yellow lines all up Sea Road and removing family attractions won't stop everyone. And it won't stop me.

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So rather than some dodgy snaps or ridiculous claims why not provide verifiable evidence of the 10,000 surf visits this year that the reef was suppposed to deliver or the £2.9m income from the surf pod sales it was supposed to deliver ?

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And if you can also give verifiable evidence of "Every comment you make starts out...I walk by it almost every day..." I'm sure we would all welcome it.

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ps something that begins to fall apart from day one, has never worked and requires fixing this quick does suggest shoddy workmanship - though judging by the standards being applied above, in their eyes this failure will be satisfactory.

If the reef had not been built, Sorted, Urban Reef etc would never have opened. The fact remains that since the regeneration project and surf reef, better people have been brought to boscombe seafront. Rare today to see druggies hanging around.

Before the reef and regeneration the seafront was grotty and full of druggies. Whether the reef works or not, it has helped make Boscombe a better to place to live!!!

Can we see the books, please?

"Before the reef and regeneration the seafront was grotty and full of druggies. "

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An ABSOLUTE LIE. Those type of people were never found around the seafront, they were to be found hanging around The Crescent, Walpole Road and the Precinct. They still are - so much for the regeneration.

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And so much for the lies needed to be peddled by those who are unwilling to see what is so blindingly obvious.

Ahoy Brethren
If thar 'Weights Elephant' fulfilled its worth then so be it but it don't.

It will at least be somethink positive if the reef performs as the model test on youtube shows it.

I can however see the "petshop" boyz above argue that it already does so and flys very well. (for a dead parrot)