What are tourists and staff being told about the future of the holiday village?
If you are a visitor to Lyme Bay Holiday Village and you pick up a local newspaper (such as the one with the four page wrap around advertisement produced by Terry Dinham for View from Seaton a couple of weeks ago which said that the holiday village has no future) you could quite legitimately ask the staff "What's going on here?" to which staff have been instructed to answer "We are not at liberty to comment".
Free Speech? Everywhere, it seems, except the place where you are (in the near future) to be made redundant and/or lose your home. If I were a member of staff there I would make sure that I belonged to a union!
And please do not make the mistake that just because the holiday village is taking bookings into the future that this means that it will stay open until all bookings are honoured. Given that Hollybush has other tourist accommodation in this area (none of it seemingly affected by the relative poverty of its tourists except Lyme Bay) it can easily offer similar holidays in its other locations or it can farm the tourists out to other holiday villages around the country. This is what happens, for example, if somewhere has to close because there is a bug or something.
The holiday village could close tomorrow if the management found that it was convenient to do this.
posted by Fighting for East Devon's future @ 10:42 am
11 Comments:
Whilst I support your cause I do not feel it is correct for you to make headlines that deliberately sow additional seeds of concern and insecurity with the staff in the holiday camp. They have enough problems keeping up their morale without your unhelpful comments.
As it is there has so far been zero demand for them to close and that means bookings that are set to continue until October 2008 will be honoured.
Concentrate on the issues and don't fall into the arrogance of second guessing the HollyBush hotels' management decisions.
But if the holiday village has a secure future for some time to come, why did Martyn Harrison reply to Terry Dinham with such a pessimistic letter?
The holiday village staff need an undertaking from Mr Harrison that it will not close in the near future with a real date - until they get that they can't be sure. If he wrote to each member of staff guaranteeing a date before which it will not close (i.e. will continue to employ its full complement of staff) - that might make me feel more secure if I was a member of staff, but not much else would.
I'm afraid if Mr Harrison is going to write letters saying that there was a "major downturn in 2004" and goes on to say "we are now fairly much out of alternative strategic options to stop the current deterioration in our business and its inevitable demise", that it has "insufficient revenues", "investment can't be justified", "no means of obtaining a realistic return with the limited income" and says that, "in the medium term the business will be forced to close", goes on to say "the future is bleak" and that he "needs to be realistic" surely it is he who is sowing the seeds of unrest.
I don't think I need to second guess Hollybush management - they've pretty much shown what their management stragety is in the letter.
And if staff aren't allowed to tell tourists that the holiday village is under threat (and I presume we agree about that), even though they could read that in the local paper, then the tourists won't write letters of objection, will they.
anon 9:18am
I'm curious as to how you feel that the entry was sowing "additional seeds of concern". Sandra has already pointed out that Martyn Harrison has already had his comments in the public domain. If I were an employee of his, having read that, I'd feel pretty concerned;-)
Are you therefore suggesting then that no-one should comment on the closure?
We already know that Hollybush are contractually obliged to close if Liatris get planning permission, so that isn't new.
The spin that the market is declining has been around since 2004 as well. Hollybush, due to that very contract are unable or unwilling to put in a proper strategic change for the business.
That's where the real uncertainty lies for the staff, but to gag them?
It is one thing for you to comment on their gagging order but, this is a matter for Hollybush Hotels and they are contractually obligated to NOT comment adversely as it was placed in the purchase agreement of the land. It does NOT preclude others commenting on their behalf, which is what many people and groups in Seaton are doing.
It is unhelpful to the continued survival of Lyme Bay Holiday Village if during this time their morale is pressed lower by additional negative influences.
It is important don't you think that both the staff AND the visitors have confidence in the ongoing operability of the Camp as well as its ultimate future.
More importantly it is up to us to prove the management of Hollybush wrong about the camps future but, I think the letter in question may well have been read out of context.
Regardles of all this you ultimately need the management of Hollybush on-side if you want to keep the camp. Causing further mayhem within will not help your cause.
Keep the attack tuned to Liatris if you want to succeed.
What OUGHT to help Hollybush is the East Devon Local Plan where Policy TO2 says that "no change of use of holiday accommodation will be allowed unless there is no physical or economic potential for continued tourist use and refurbishment or redevelopment for holiday accommodation purposes is not possible" and Local Policy LSE2 which includes the following:
"6: enhancement of community, tourism, leisure and recreation facilities including the tramway AND THE HOLIDAY VILLAGE .....
and
Policy TO3: "The proposal for change of use or redevelopment of hotels and other holiday accommodationin the seaside resorts of Exmouth, Budeleigh Salterton, Seaton and Sidmouth will not be permitted unless the holiday use is no longer viable and there is NO MARKET FOR THE BUSINESS AS A GOING CONCERN and.or the new use will overcome clear social, economic or envoronmental problems associated with current use"
AND
13.88m "The proposal seeks to improve linkages between the holiday village and the rest of the town and promote greater use of the publicly accessible facilities on this site"
AND
13.92: "It is anticipated that the regeneration of the Harbour Road areawill enhance the role of Seaton as a visitor destinationand encourage more and LONGER STAY visits to the town"
Now, all those seem to me to say that tourist accommodation should be preserved and enhanced when regeneration takes place and that it is assumed in the Local Plan that the holiday village will stay. Hollybush should be fighting EDDC and Liatris with a strong case to remain on these grounds (and others) and East Devon District Council should be insisting that tourism and particularly a holiday village of some type is kept on that site, as it says in their own Local Plan, rather than getting into bed with the developers and destroying it. Hollybush knows about these clauses as I pointed them out to them some months ago in a letter to Mr Harrison.
He could be fighting his corner istead of giving in.
You seem to singularly misunderstand the contractual obligation that Hollybush is under. Why would they adversely comment when to do so may cost them £millions in damages and force closure of the camp through breach of contract etc.,
As I said - keep yourselves focused on the developers and leave Hollybush alone - afterall you DO want them to stay don't you?
Have you considered that the more we push for retention of the camp, the more Hollybush might be contractually 'pressed' to offer contrary arguments - have they already been forced to do this to enable the developers to get this far?
Anonymous - whoever you are - shame on you.
Sandra and the SU4S people deserve a medal for everything they are doing, and you criticise her for standing up for the staff in the holiday village, who's jobs are under threat, and they have NO VOICE.
Why NOT talk about the Holiday Village, it is central to the "master plan". Come on, get on side, and don't be down on these fantastic people who are giving up hours and hours of their time.
anon 12:05
No I don't misunderstand, I can fully appreciate that the original contract between Liatris and Hollybush might well make it difficult for any representative of Hollybush to take a view on behalf of the company.
Similarly, rest assured that we are concerned, not onlly for the staffs jobs, but also for a continued overnight tourist provision. Something that Hollybush, in a better contractural climate, could develop.
I think you misread it a little to say it's an attack on Hollybush. As you point out, Martyn Harrison's letter may well be out of context, but Terry Dinham's PR stunt played it up for all it was worth. Which maybe, in a better world, would not have happened.
But Hollybush might (and this is down to its board) well consider putting in the observation that the current land they are sitting on, was zoned in the local plan as tourism, when we see the Liatris plan, it's residential. It really depends on the reading of their contract with their landlord and how well supported they feel. Which is what we're all saying in essence.
That all depends then on the will of the Hollybush board after that point.
However, please don't underestimate out appreciation of the efforts of the Lyme Holiday Village for making the camp successful as it can be, given the operational limits, for visitors and the residents of Seaton. (average year round occupancy of 80%? Not bad going is it?)
And I agree, the main problem is Liatris, they put an application in that disregards all we have discussed on this thread, so we'll move on.
Hollybush seem to be contractually bound not to do anything which might prevent planning permisison being granted - OK, that's a problem. I assume Hollybush have taken legal advice about the contract and anything they may have been asked to do or say. A contract that required them to act illegally would be unenforceable.
I simply wonder when we can see the evidence for the comments made by Hollybush so far. If those comments can not be substantiated where does that leave Hollybush?
If Hollybush are unable to back up their comments with facts it should leave them facing prosecution for knowingly or recklessly making a false statement in support of a planning application. That is, as few people realise, an offense.
Having been in several Organisations which have "downsized", then "rightsized" I have every sympathy with the staff of the holiday village with regards to their future job prospects, but for the future their best hopes lie with a determined effort(as is being shown by "Stand up for Seatoners")to maintain the area for Tourist accomodation using whatever information is in the Public Domain to point out to EDDC the potentialy massive planning error they would commit in giving way to the Developers greed.
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