From today's Echo.
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/display.var.1758017.0.heritage_praise_for_our_resort.php
I have looked at the relevant documents on helm.org.uk and there are several questions which arise. Why, for instance, are we classified as a "set piece" resort? (see section 2.1 in the longer pdf file) What do they mean by this? Fishing and other local industry is not taken into account. What do they think happens over the winter?
The documents are based on "vignettes" and "case studies"of various locations, one of which is Weymouth. It appears that for each place a congratulatory tone is adopted and criticism is never applied. It was not clear how the information for each location was gained. Was it simply provided by the Council to English Heritage who, in turn, congratulates each place unquestioningly on the information given? In this case we would have one emanation of the State, English Heritage, backslapping another emanation of the State, the Council. We need clarification on this matter ie did English Heritage send "assessors" or did they gain their information in another way? One has to be aware also that English Heritage has been in partnership with Councils over projects mentioned in the reports so in no way can information from this source be considered unbiased.
I do not disagree that there have been some great improvements in Weymouth. There are, however, also significant problems and issues for this town which are not alluded to in our pretty little vignette.
