20/02/2012 Inside Out West

Hello from Weston-super-Mare. In tonight's programme: The local

businessman fighting the council in a desperate bid to save this

landmark from the bulldozers. Find out what happened when we got

the council to finally meet the man who believes he can return the old

Tropicana pool to its former glory. I don't know what you think you're

playing at. I can't understand why you have not had as in there to sit

down and sort this out. Also tonight, we join the

Gloucestershire war detectives trying to solve the mystery of some

of our long lost heroes. And Cokergate, the fight between

town planners and the residents of the quintessential Somerset village

immortalised by TS Eliot. I just could not believe the scale

of it. This call, this beautiful field.

With surprising stories from close to home, I'm Alastair McKee and

Here on the north Somerset coast, the Tropicana pool has been closed

for over 10 years. Its fate has been dividing opinions in the town,

but now the council is desperate to get rid of it. They say it's become

an eyesore, but as Dave Harvey found out, some locals are

Aw, happy times. In its heyday, back in the fifties and sixties

Weston's open air lido was the hot destination in town. Now it's in a

sorry state. The council says it's fit only for the bulldozers.

There is nothing that's come forward to make us think there's a

viable proposition. A local businessman says he can

save it, but claims that council leaders are blocking him.

Instead of trying to work with me, they are trying to put a spin

against me. Will there be blood on the poolside

when we bring the two sides together for the first time?

It is nothing to do with egos. haven't you...

So why does this derelict building inspire such passion? For locals it

evokes fond memories of perhaps more glamorous times. The Miss

Modern Venus competitions certainly drew in the crowds.

Originally the idea was to get pin- up pictures for the troops. That is

how that started. And we had some quite well known people come here

to judge it. And some found fame here too.

Swindon lass Diana Dors, aged 13, came third in one of those

competitions, but went on to become a screen siren.

The pool had been built by the local council in 1937. It boasted

the highest diving board in Europe and Olympic swimmer Johnny

Weissmuller, known to cinema goers as Tarzan, braved the top board

here. It was too Ahsan, they called him then. It was brilliant.

And then it became a little bit more colourful. In 1983, the year

that pop duo Wham hit the charts with Club Tropicana, the pool was

revamped and renamed as, yep, The I can remember having loads of nice

days as a child in the Tropicana. Whether the weather was sunny or

cold, you still got in and swam. It But in 2000, the sun went down on

the Tropicana. It hit hard times and closed its doors. They've been

closed ever since. So to get a swim these days here on

Weston's sea front, you have to brave the icy waters and get up

really early before the sea disappears.

This is the only time I will get a swim at Western today as that water

is already going out. It is now or never! Here we go!

Brrr! But at least there's water. With the huge Weston tide, this

will all soon be mud and for most of the day, for those who want an

outdoor swim here, that's a big disappointment.

Congratulations on your swim. was fun. For February and think you

are very brave. I only swim from April to November.

Local outdoor swimmer, Jean Poole, is desperate to get the pool

reopened. A decent sized pool would bring people back him. It is all

the rage now. Yes, look at you today. I just can't wait for

something to happen and everybody wants something to happen. We don't

want to it demolished. Yet that is what North Somerset

council say they want to do. Even allowing rubble from recent sea

front improvements to be dumped in the old pool.

So it is in quite a state. afraid it has gone too far. We have

had schemes over 10 years and clearly you can see it is really in

such a state that it could not possibly be rebuilt as the ball as

it is. Over the last decade there have

been many grandiose and ambitious schemes put forward by developers

to build a new pool all ultimately failed.

Three schemes have come forward and looked as though they would be

delivered but then fell apart. We have to draw a line. It is a

seaside town, they should be more swimming. Look at the sea, we can't

go in it that much. It is a terrible eyesore, not it down.

would be a shame to see it get pulled down.

But could there be a new saviour at the 11th hour? Enter well-known

Weston farmer and property developer Derek Mead.

As teenagers we used to come here with a lot of other farmers' sons

and I would come here with my little brother. On many, many

occasions. Derek hopes to get lottery funding

to re-develop the pool, but says he'll give it some financial

backing himself. What we want to do is get it back

to the ownership of the people of Weston-super-Mare. Trusts have been

suggested before, but as usual, been dismissed by the council.

And now Grand Pier owner Kerry Michael, arguably one of Weston's

most influential businessmen, has joined Derek's crusade.

Hasn't its time come, really? not at all. It is out of date as to

how it looks today, but you could argue the same that the peer is out

of date. Today we have a brand new modern peer and tomorrow we could

have a bright new modern Tropicana. Absolutely! Have you seen it, it

needs a lot of work. You have got to have vision. As long as you do,

anything is possible. So, could these new plans work

where others before them have failed?

The centre area here would be for serious swimmers, reinstating the

diving boards and springboards. The two pieces on the side will be for

the Casuals swimmers, the flumes and the rest of it.

Mr Mead claims that council leaders won't give him a chance to discuss

his plans, so we brought them together.

This is durable and the reason it is not going anywhere at the moment

is the situation with you people in the town hall, keeper pooh-poohing

it. We have reached a stage where we need to say that unless someone

comes up with a viable plan, this may be the start of that, I don't

know. Why aren't we around a table talking about that then? You are

close to producing a business plan relating to these drawings. So why

You're up for it before Christmas and here we are in February with no

meeting. Everything you bring forward has to be evaluated.

We need to see something that shows how it would go on in the future.

We don't want another situation in two or three years when nothing has

happened because they are still talking about raising the money.

As it happens, Weston's local MP is the minister for tourism and he

thinks the plans are worth consideration.

We got a serious reputable local businessman who wants to give it a

try. We should give him a chance and an opportunity, but he has to

come forward with a coherent business plan really fast. At that

point I am urging the council to give him a chance.

But might it already be too late? On Thursday, amid cries of protest,

council leaders formalised their decision to ask the secretary of

state for communities' permission to demolish it. The Tropicana is

within a Conservation area so he'll have the final say over the plan.

So, will Weston ever get its beloved pool back again or it is

destined for the bulldozers? The support we are getting from the

people of Weston-super-Mare, that And if there's something you'd like

us to investigate then why not drop me an email. My address is

[email protected]. Later in the programme, we

investigate the controversial plans to build more than 2,000 houses

next to one of the West Country's Now imagine getting a call to tell

you that the body of one of your distant relatives has just been

identified - someone killed nearly a hundred years ago perhaps. Well,

making that call is the job of a special unit from the Ministry of

Defence tasked with identifying military remains whenever and

wherever they're found. Joel Mapp takes up the story.

Sue Raftree's in London. She's trying to find out about some men

who died almost a hundred years ago in northern France. I've come here

to see the archivist at the Artillery Company to discuss the

remains of four soldiers that were found in August 2009.

These soldiers were killed in the First World War. Like many

casualties, they were buried by their comrades near the battlefield

where they died. Identifying them It's a typical case for Sue, who

works for the MoD in Gloucestershire. When the remains

of servicemen from the two world wars are discovered, it's her job

to identify them, find relatives and arrange a military burial.

Today she's meeting regimental archivist Justine Taylor.

actually have a very kind volunteer in Antwerp who has a list of

members who died in the First World War. She has been very helpful and

provided some very informative books. We know the height of the

four soldiers who have been found. I am very excited. We have got to

the stage where we might be able to identify somebody.

Sue's excited, but she's knows these things take time. Remains of

some of the many thousands of war heroes still listed as missing or

with no known grave are found each year around the world. Some can be

easier to identify than others. The wreckage of a British bomber's

been found in Italy. And thanks to detailed flight records, Sue knows

exactly who was on board. It means another trip to London,

this time for a radio appeal. know they is a case you are working

on at the moment, tell us about that. About four months ago at

Boston aircraft was found in Italy. The Boston was on a reconnaissance

mission when it was shot down in 1945, just weeks before the end of

the war in Europe. The crew, including David Raikes and

Alexander Bostock, all died. Their relatives have come forward, but

Sue needs to find one other family. The one that we need to find now it

is the flight Sergeant David Millard's family. The at is why you

are here today? Yes. Sue will have to wait to see if

anyone gets in touch. But when families do, they usually want to

know much more. She's in Wiltshire meeting relatives of a soldier

whose remains have been found in the Netherlands.

And they've turned out in their numbers. For them, this is all

about finding out what really happened to a man who was lost, but

not forgotten. Thank you very much for coming today. I know you have

come from a long way. He was my gran's brother. She talked about

him all be time. I was really little then, she died when I was

about 10. I remember him being really important in her life. I

felt like I knew him. He was my great uncle Louis. -- Lewis.

Lewis Curtis, from Cornwall, was a member of the Wiltshire regiment.

He died in October 1944. His battalion had been advancing

through Holland, but met fierce resistance from the Germans. Today,

his family are learning about where he was discovered and plans for his

burial. The first available opportunity would be July. It is a

lot to take in and if you just slowly absorb it that is lovely.

One family close to getting that final closure. But what about Sue's

other cases? It's now several weeks since her meeting with the

regimental archivist in London about those First World War

soldiers. So is there any news? we have done some more research

with the archivist and two of them have now been identified. Orquera

identified by Two soldiers identified. And now

begins the task of tracking down the families. That's not easy, as

Sue's finding out in the Boston bomber case. Unfortunately, that

radio appeal hasn't had the impact she'd hoped. Regrettably, there

were no collars regarding the identification of the family

however we have now gone to the Commonwealth War Graves. They have

put it on the website and we are now trying to trace them through

other means. When Sue does manage to complete a

case, it often ends a mystery that's haunted families for years.

When Edward Hartley was killed, his loved ones knew he'd died, but very

little else. I think the mother must have always wondered what had

happened to Eduard. He would have been the love of her life so she

must have wondered all our life, she lived to be 86, what had

happened to them. Lance Sgt Hartley died at Arnhem in

Holland during Operation Market Garden, the unsuccessful attempt by

the allies to force their way into Germany in 1944. His remains were

identified seven years ago. Sue traced his daughter and she was

guest of honour at a rededication ceremony. It was really emotional.

I think the kind of location where all the hairs stand up on the back

of your neck and you want to cry Beeley. It was really very special.

-- you want to cry really. It was probably one of the best days of my

life. So Sue's work can end up meaning so

much to the families these men left behind. She's back on the road

again, this time in Hampshire. The relatives one of the First World

War soldiers, has been in touch. The family actually find me through

the Great War forum. They were looking at the website and came

across that we were trying to trace the relatives of captain Prichard,

they contacted me. I have a lot to do with that for them and it was

very fortuitous that they were looking at that time. I can only

remember as a very young boy. Londoner John Pritchard died in May

1917 defending a position near the village of Bullcour in northern

France. His company was almost completely wiped out in the attack.

95 years on, his family were amazed to discover his remains had been

found. I was shocked. When I first saw they had found his body I was

in complete shock and then I was ecstatic and very happy about that

and I thought I cannot wait to tell the rest of the family. It makes

them really real now. It has suddenly brought World War I right

into your front room because you have a personal connection with it.

We feel incredibly honoured as a family that we will be the people

to finally lay this captain to rest. Another case drawing to a close.

And there's good news on the Boston bomber crewman too. David Perkins'

family has been in touch. Sue hopes to also start arranging his burial

soon. It is very frustrating at times because the work has to be

very thoroughly investigated. It is very rewarding and it is an honour

and a privilege to be part of it. Next tonight, an extraordinary

fight between town planners and the residents of one of Somerset's most

picturesque villages. Sam Smith has been investigating the row they're

East Coker in south Somerset. The residents here are fighting a

battle against their district council, which has plans to extend

the town of Yeovil to the very borders of the village. Nobody

wants the proof. They all know it is necessary but they do not want

it any where near them. I could not believe the scale of it. It is so

industrial and in this beautiful field. I think any business or town

needs an expansion plan. The moment you stop growing you lose

aspirations and go backwards. over the Westcountry, thanks to

government targets, councils are facing pressure to build new homes.

More than 150,000 in the next 20 years. Ric Pallister is leader of

South Somerset District council. have to put in place at thing

called a core strategy. The previous Government changed the

rules and so we have to produce these with plans and we have a

certain amount of time to do it in. If we do not do it gets done to us

in that the developers decide where they will build houses, Industry

decides where they will put their factories and we get no say in the

end. It is vital every council in the country has one of these plans.

And part of the South Somerset's plan, the so called Southern Option,

is a huge expansion of Yeovil, 2,500 homes, bringing the town into

the parish, famous as the last resting place of poet TS Eliot.

East Coker in my beginning is my end. In succession houses rise and

fall, crumble, are extended, are removed, destroyed or restored or

in their place is an open field or a factory or a bypass. Having a

nobel laureate in the Church has certainly helped raise the anti-

development campaign's profile, but it's not been enough to prevent the

plans from going forward. Morning Vicky... Sandra Snelling is a

leading member of the East Coker Preservation Trust. ETS Eliot

connection brought in a lot of people from outside the village who

wanted to protect it. -- D T S Eliot. Now we have had to move on

to things that are much more serious. East Coker will become

just a part of The Oval. There will no longer be this definition of

this lovely little village nestling in North Somerset. -- part of

Yeovil. It would be such a change. But change is what most councillors

want. They've already voted to investigate the Southern Option

further, although no decision will be made until a final vote in April.

But campaigners are convinced the council's mind its made up. Why?

Because of a secret map. It came about because of the plan that we

find den afield. -- find in afield. Out fruit picking with her husband,

Heather Murphy came across the plan showing the extent of the proposed

development. Furious with what they see as the council's deception,

Sandra and other villagers have bombarded the planning department

with hundreds of freedom of information requests. I could not

believe I had found this and when I showed it to my friend I had no

idea the impact it would have. was quite a shock for a few days.

It was not a secret map that we did not want anyone to see, it was a

working map. I could not believe the scale of it. There are houses

everywhere. It is a school and industrial areas, I am sure the at

other places they can go. We have not got anywhere near a planning

application or a master plan. It would be wrong to put that into the

public domain before anything happens. Now everyone uses the word

Cokergate. It is wonderful. It says it all. If you do it in the north

you use about 20% less agricultural land than if you do it in the south.

Unable to deal with the workload, council planners have offered a

meeting. The villagers want the council to re-consider a second

option. A site to the north of Yeovil. The whole idea of this

meeting is to lobby the north-west option and to ask for houses to be

built all over, not just in this area. And this is the Northern

Alternative, the council say this site has always been an option. But

that developing here is more costly. As you can see you have got a

completely empty landscape, it is not connected to you'll all in any

way. The cost of doing the infrastructure and linkages here is

about four times the cost of doing it in the south. And this laundry

company have spent a significant amount investing in Yeovil, more

than �5 million so far. They have plans to triple the workforce over

the next two years. We are concerned that there are the right

growth plans and development plans that can satisfy the needs of us

but also other industry and other sectors. You have to look at the

bigger picture. The villages are the by-products of the towns and if

it stops growing it dies. meeting has been going on for four

long hours, but are the campaigners from East Coker making any headway

with the council's planning chief? But the reality is the council

intend to push on with their plans. How did that go? It went very well.

I feel very optimistic about it. It was very friendly and very

professional. The reality is, the council intends to push on with its

plans. While Ric Pallister appreciates the arguments against

allowing development here, he says he really has no choice. If there

were an easier option, why would I want to keep such a fuss? Isn't

there anything else we could do? If I believe that I probably would not

be talking to you now. If we are going to fight this cos we have to

wake up to the fact that if we sit back and do nothing and if we do

not pursue it and drive it will happen around us and the first

building will be in the field and that will be the end of it. Out at

sea beet Don wind wrinkles and slides. I am here for the air or

else we're in my beginning? That's it for this week. In next week's

programme: We will be investigating the dangers of identity theft. With

the so-called Casanova Conman awaiting sentencing, we investigate

the devastating effects of identity theft on its victims. And I find

out that my own identity has been stolen. You think you are here