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Walton-on-the-Naze - EEDA 'LOST TOWN' Project
Coastal Heritage - Walton-on-the-Naze - Essex. England
~ Naze Regeneration ~
Naze Notes on Regional Agency initiative
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East of England Development Agency
'Landmark East' Project

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) is facilitating the establishment of a symbolic structure to commemorate the loss of coastal towns that have succumbed over the years to the devastating effects of sea erosion. Called the 'Lost Town' project, it was one of the four winners of an international architectural competition to find the most innovative and evocative 'Landmark East' ideas.
      The winning design features a stylized depiction - using columns of steel tubing - of a church that is typical of the many that East Coast communities have lost over the past centuries. Although the preferred siting for such a symbol was originally Dunwich - now only a tiny sea-ravaged settlement that was once the premier Anglo Saxon port for the region - logistics precluded any realistic progression for this location. Instead, six towns have now been shortlisted. They are: Walton-on-the-Naze, Harwich, Felixstowe, Southwold, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.
      Of these, Walton-on-the-Naze is the current favourite. However, although local community groups have embraced the idea with enthusiasm, initial public opinion has shown some resistance. Environmental charity, The Naze Protection Society, believes that the project represents a great opportunity for community regeneration and to put Walton-on-the-Naze firmly on the tourist map.
The charity has issued the following press statement:
LOCAL CHARITY SADDENED BY PUBLIC REACTION TO ‘LOST TOWN’ PROJECT
  
Officials of local environmental charity goup, The Naze Protection Society, are disappointed at the negative public reaction to the ‘Lost Town’ church project that was recently unveiled in the local press, following a presentation of the prize-winning project to community groups in Walton-on-the-Naze
    The architects, Anne Niemann and Johannes Ingrisch - who had won a competition to produce a symbolic structure that would epitomise the centuries of land loss suffered by East Coast communities - were praised for their vision and originality in creating the imaginative tubular church symbol by all who attended the scheme’s preview.
    It had been generally agreed at the presentation that the project idea worked well with the Naze Protection Society’s own initiative to fund Tendring District Council’s plans to protect the crumbling Naze cliffs in the vicinity of the existing 280-year-old cliff top landmark, the Naze Tower. The Tower is widely considered an iconic symbol for Walton-on-the-Naze and is a popular tourist attraction. By linking this structure with the planned church project - as landmarks old and new – it was expected to draw a parallel with the on-going regeneration of the town in its age-old struggle against the destructive forces of sea erosion.
    However, such an evocative link is now in jeopardy because the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) have said that it does not intend to pursue the project if public opinion is against it.
    Naze Protection Society Chairman, David Gager, commented, “With news of these plans for a symbolic tubular steel 'church' to be sited off the Walton-on-the-Naze coastline as a permanent memorial to the lost towns of the east coast of England, I would have thought that Waltonians would be justly proud of having their hometown heritage remembered in this way. However, recent reports indicate that the reverse is the case. True, this is an expensive scheme, but money has already been earmarked for projects like this one – and if we say ‘no’ it will simply be spent somewhere else”.
    “I think that this will be a fitting local tribute, not only to the loss of the town's eighteenth century church of All Saints, but also to the lost medieval town of Walton and to the community’s ultimate survival in the face of centuries of destructive erosion from the sea”.
    “Some have labelled this ‘The Angel of the East’. Certainly, if it goes ahead it will be a tribute to Walton that will rival Gateshead”.
    The Naze Protection Society hopes that the organisers of the project can turn around the initial resistance to the ‘Lost Town’ concept that will surely give a regenerative boost to local business and to the future prestige and prosperity of Walton-on-the-Naze.
Abandoned church prior to loss in 1798
300 years of sea encroachment
Proposed location of 'project area'
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LOST TOWN Website links - click on any picture:
Lost Town - project
Lost Town - vision
Lost Town - designers
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NAZE PROTECTION SOCIETY: campaign | charity shop | accounts | AGM
  
 
NAZE REGENERATION
  
THE POWER OF THE SEA
  
KEY ENVIRONMENTAL SITES
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June 2006

 

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