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Dorset coast on an overcast day.

Gearing up for the influx of summer visitors by increasing the car parking charges . One of our great summer traditions .
Maybe £4.50 for 2 hours is a bargain ?

West Bay . The western extremity of Chesil Beach.
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ArishMell · 70-79, M
It is an attractive and quirky little town - a shame the planners allowed those huge, pretentiously ugly blocks of flats on the West side of the harbour. (In the background of your photo number 8.)

There was still a small amount of commericial shipping other than fishing-boats using the harbour in the 1960s. I recall seeing a small ship carrying timer, alongside the wall. An aggregates company was also quarrying the beach on the East side for gravel; using a grab-crane to lift it and load it into lorries on the pier. That was eventually stopped when the authorities realised the beach is not being replenished!

Those who have not been there but do watch British TV drama series might recognise the harbour and the cliff shown here in profile - West Bay was one of the locations for Broadchurch.

I have not yet sampled it but there is a cafe in a railway coach standing in the former West Bay station, once served by a branch line from Maiden Newton via Bridport.
devonman · 61-69, M
@ArishMell The whole town is a little spoilt by a variety of random postwar developments most residential and commercial.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@devonman It is, but I do think the most recent are the worst.
devonman · 61-69, M
@ArishMell The most recent was controversial, but developers won on appeal ‘ target number of new housing units that needed to be delivered in the region not being met .
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@devonman Aye - but I bet few locals could afford them, and most are wealthy Londoners' weekend homes!
devonman · 61-69, M
@ArishMell I doubt many locals could . But ‘ housing targets , puts huge pressure on planners to
give in .
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@devonman Indeed.

It's hard for them to do this but the planners sometimes manage to stand up to another wheeze the speculators use, that of gaining agreement to build x out of y houses as "affordable" (whatever that actually means) then coming back and pleading to reduce x to avoid the whole scheme being uneconomical. Yes, and I'm the King of Persia.
devonman · 61-69, M
@ArishMell Ball is firmly in the developers court now .
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@devonman Yes - very much so.