A town council is at war with the man building six waterfront apartments in one of Britain's best-known sailing locations. He wants the scheme to be called Sails - but the council is insisting it should be named Millionaires Row.
The development of six homes, under construction by the developer, Environ, overlooks Dartmouth quay in south Devon. It is a short walk from the Britannia Royal Naval College where the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York served as cadets.
Two bedroom apartments start at £640,000 with the penthouse at £1.35m. Most of the properties enjoy views of the River Dart and eco-friendly features including low energy lighting and a heat-recovery ventilation system. There is no affordable housing included in the scheme, which is being marketed by Jackson-Stops & Staff.
The Sunday Times reports that when details of the scheme were put to planners at the strategic South Hams district council - which includes the Dartmouth area plus several nearby towns and villages - the Dartmouth councillors supported the application. But now they want the controversial name although the developer has voluntary paid £23,000 to fund a range of local activities.
Environ's chairman, Tony Dowse, says the change is childish and irresponsible and insists he will sue Dartmouth council if the new name goes ahead and damages the sales prospects of the properties, which are scheduled for completion next March.
Who wants to live in a scheme called Millionaires Row Everyone's concerned about the lack of affordable housing but that's for politicians to decide upon. It's completely wrong to endanger the viability of a scheme with a gesture that's just a political point says Dowse.
Dartmouth's mayor, Councillor Robert Lyon, says the scheme has fallen victim to worries about young people moving away. Dartmouth prices are high and have risen a good deal in the past year so emotions are running high that we need affordable housing he says.
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Comments
I am not sure it is a good idea to call something 'Millionaire's Row' in these economic times... The Council is not thinking this through properly. 'Sails' is definitely a better name! It already sounds quite exclusive, but will at least cause less unrest.
Spectacular own goal from Dartmouth Council! The more likely income is that they will attract oligarchs and oil magnates who couldn't give a stuff about the attractiveness of the name (because it's not a derogatory term in their culture) and further freeze out the local population. Would be far better to work with the developer to attract business owners who are likely to move their manufacturing or service industry to the area. ....and all because some self-righteous p.c. pillock thinks they are making a point. Pathetic!
'Millionaires Row' - how classy and tasteful. Brilliant name when the majority of the country is having to tighten the purse-strings. Do we really need such vulgar displays of wealth The name just makes it sound exclusive and elitist. Sails sounds much better.