The glacial pace of examining these big issues can be frustrating. I wouldn't mind if it was a case of time being taken to cross the Ts and dot the Is etc, and making sure that everything was in order before things got started, but annoyingly that rarely seems to be the case.
Committees; sub-committees; task and finish groups; consultants; consultations; handling by legal and regulatory departments; referrals back up the chain; councils; cabinets; town councils etc. ought to ensure that if something takes years and years to sort out, then it really ought to be proper, full-on, sorted out. No hiccups. No delays.
In the instance of the Pier pavilion site, there's obviously some sort of legal wrangle of which we're not aware (or at least of which I'm not aware) regarding the land involved. Otherwise, they'd have served the chap who owned it with a compulsory purchase order a long while back, and then we wouldn't be in this mess. He seems to be holding off for a good asking price and won't do anything with the land until he gets said price and knows the ball's in his court, so he can afford to hold off. And consider the restrictions that would be placed on such a development given the fact it's in the conservation area.
Failing that, the council might simply not want to commit any cash into buying it. Again, for reasons unknown. Maybe there's some sort of sticking point which would mean they couldn't sell it on to a developer.
Then again, they spent a fair whack on Porth Eirias, and while I don't consider it to be the architectural monstrosity others deem it to be, it seems to make little sense to invest so much cash into a potential attraction, only to not have the larger part of the tenders sorted out by opening time. If they have the money to build such a large installation and then not have facilities inside to ensure that it's generating revenue, then they must have some money to spend on the pier pavilion.
I know Llandudno is never going back to that old heyday of the classic British seaside town with numerous attractions and venues for entertainment. And even if the old theater hadn't burnt down, we'd probably all be here urging people to do something with the building, rather than an empty patch of land. Times have changed and tastes have changed with them, and Llandudno's ethos as a tourist town will have to change too.
But it seems a shame to let a site as potentially useful as the Pier Pavilion place linger and fall victim to weeds and dilapidation. I mean, from the moment you come over Penrhyn Hill in to Llandudno, that end of the town is the most obvious draw to tourists (notwithstanding all the attractions of shopping in town nor the natural beauty and long sandy beaches of the West Shore, of course). The prom leads to it; the Great Orme overshadows it, and the pier is the slap-bang eyecatcher - it blends all the best things that the North Shore has to offer.
This is why people are infuriated with the speed it's taking and especially with the fact that we never seem to hear anything about it. Don't get me wrong - I love the forum and everything it has to offer, but we often have to rely on snatches of conversations with councillors, managers, officers, owners, legislators or similar "Big-Hitters"; and chaps like DaveR have to go digging. Or we all have to resort to speculation if anyone who even looks a bit like a developer, or someone with a hard hat, is seen stood around the site.
The thing is - this is important! Members of the public shouldn't have to go digging around with this. Nor should we have to rely on speculation. There should be reasonably frequent updates from the council or groups such as Mostyn Estates on what's going on.
Under such a system, if there were no updates, we would be able to pretty darn accurately presume that nothing's going on, and demand that someone else be brought in to take a look at it. A damned site better than the "wheels within wheels, legal wrangles, behind the scenes, cloak and dagger, ooh we can't quite move on it yet, we're in talks with the owner" stuff with which we currently have to deal.
If there's nothing that can be done with it, surely the council should come out and tell us as such? If they've exhausted all the options - fine! We would of course be disappointed, but we could then at least say "Hell, poor buggers tried their best - can't knock them for at least trying.", and then we'd be able to move on to something else, or have the authority focus its resources on another important project.
And what's even more infuriating is the fact that this could be said about practically any other one of the developments or eyesore sites around town.