Mike Bell and the TropicanaWatch team want three key things for the future of the Tropicana site:
- Real action to get the Tropicana re-opened
- A swimming pool at the heart of any redevelopment
- A local solution with local people and local ideas put first
REAL ACTION
The Tropicana has been closed since 2000. Two different private sector companies have been selected by North Somerset Council to redevelop the site in that time and nothing has been done. 
In seven years no-one has even obtained planning permission for any project. After the collapse of the Mace Estates scheme, the Council should have listened to the public and gone for a simpler, taxpayer funded scheme that could have been finished by now.
Whatever happens, it is vital we get real action and get the Tropicana open again. Though Mike Bell and the TropicanaWatch team don’t support the Henry Boot scheme, we want action more than anything else. So we will continue to monitor the project to make sure that Henry Boot and the Council keep their promises to local people.
A SWIMMING POOL
Weston-super-Mare needs better swimming facilities, especially for tourists. Talk to almost any local resident and they want the Tropicana re-opened as a year round swimming pool with a roof. Simple isn’t it?
Something altogether more elaborate is on offer and we mustn’t take our eye off the ball - we need a swimming pool. The swimming pool should not be a token element, it should be the whole project. Mike Bell and TropicanaWatch will continue to campaign to a bigger, better pool.A LOCAL SOLUTION
Henry Boot Developments are based in Sheffield and Life Property in London. They have no connection with Weston-super-Mare and are only interested in the Tropicana as a way to make money for their shareholders.
Mike Bell and TropicanaWatch want local people to have their say on the Tropicana and for those views to be listened to. The Council consulted the public in 2005 and ignored what they said. Henry Boot are now consulting on their plans - but will they really listen?
Local businessmen like Richard Nightingale and the Rod Brenner have put forward ideas and expressed a willingness to work with the council to get the Tropicana open again. They have been ignored and ridiculed.
It’s time that North Somerset Council started listening to local views on the Tropicana and offered a real local solution. We’ll be making sure local people are kept in touch and get the FACTS on the Tropicana scheme.
TROPICANA TIMELINES - A BIT OF HISTORY
The Tropicana closed in 2000 and following a tendering exercise, Mace Estates were selected as the private sector developer to take a project forward.
In November 2001, council chiefs promised that the new Tropicana would be “virtually open by Christmas 2003″.
In November 2003, February 2004, March 2004 and September 2004, North Somerset Council gave Mace Estates more time to come up with a plan.
In November 2004, Mace Estates withdrew from the project and North Somerset Council approved another marketing campaign and public consultation on options to report back by end of June 2005.
In June 2005, North Somerset Council selected the Henry Boot/Life Property scheme selected as its preferred development (only 11% of the public responding to the consultation supported this scheme).
A scheme to build a covered pool funded by the taxpayer and through possible off-setting development was rejected, even though 60% of the public responding to the consultation had supported this option.
In November 2005, North Somerset Council noted the proposed draft Heads of Terms (contract) lease with Henry Boot and in February 2006, the Council agreed Heads of Terms with Henry Boot.
In January 2007, North Somerset Council approved the Development Agreement with Henry Boot.
In September 2007, Henry Boot were given more time to submit a planning application and were set a new target date of February 2008.
