Richard Burgess has agreed to become a Member of the Board.
Many of you will know something of Richard’s service record with the old Weymouth & Portland Borough Council. However, we set out below some key points.
- Richard was a professional town planner and worked in Derby, Exeter and Harrogate before coming to Weymouth as Chief Planning Officer in 1990.
- He was subsequently promoted to Director of Environmental Services in 1998 and served in that role until 2009.
- On retiral from the Council he lectured in Town Planning at the University of the West of England for 18 months before returning to practice as a planning consultant in the South Dorset area.
Those are the ‘bare bones’ of Richard career. It should however be emphasised that during his period of leadership at WPBC the Borough was going through a period of profound change. Richard was personally involved in many of the key projects in that period. Those he remembers most fondly are:
- ❖ Getting the Town Centre redevelopment back on the rails with a new developer brought in and such features as and Cineworld being attracted to the town
❖ Regenerating the Inner Harbour with the Dean and Reddyhoff Marina, the provision of a new harbourside walkway and various developments of harbourside flats.
❖ The provision of a new Council Depot at Chickerell replacing the old depot on Westway Road and enabling that side of the harbour to be regenerated.
❖ The Preston Beach Wall scheme in partnership with the Environment Agency
On Portland too the wind of change was blowing. Richard was heavily involved with the transition from the old Naval Base to Portland Port – and indeed with the ‘saving’ of the Boscawen Sports Centre for the community (he is now a director of the Trust that runs it).
Similarly, the closure of the Naval Air Station and its redevelopment to create the National Sailing Academy, Portland Marina and Osprey Quay Business Park were all done during his period of office.
Last but not least he was responsible guiding the provision of the ‘Spirit of Portland’ Sculpture on the hill overlooking Chiswell.
