paulob1

so the plan was to reapply for the museum and try to change the councils planning departments mind. We think that is highly unlikely and will cost another £15,000 pounds, plus for yet another refusal. So I have decided to drop all the planning work. I can open 28 days a year and that is what I will do...it wont be the place I want and the visual impact of loads of tanks plane trucks and other stuff dotted about by them will be far greater than the visual impact of the building I was planning so hopefully in a couple of years when we reapply we will have proven the need, proven the demand, proven the sustainability and then with a nice new building we can tidy up the site to make it much more amenable in the rural area...if not then it just caries on as is...

1st May 2021, this will be the museums opening weekend. Watch this space for details and the facebook page #theironcurtainmuseum

currently my life is a rush and I am dropping the ball a lot, did a quiz too quickly and got it wrong, never get them wrong...just too distracted with so many things going on but yes tony I will go with your answer...

oops yes didn't really take any notice...

Brilliant pictures re wolfgang...love the chieftain alongside...I am looking for copies of peoples memorabilia of BAOR. If anyone has photos and can copy it or me..

yes Agree...its the only way forward at the moment. Once the museum is established hopefully we will see a softening of this rather pathetic attitude...

you are not far from the truth here...the people who live in Beech are exactly those kinds of people, not here but happy for it to be somewhere else...the local MP wont even talk to me, wont meet me and wont engage at any level...it just shows how prejudice overpowers many of those in positions of authority... Naafi van is exactly the way I plan to go, it wont be on anywhere near the scale I wanted it to me and it will be weather dependant but the museum will now open...but there is a lot more fighting to go on with...

Dont worry guys, this was expected, i have all the reasons now to address them and will put in a followup application addressing all the points and this is free of charge. I will also start the appeal. I will also be opening 28 days a year on the 1st May 2021 so its all going to happen...not quite how I wanted it to be but it will be a load of items in a field and a few containers and tents...bit of a mess but it is going to open...May bank holiday will be the official opening of the museum...i just hope as many of you can attend as possible...

its very true Andy but I do feel that if your face fits you get it if it doesn't you don't. its a complete farce and the government should change the system, there is no independent adjudication and they the idiotic kids who get into planning think they are gods...and ineffect they are when it comes to your own home, they control what you can and cant do and its on their say so,,,its ridiculous...he can simply muck me about for months, as he has before, he knows an appeal will take 8 months to complete...he is a complete time waste of space and a joke. How he sleeps at night with everyone hating him I have no idea..

We are close to a decision, the museum is coming to its first hurdle, the planning officer is trying to make sure I can not open the museum now or ever but we have him and he knows it. I will be able to open the museum 28 days a year, but to be honest that is not what I want, they will just be hulks sitting in the field with non of the exhibition material or videos or library or cafe or kiddy play areas, or anything that I wanted to introduce to make it a very special occasion...I am not that interested in opening a mediocre museum...I want this museum to be special...I am however looking at Florida as a possible new location, it will cost me a fortune but I can open the museum with little or no problems and not have to put up with the idiocy of a young lad who treats planning decisions as his personal right to screw people about if he doesn't like them...he is basically sitting on another application because we will not do what he wants by changing the details so he is refusing to agree it, effectively blackmailing us into accepting a reduction in site boundary so he can reduce the area I can store my goods already agreed in a previous planning application...but we are wise to his plans and we have refused so he is sitting on the application and refusing to determine it. we will have to go to appeal which will take 8 months ...it does not bode well for the museum application itself if he is going to these lengths to try and blackmail us into changing a basic planning application for a rebuilding of an existing barn...its ludicrous and there is very little anyone can do about it, the power that planners wield is immense...

if you use a commercial firm it will cost significant amounts of cash, to do it I need a number of volunteers and a number of knowledgeable paid staff and some of my own team.....but transport costs will always be big crane hire a pain but all in all not too bad...

I am not known for giving up once I am on a project...

its completely bereft of anything only trouble...it has been stripped bare inside...

this is a nice plane to have at the museum. moving it must be a bigger task than the Victor...

I am looking at it, initial inspection done full survey next but to be fair its not in bad condition at all...the real issue is the planning department is doing everything it can to stop me doing the museum and whilst opening 28 days a year is possible its a bit of a pain. I can store it at my place but it will never move again if it comes to me.

So we have had some more good news, the plane was stripped and wings off when they took it to marham, this means it has been apart at some stage and it looks like we are going to get some pictures of it apart, this will help immensely, it also looks like the plane has had sand bags placed in the hull not concrete so this too will make life a good deal easier...on this trip we will inspect the jacking points and other such structural features...if the jacking points are gone then we have our first major hurdle...

I m off to see the handley Page Victor on monday the 9th...I am hopeful, it is ideal for the iron curtain museum and that we can win the bid..not sure of timescales as of yet but likely we need to spend a few weeks really assessing what can and cannot be removed...I am concerned about the tons of concrete in its body, there to hold it down I understand but I really don't need to be transporting a few tons of concrete if I dont have to...we may have no choice...unladen dry she weights about 40 tons...as she is I have no idea, the engines and gubbins are 10 tons and they are not there, the interior has been stripped out of must things of value I am assuming another 10 tons of equipment...so the plane is likely to be around 30 tons as is plus the concrete...of that we have no idea...very excited

my estimate is 1.5 tons per set...all collected now so no panic...

question is in the heading...anyone know how much they weigh...

good idea, we have teamed up with the Royalsignals museum and are hoping the REME museum may support us if I can get to them at some stage...

Jon I tried to join that site and I seem to be in some sort of stupid loop and it wont let me in... yes it would be a great idea...could you mention to someone I am trying to log in and cannot register

I am not saint but if I ever did that I would never sleep for the rest of my life.....I cannot believe such things happen, even though a 106 agreement is basically a legal form of bribery...

Its another fight I really don't want to have...I just want to bring my museum to the world...museums are closing all over the place, no money coming in, I am investing a lot of money into this museum and all I get is trouble...the only way to have a museum is to own the land own the artefacts. I will not owe anyone anything...that means even if no one comes to the museum it will stay alive...I am sure people will come but it doesn't need millions to survive.. I am not trying to build houses and line my pocket, I am not trying to turn it into a business park and line my pocket I am not trying to line my pocket full stop...if I did I would sell all my stuff and line my pocket and get on with life...I am not doing that...i am investing in something for the people...at times it seems like I am wasting my time...

it doesn't seem to work like that sadly, overwhelming support for it does not mean a thing...it all depends upon the merits of the proposal I cannot see why it would fail as we have policy on side and much more but these planners are a strange bunch and don't really give the true reasons. my experience is that they are generally decent people but this one is particularly anti my good self and has refused everything i have asked for, he left for a few months and all my applications went through...his coming back is not good news, but he has approved the barn rebuilding, apparently reluctantly, reasons he doesn't like the design...its not his barn its mine...but we think he knows at appeal he would lose so he has let it go through...he is an arrogant and ignorant (the cold war is not his era) individual that wants to be treated like he is god...he just swans up and walks onto my land, he has the right in his investigations but normally people say they are coming, common courtesy, not this guy he just strolls up and away he goes...its difficult but I will likely be going to appeal if he refuses. I cannot see why they would refuse, especially if they give them the caravan parking next door...its very emotional stuff..

i never cease to be amazed at the level of support this forum gives...we would all be stuck without the people on here...