DOROTHEA

[Paul Beal]

MarK,

It is very interesting to know your parents live near Dotty, I am not sure if you know the answer to this question or not.

There are sometimes people who are (or some idiot posing as) local posting on the UKdiving Dotty message board saying that divers are not welcome and they should go away, stop driving past locals houses etc etc. Is this the real opinion locally or is that attitude part of the bullshit and hot air that mostly circulates on that message board?

Very interested! I don't usually believe anything posted over there, but that sort of thing always gets me thinking!

Paul

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Paul,

That particular area of North Wales is not exactly renowned for welcoming outsiders - the sort of place where you walk into the pub and the darts stop in mid air. It's a bloody ridiculous attitude because without tourism they'd have nothing - there's no real industry left. However, those attitudes will not die, which is why North Wales is still firmly planted somewhere in the mid-seventies.

That was perhaps Small's biggest crime - he is English. Yes, he was driven by commercial interest and landfill is rather exploitative, yet his plans were to extensively landscape the area in parkland after completing the fill, which would have made it far more attractive than the massive slag heaps that are there currently. At the moment the Nantle valley has to be the ugliest place in all of Snowdonia. Apart from the extra work it would have brought to an area suffering unemployment around 25% it would have vastly improved the valley for everyone to enjoy. I do object to landfill, and it's a shame that the slag couldn't be cleared some other way, but I do wonder if the plans would have met such fervent opposition if they had been proposed by a local.

So to answer your question, is there a lot of bad feeling towards the divers visiting Dotty? Not particularly, they hate everyone else in equal measure!

[Paul Beal]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Not particularly, they hate everyone else in equal measure!

That is a fantastic quote, can we start a YD quote of the month competition?

It is very suprising that the possibility of inward investment is so badly shunned. I am not sure a dive centre would create a huge amount of jobs, but I am sure it would do something for the area.

Cheers for the insight into &quot;local&quot; north Wales!

Paul

[peter k]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Mark Davies @ Jan. 20 2004,00:43)]I do object to landfill, and it's a shame that the slag couldn't be cleared some other way,

Fill the quarry with it. No slag and no dangerous quarry anymore.

Peter

[Tim Ingmire]

Or part fill it. &nbsp;Less slag and nice dive site which is made 'safer'.

[Paul Beal]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Or part fill it. &nbsp;Less slag and nice dive site which is made 'safer'.

This has been suggested before and I think is a very good idea. NDC is 80m deep and they have (hopefully) got insurance for diving there, I guess it could potentially be the same for Dotty. The 100m+ area is fairly small compared to the rest of the quarry IIRC, so it wouldn't even mean filling a large part of the quarry.

Would the endangered newts be &quot;endangered&quot; by this sort of work though - is the newt thing actually true? There are newts in there, but not sure if they are the great crested newt which I thought was the endangered one??

Paul

[Chardy]

<font color='#FF0000'>The NDC have insurance and from what I understand it ain't cheap, I run PADI courses there and the site has been developed with the full consultation of the HSE. Neil and Keirion who run the centre at the NDC, are technical divers who have spend a lot of time putting safety measures in place e.g. Rescue boat, trapeze, oxygen on the pontoons etc The chamber on site was there with emergencies in mind.
I know people talk about setting up Dotty as a site but the level of investment required is huge and it is a long term return so it requires someone with patience as well as deep pockets and then they would want to charge divers and people would moan about that.

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Mark Davies @ Jan. 20 2004,00:43)]....and it's a shame that the slag couldn't be cleared some other way....

Err...Just precisely who is this 'slag'; and why might she need 'clearing away' when she could be accommodated on a YD gig??  

I'll get my reclaimed coat...

[JohnK]

Hers a link

http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news....d=50142

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Err...Just precisely who is this 'slag'; and why might she need 'clearing away' when she could be accommodated on a YD gig??

She could be a &quot;local&quot; slag for the sole use of the &quot;local&quot; people.

Simon