Thank you for signing the #DigUpDeva petition – our count online and on paper currently stands at circa 18,000 signatures – an impressive feat indeed. You may have signed this petition because you are passionate about uncovering Chester Amphitheatre, you may have signed because you want to save Dee House from becoming another hotel or more student flats, you may have signed simply because whatever the outcome of this important historical site, you feel that as a member of the public you deserve to be consulted. Whatever your personal reason for signing, it is important that you recognise that first and foremost the purpose of this petition is to get CWAC Council to listen, and to ask that they hold a proper public consultation – the petition will therefore be presented to them this Thursday 8th September at 6pm at CWAC HQ, requesting a properly publicised period of public consultation regarding the future of the Dee House / Chester Amphitheatre site. During the span of this petition we have sent out a number of updates and have slightly tweaked the wording of the petition letter, the main aims and who it is to be presented to etc as more info has been gathered. In order to remain open, honest and fair we would like to offer you the chance to remove your name from the petition before we present it. Should you no longer support our aim to have CWAC Council grant a period of public consultation on the future of the Chester Amphitheatre / Dee House site, you may remove your signature from the petition by referring to your original email confirmation from change.org, which you will have received after you signed this petition. In order for us to collate data ready for the call in, if you wish to remove your signature from the petition then please ensure you do so before 12 noon tomorrow, Wednesday 7th September. The full petition text as it stands today is given below. A summary of this text, backed up with some simple facts and figures will be given vocally at the call in on Thursday 8th September. If you want to attend the call in on Thursday 8th September, it will be held at CWAC HQ at 6pm. We encourage you to come along and show support for this campaign, but please keep in mind that everyone should remain peaceful and respectful at all times and that this is not an opportunity for ideas for the development of the site to be put forward – that will come later if we are successful on Thursday and persuade the Council that the public deserve to be properly consulted on the future of this historical site. ________________________________________________________________ Our petition now stands at circa 18,000 signatures, collected via an online petition at change.org and paper petitions signed at Chester Amphitheatre itself and at many Chester businesses. We feel that the public have not been fairly consulted on the future of the full Chester Amphitheatre site and Dee House which stands on top of it. The current proposal to lease Dee House to developers removes any chance of Chester Amphitheatre being uncovered for at least another fifteen decades. Many of the signees of this petition would like to see the crumbling Dee House de-listed and either demolished or relocated and rebuilt elsewhere - allowing for the excavation of as much of the full circle Amphitheatre as possible and a reconstruction showcasing Chester’s rich Roman history. Other signees would be happy to see the listed Georgian Dee House renovated into a visitors’ centre, museum or similar, something worthy of being the back drop to the already excavated half of the Amphitheatre. All signees agree that the public deserve to be consulted properly and all circa 18,000 signees are in agreement that this site is not the right place for another hotel, more student accommodation or another office block. The signatures on the petition represent Cestrians born and bred, business owners in Chester and surrounding areas, employees within the city and tourists and shoppers visiting Chester from every corner of the globe. Chester is a place for Cestrians to be proud of and a fabulous, one of a kind attraction such as a part or fully reconstructed Amphitheatre would make the city a must-see destination again. The many empty shops would once again be filled as new business is drawn to the city centre rather than to Cheshire Oaks or Broughton Park. The city of Chester has a rich heritage which cities around the world, never mind the UK, can only dream of having. We must utilise every drop of this history to draw in crowds which in turn will bring new money to the city, new businesses and more employment opportunities. The millions of pounds required to make Dee House safe again after the neglect it has faced since the last fire some twenty years ago, would obviously require any interested developer to ensure a maximum return on investment - currently in Chester the quickest way to see a return would be via student accommodation, recent developments within the city would also point towards another hotel or office blocks being the next choices for developers, but as we all know, a hotel today can easily become student flats tomorrow. Chester needs a draw to boost tourism within the city, with the new theatre on the way, now is the time to maximise and make the city something really special. Since the petition began, passions have run high regarding the future of the site with lots of ideas, not just an excavated amphitheatre, being put forward by signees - for example a visitors’ centre much like the Jorvik Centre in York, a full or part replica amphitheatre for use during public events, a museum showcasing Chester’s heritage and far more ideas all of which deserve proper consideration. A cursory look at funding options for such purportedly bold projects shows lottery heritage funding to be a possible resource of capital for the City of Chester, along with crowd-source-funding and private investment from interested parties – bottom line though is that without a proper period of consultation we will never fully know the options available for this site. To leave discoveries like the remainder of the Amphitheatre for future generations to unearth seems illogical to most; even if there is very little of the original Amphitheatre left, there must be something and to turn the building on top of it into a hotel or student flats for the next 150 years removes the possibility of having a reconstructed or replica whole Amphitheatre as the romans themselves intended, for generations of Cestrians to enjoy. If Dee House is not de-listed then turning it into more hotels, flats or offices is not making the most of it as an historical protected building in its own right. Incorporating Dee House into an attraction adjacent to a reconstructed full Amphitheatre, featuring a museum and historical tours, events and shows, would. We implore that the members of CWAC Council act in the best interests of the City of Chester and the circa 18,000 signatories of the petition being presented today, and vote to allow a full and fair period of public consultation on this proposal. - END.