The Earl of Ilchester owned the majority of the land around West Cliff, and before the Great War there were no houses at all here apart from the thatched farmhouse that still survives, with its sheep and cattle keeping the Victorian golfers company.

To cater for those who wished to live a seaside life, the impressive row of three- and four-storey houses that form Pier Terrace beside the East Pier was completed in 1882, and it is tempting to wonder whether the plans for them faced the same mixed reception from residents that Quay West has received in recent years…

After the Great War, three entrepreneurs named Glenning, Guppy and Trevett bought the land from the Earl where the lower Estate has now been built, and after putting up houses for themselves sold plots on for other people to develop. With each sale went covenants to ensure that the roads and drains (of which the three retained ownership as Trustees) would be maintained properly through a levy on all house owners to cover essential repairs. These covenants are still in force today on the lower Estate, with the roads and common areas held by Trustees on behalf of the Association.

The next phase of development in 1961 saw the extension of the Estate further up West Cliff Road. The Trustees agreed to give the prospective developers (Calverleys) access to this site via the existing lower West Cliff Road, on condition that similar maintenance covenants were imposed on the new house owners as were already in place for those on the old Estate. Unfortunately, Calverleys went into receivership before formally agreeing to this, and the builder that took on the development refused to agree to impose the same conditions upon its customers. This leaves each house owner in the 1961 development in West Cliff Road technically responsible for the maintenance of his or her own frontage.

In the early 1970s, T. A. Fisher & Co (Builders) developed the final phase on the West Cliff Estate (apart from some in-filling) by constructing Brit View Road and the upper part of West Walk. The residents in this area have different covenants, in which there is no mechanism for collecting money for repairs to the Estate infrastructure. This was due to the fact that until 2008 the roads and drains remained in the ownership of T.A. Fisher’s successor company, and were nominally their responsibility. The Association took over ownership of Brit View Road and the majority of upper West Walk (see map) from Fishers in 2008 after negotiations that had extended over more than five years, thereby regularising the position whereby the WCHOA had performed necessary maintenance in the absence of any contribution by the builder.

 The result of this piecemeal development has been that there are actually three kinds of property:

 ·        those on the old (lower) estate below the post box, where collecting maintenance payments from residents is backed by covenant

·        those on the 1961 extension to West Cliff Road where the frontagers are technically responsible for their own maintenance (See map)

·        those on the upper Estate where the responsibility for the roads, verges, paths and main sewers now lies with the WCHOA

The original Trustees sold the lower Estate roads and verges to the House Owners’ Association in 1974. Since then the Association has maintained them along with the newer roads (without prejudice or commitment as long as the residents in the newer roads pay the yearly subscription). To simplify the administration, an annual subscription is collected from all 130 properties on the Estate and applied by the Committee to those repairs that are the most urgent.

There has, from time to time, been a suggestion from some residents that the Committee should approach Dorset County Council to take over the ownership of our roads. This has been fiercely resisted by the majority of residents, on the grounds that the cost of bringing the roads up to a minimum residential standard would be prohibitive, that it would lead to parking by day trippers on the Estate or (even worse) no-parking restrictions imposed everywhere, and (with the removal of the lower gate) a very heavy traffic flow.