As of: March 27, 2024, 2:00 p.m
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
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A picture from the past: Here you can still see the original, thatched huts.
The roofs were later boarded up and some of the sculptures were rotten.
© arp
The Kochl local council has now decided to end the Wickie film set village “Flake” on Lake Walchensee.
The two remaining huts will also be removed.
The area will become a swimming area again.
Walchensee - Kochel's new mayor Jens Müller (UWK) implemented one of his projects on Tuesday and invited people to a public council meeting at the Gasthof Edeltraut in Walchensee.
There was great interest; around 70 people came.
On the agenda were a number of topics affecting the district, especially the future of “Flake”.
As reported, some Walchense residents collected signatures last June and gained 318 supporters.
They demanded that “Flake” no longer be maintained.
The only film set village was closed at this time because the TÜV had found a lack of road safety requirements.
This was followed by an emotionally charged local council meeting in July, in which a majority decided to retain only part of the huts and to design the freed-up space as a bathing area, based on a concept from the Walchensee tourist association.
At the time, Mayor Thomas Holz (CSU) was very committed to not completely demolishing “Flake”.
Müller: Discussion like in July 2023 “should never happen in this form again”
Müller now told the local council that nothing had progressed in this matter in the past few months.
It is very important to him to take up the topic again, “because this is where the problem is.”
The discussion back in July “went wrong.
“The nerves were on edge,” said Müller.
“This must never happen in this form again.” Müller praises the concept of the tourist association and board member Klaus Melf.
There have now been discussions with him, “also about the emotional state”, on site.
Melf was also invited to the building committee and was allowed to speak there.
Numerous listeners came to the Edeltraut inn on Tuesday when the Kochl local council (front in the picture) held a meeting there.
There were a few local topics on the agenda.
© Mühlbauer
Renovation will be very expensive
The fact is that a renovation of the two remaining huts would cost around 25,000 euros, said Müller. In addition, there would be the redesign of the bathing area with trees and benches.
“That will also be expensive.” There is also a completely different fact: the approval for the huts was revoked in 2009.
The decision states that the original condition of the square must be restored if “there is no longer any serious activity” in the film set village.
This is because, according to building regulations, it is an outdoor area and nature conservation requirements apply.
“The purpose was to preserve and present a film set in its entirety,” says Müller.
“Flake” no longer has any meaning for tourism
Kochler Tourism boss Daniel Weickel was also present at the meeting.
“The creed back then was to definitely preserve the huts and the village,” he said, referring to the meeting last July.
Professionally, he was “obliged to justify the added value for tourism”.
In fact, “Flake” no longer plays a role in tourism and is no longer advertised.
A lot of things were rotten, had fallen over and had not been restored true to the original, such as the thatch on the roofs.
The children's tours were always well attended, says Weickel.
“But once you saw it, you never came back.” The tourist information office is happy that they no longer have to support the Viking market.
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Local councils find maintenance too expensive
The local councilors had different opinions in their discussion.
“Everything has its time,” said Frank Sommerschuh (FW) from Walchensee.
“In 2009 it was an eye-catcher, really great with the decoration and the observation tower.
But you can't attract tourists with two huts.
And I suspect that the infrastructure costs will continue to haunt us.” For him, it is not worth spending more than 50,000 euros to maintain two huts.
Reinhard Dollrieß (FW) from Walchensee, who, like Sommerschuh, supported the signature campaign at the time, made a similar statement: “The most important criterion for me is the will of the citizens.
95 percent want a bathing place again.” Sonja Mayer (center) also said that the money would be better used to make the bathing place nice.
“Of course, Viking-shaped changing rooms would have charm, but not for this price.” Especially if the parts are no longer originals from the film.
Support for tourist association
Hans Resenberger (CSU), on the other hand, said he did not want to vote against the tourist association, which had given a lot of thought to the future of “Flake” at the time.
Eduard Pfleger (Young List) argued similarly.
And Markus Greiner (JL) said: “It's a shame that more hasn't been made of 'Flake' in all these years.” With these three dissenting votes, it was then decided to demolish the remaining two huts.
“The area will be renatured and made more attractive as a family swimming pool, partially based on the tourist association’s concept,” the resolution states.
“The sculptures and art objects worth preserving should be included in the attractiveness.”
Klaus Melf, board member of the tourist association, does not want to comment further on the subject, he said on Wednesday when asked by our newspaper.
The group that collected signatures last summer is satisfied with the decision: “We are also pleased with how objectively the discussion has now been conducted,” said spokeswoman Julia Schuster, adding: “Now there should be peace again.”