Thanet District council capitulate over Dreamland
Thanet District council have announced a major step forward for Margate's regeneration. What a surprise that the council will be the bending over backwards for developers at the Dreamland site. The news item on their website, says it all, firstly they acknowledge working closely with the Margate Renewal Partnership (this is an organisation set up by SEEDA), next they refer to working closely with key stakeholders as they should, although their idea of a stakeholder, is not quite what it would seem.
Just shooting off at a tangent, the term stakeholder, is one of those of new labour sort of words, which sounds good but in actual fact means anything and nothing. If you thought you, as a local resident and or contributor to local taxes, were a key stakeholder think again, in Sandy Ezekiel's administration key stakeholders are SEEDA (South East England development agency) Kent County Council, English partnerships (more unelected civil servants), and the save Dreamland campaign (who seemed to have given up the fight).
Anyway it looks like without waiting for Waterbridge, to submit their grim plans for yet another housing estate, Thanet planning authorities will be making life even easier for developers once again by tampering with the your local plan.
Thanet Council are now encouraging more housing, and by going along with the so called heritage plan for Dreamland site, I am convinced that any so called heritage amusement park will fail, and will a few years down the road become just another phase of residential property development. You only have to have, visited the site last year to see how to sink a fun park.
It'll be interesting to see how much support, Kent regional newspapers (Isle Of Thanet Gazette), give this news since they are heavily reliant on advertising from Thanet District council, as well as doing a little bit for the Margate Town centre regeneration company.
About the only concession Thanet council are not making is renaming Margate as Reading-on-sea.
Read Thanet District councils miserable news posting click here
I'm with you on this dreadful idea for a 'heritage theme park'. Nick Laister (head Dreamlander from, er, Wantage) must think all his Christmas's have come at once as someone who's into funfair history, but it's doomed as you rightly say.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for turning Margate front into a semi-pedestrianised zone, the words that come to mind are 'nail' and 'coffin'.