Dust gathers on Thanet Jewel

Saturday with an idle moment, I thought like many I’d go walkies, which if we had a dog on the staff here at Flaig mansions would be a more frequent occurrence.

Still the idea of having a dog, which would impose its own exercise regime has never appealed, nor has the idea of carrying a bag of steaming hot dog poo, still judging by the amount of dog doo around these parts it doesn’t bother many owners either.

Any how in common with many, there are two destinations for a walk, the seafront or park. I chose park, Northdown Park, as it happens, but once again a visit is tinged with the thought, just what the hell have TDC done to this great asset and in particular the House.

Of course, the answer is nothing, I understand that temporarily there has been a fudge, since the ruling Tory group, got acquainted with the affection local people have for Northdown House.

Now the council made a lot of noise about the cost of maintaining the property of which there is slim evidence but when eventually they were kind enough to send details of costs of running the property, which to be honest are well fairly meaningless since the only figures they have relate to a fee they pay to Thanet Leisure Force and some meagre maintenance that last year came to around 50 grand, figures for income earned are with TLF and likely to remain a mystery.

The point of all this, well I feel that the money they’ve spent on running Northdown House is fairly small and its time the council got off their bottoms and got this building back into use for the public benefit, in a positive way rather than the grudging way they’ve handle things thus far.

I didn’t have the chance to go to the consultation they had in December, but from what I can glean they had no idea and no vision for the House which is a blooming disgrace.

As far as I can tell Thanet council over the years has neglected this and other properties, and despite the buildings listed status seems content to ignore its responsibility for the proper upkeep.