Excuse me I've been away on holiday , on the island of Mallorca, a favorite of mine' arriving home at the weekend was a rude shock given the drop in temperature.
Catching up on local media things were pretty much the same as they had been two weeks earlier, three million pounds is even less likely to be repaid following the Transeuropa debacle , and still officers, politicians have yet to resign or even say sorry.
Sunday I thought I would go for a cycle, not wishing to be tough on Margate my journey on the bicycle did seem to be lacking in several ways one of which was the heat and secondly the vista, groups of noisy young men guzzling cans of lager was not as therapeutic as palm trees and brilliant blue seas.
Near the Lido I turned of up toward Northdown Rd, cycling through Dalby Square, and was pleased to see new housing, which in my view now compliments Dalby Square, which if I recall rightly was supported by Thanet conservatives.
A rat infested site containing a derelict hotel has been transformed by building of new homes in the area, and the thought occurred, why hasn't Labour boss and local council leader Clive Hart had his usual photo opportunity and then I recalled how the labour party, had, led by Clive Hart gone all nimby and decided to fight this development even though it as I understand provides affordable housing. ( around the same time they also took an opportunist anti jobs stance against Manston)
I only mention this having read a letter from Clive Hart in the Gazette, claiming that he cares about local residents, as you might expect I found this almost as sincere as his recent endorsement of Will Scobie as a parliamentary candidate, thinking if he was so confident in Will's ability why wasn't he part of Thanet councils front bench taking the place of one of the dinosaurs.
Still let's not be to harsh, Clive Hart commands there same respect as Ed Milliband does at national level, which is er....
PS Well done to Cllr Driver and ECR for continuing to expose the ineptitude of those involved in the TransEuropa fiasco.
Call that a cycle ride? You should've at least go as far as Joss Bay (or Minnis Bay in the other direction), you might even be impressed!
ReplyDeleteThe objection to the terrace you show in your picture is that it was built on the top green that had been handed over to the Dalby Square project (a community group). This agreement was torn up and the land gifted to the housing association. This green was never part of the Warren Court hotel. The Square was deprived of a much used green space into which much community effort was focused.
ReplyDeleteThe redevelopment of Warren Court is to be applauded, the councils behaviour in respect of the green and its subsequent development is not.
Whilst superficially similar the architectural details are of poor quality and design, given the land was gifted and much public money was used to subsidise the development greater effort would have been desirable given the plans for the rest of the Square. It would also have been nice if the door numbers followed those of the square rather than being reversed.
Oh please spare us the sob story, Anon. There is a fully equipped children's playground and green within a few yards of Dalby Square.
DeleteWhat a pitiful reply 19 46, the green space referred to has supplied much needed housing in a very overcrowded area, which as we all know resulted from labours negligent national policy of encouraging mass migration of Europe's poorest people in an unplanned experiment which a few honest members of recent labour governments have since apologised.
DeleteThe suggestion that children have been deprived is also erroneous since the square also still contains a well equipped playground in addition to the much larger one on the adjacent Clift top.
The reality is that labour took a mean & nasty calculated decision, to back a nimby view and fought hard to prevent much needed social housing. Shameful but I think true.
Apologies Allan, not written as a sob story just a different view of the situation, why grant an 80 year lease and tear it up and why give a prime development site away for nothing in the current economic situation. I was also just correcting the original article in that the terrace shown was not built on the site of the Warren Court hotel.
ReplyDeleteAllmthe best
Tony, i referred to a loss of community green space, nothing more. My understanding was that there was no objection to the development of the Warren Court site, the use of the green was the issue. As to the area being short of housing, I believe TDC estimate there are 800 empty residential units in cliftonville.
ReplyDeleteI am too well aware of the negative impact of mass migration, i took a gamble and moved to dalby square in '99 and the area improved for a few years, before declining rapidly, i left in '07.
What are your views on the councils long battle to close the Leslie hotel , only to move the problem to Edgar Road by using the Glenwood hotel formthe same purpose?
Regards
Sorry my comments were really replying to the bogus reasons Labour gave in objecting to the project at the tie it was proposed.
DeleteIn fairness Thanet council are I imagine overwhelmed Margate has immense problems directly as a result of Labours failure to protect this countries interests.
Clearly strategic thinking is in short supply at TDC which is why they gave away over three million to what was an insolvent company, not even have taken the most elementary attempt to secure the debt. Business and Thanet Council dont mix!
The ferry search has begun or will do in the next few months so should only be a year or two of the port being derelict?
ReplyDeleteWhile Thanet council are at it. How about they search for a new chief executive to replace Sue Mcgonical, maybe a new legal bod who is more helpful than the current, also could someone tell me why local party leaders Clive and Bob have not had their bottoms kicked (not really a mystery just go to council meeting and count the sheep!)
Delete