CLAMPING IN LIDO AND DREAMLAND - A SEASIDE RIP-OFF?

Some readers may have spotted the item on BBC South East today about the chap camping in his clamped car on The Lido Car Park, Clifftonville,  to stop Barry Dawson and his team at Clamp Down Security Services (CSS) moving the car and upping the bill the poor beggar could not pay, let alone the £120 to get the clamp off.

A 'Strife' member popped down to do a 'soup run' at 7.30pm to talk and take pics and discovered the car empty of its owner but still clamped. Will Barry Dawson move it over-night?

Readers might be familiar with Your Thanet highlighting problems at Dreamland a few weeks ago with most parking ticket machines wrapped up in bin-liners and apparently out of service and hapless victims, unable to find an obscurely located ticket machine,  being clamped within minutes.CSS at the time was working under direction of Probe Security (of ex-Conservative Cllrs' Broadhurst and Watt-Ruffell association) but it would now seem that CSS is now working directly under Jimmy Godden and his site manager Barry Moss at Dreamland as Probe has been given the 'heave-ho' off  the Dreamland site, with odd rumours flying around Thanet ever since.

Strife is aware that many visitors who parked at The Lido on the evening of The Lost Prophets gig at Winter Gardens some weeks back, thinking the Lido Car park was 'concert parking', found themselves clamped and quickly out of pocket. We have reports that 12 cars were clamped and over £1,400 was paid out to get cars released. Some visitors said they would never return to Margate as they were convinced they had been ripped -off  as 'innocents abroad' in down at heel Margate.

I am sure CSS and Barry Dawson are operating correctly and  I hope TDC Trading Standards are ensuring that this is so, but you do have to have your eyes peeled to spot the signs (pictured below) in The Lido car-park. However,  what concerns me most, is the damage that this 'Clamping business' is doing to putting off visitors from returning to Margate.

There are many who hold the view, rightly or wrongly, that 'clamping' has a dubious aspect to it and that calls for clarification and tightening of regulations regarding clamping are becoming more frequent to our Parliament. Rather than worrying about fox-hunting, isn't this an issue that Gale,Sandys, Ladyman et al could be looking at?

At the local level, 'Mauwice' or his successor, need to consider that visitors paying £2.20 for their latte and £120 for their car to be 'un-clamped' might regard their tax-payer subsidised visit to the TC to see Tracy's dirty linen or a 'walking art' performance as money badly spent and that Margate's growing reputation as a 'clamper's den' puts them and many others off from ever visiting , let alone returning.

SOUTH THANET HUSTINGS UNDERWAY?

I gather that South Thanet PPC's including our current sitting MP, gathered at Holy Trinity Church, Broadstairs on Friday evening to set out their stalls for the coming election, to a gathering of about 66 Thanet residents. Before I post up the report I have received from a correspondent who attended, I found it interesting as I searched for info on the candidates. Steve Ladyman and Laura Sandys are using the web well, but Trevor Shonk (UKIP) and Peter Bucklitsch (Lib Dem) are not so savvy. I have no pic or biography on Trevor and I hope the picture of the flaming torch bearer is the correct Peter Bucklitsch who seems to be on Crowborough Town Council? No biography of him either.
Anyway, here's the report:

'I was on Saddam's Hit-list' or so Laura Sandys, Conservative Parliamentary candidate for S. Thanet told the audience on Friday evening. Odd that since she opposed the Iraq invasion.   When I first got to vote many years ago, huge public meetings where candidates were heckled and arguments among the audience erupted were the norm but nowadays they are rarely held. Friday's event held in Holy Trinity, Broadstairs was a welcome opportunity for local church-goers to put questions to the main party candidates.   The rather too carefully stage-managed event for my taste featured about six questions put by members of Broadstairs and Cliftonville churches. The Lib. Dem. candidate was very late due to traffic problems so the evening started with Laura Sandys, Dr. Stephen Ladyman, Labour, and Trevor Shonk for UKIP who proved that his party has only one policy, 'get out of the EU' as he had nothing constructive to say on education, the NHS, trade or equality.   Laura Sandys ably demonstarted her PR credentials, name-dropping Tory grandees and talking a great deal about herself.She was heckled twice, just like in the old days, for not answering the question properly and for ducking the reference in a question to Lord Ashcroft's tax affairs.   She did say the Conservatives would be 'hands-off with schools and hospitals' so taxpayers' money would be given to these institutions but the politicians wouldn't interfere. On teenage mothers she said they would be put into mother and baby units rather than be given accommodation 'where their friends would be visiting at all hours'. Sounds a bit like turning the clock back to me when unwed mothers were sent away from their families because of the 'scandal' they caused.   On the topic of teenage mothers Dr. Ladyman said he preferred to educate young men in their responsibilities and to encourage young women to 'have ambition in life beyond having a baby early'.   When both Trevor Shonk and Laura Sandys raised the country's debt and misquoted statistics more likely to be found in the Daily Mail, Dr. Ladyman was able to give accurate figures and to show how we compared with other developed countries and how the government had saved the banks and protected the savings of those of us present. The question is now when best to deal with the budget deficit as if the wrong moves are made too soon the country will slip back into recession. He admitted the expenses scandal had been a traumatic time for him and other politicians. His expenses had always been available online.    When a question was asked about green technology Laura Sandys did say a Conservative government would roll out a network of recharging units for electric cars but wasn't too pleased, it seems, to be told that the Labour Government had already agreed a £34m. package for just such units (although it seems from this weekend's news that not one council in Kent has taken up the offer).   The Lib. Dem. candidate, Peter Buckledge ( Ed: Bucklitsch), I think he's called, arrived about 90 minutes in so it's difficult to comment on his approach as he only had time for one question.   My opinion of the evening? I would have liked the chance to put supplementary questions to the candidates and feel that more opportunity should have been given to the candidates to reply to their opponents.   Were I neutral how would I have judged things?    Laura Sandys is good on what she knows but needs to avoid the name-dropping as it doesn't impress and says more about her ego than her politics.   Dr. Ladyman is very well-informed and gets his points across positively.  When he was able, if he answered after the others, to point out their inaccuracies he did so politely and firmly but it was clear Laura Sandys isn't used to being told when she's wrong.   Trevor Shonk? Not a natural politician and he belongs to a single issue party although he did say it has a Christian ethos despite their refusal to give aid to the former Commonwealth as 'the money just gets spent on guns'.   Peter Buckledge? Couldn't say as he wasn't there long enough although he does have an odd idea that candidates shouldn't need to belong to the party for which they're standing. I thought that was one of David Cameron's ideas.   One final point. Laura Sandys needs to find which wards her campaign should be targeting as there was one resident present on the evening from Dane Valley who regularly gets Laura Sandys' leaflets delivered. No, sorry, Dane Valley will still be in N. Thanet and the Conservative candidate will still be Roger Gale.

DREDGING THE DEPTHS IN RAMSGATE THIS WEEK?

I have to admit to a sense of tedium when I read on Mark Nottingham's blog tonight about the 'demo' outside South Thanet hopeful, Laura Sandys' office, or ex-office, in Ramsgate today. Click here for the link

I find it odd that the Labour Party still has an obsession with fox-hunting ( having banned it) as a cruel activity.  In this country we are quite happy to use chemicals to eradicate rats that cause them a slow lingering death. Rats are a pest, you might say; well, many country people, trying to protect spring lambs and their chickens would argue the same about foxes.They are a top predator with few natural controls other than over-population and mange. The death of a fox by a snap of a fox-hound's strong jaws is a cleaner way to die than spending half the night trying to chew your foot off to extract yourself from a snare and then be dispatched by a 12 bore. ( a sight that I encountered in a hop-garden in Cranbrook some years ago.)
I am happy to see the ban on fox-hunting looked at again by Parliament and perhaps Laura Sandys would be best advised to make a statement that she is either  pro-hunting or  an 'anti'. Roger Gale MP, who might have regretted a recent character reference, is at least open on this issue; he is an 'anti'.

My thanks to a 'Strife' contributor for the rather artistic pic below, of  a big dredger vacuuming in the main harbour in Ramsgate earlier this week.. I have reports that similar work is ongoing in Bolougne. One assumes it is all about LD Lines and an extra ferry or two, due in Ramsgate shortly. (I will try and refrain from mentioning  Euroferrries)

As Bertie is not a 'jolly tar' sort of chap, the news that the other part of Ramsgate Harbour and its Marina has a major beach in it and a bad silting and 'gunge' problem seems quite astounding. It seems that the big maritime 'Dyson' in the pic just cannot get into the other part of the harbour due to too much silt and what is needed is a smaller dredger. Is it really possible that the other harbour and Marina will continue to silt up because an accumulation of sand has been allowed to occur that cannot be tackled? Are we really beyond a point of no return down there? Perhaps the time is long overdue for TDC to get a Port Management contractor in? They can't even arrange to sweep the street outside the Biggles' hovel more than once in 12 months so keeping a harbour clean is obviously too much for them.

NO COUNTER, NO MONITORING, PATHETIC LINKS AND 456?

Couldn't resist looking at some Wikio ratings of 'blogs' to see how 'influential'  this blog is, having watched how Thanet Life has revamped, re-linked etc to improve its 'score' etc etc! An interesting  insight into the way some blogs regard these matters as important can been seen in the posting and in the comments attached here.

I have tried to resist giving way to the demands of my ego, in such matters but curiosity caught the better of me and I had to click on Dr Moore's link. I copy the stuff shown below:


You will find here the monthly rankings for the most influential blogs in the UK and Irish blogospheres.
UK Politics • Politics Blogs • Parties • Conservative Party • Entertainment • The Parliament • Labour Party • Gordon Brown • Prime Minister • The House of Commons • David Cameron • Government • International • Technology • Science • Liberal Democrats • Meteorology • Politics • Climate Change • Music

How are these rankings compiled?

The position of a blog in the Wikio ranking depends on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs. These links are dynamic, which means that they are backlinks or links found within articles.
Only links found in the RSS feed are included. Blogrolls are not taken into account, and the weight of any given link increases according to how recently it was published. We thus hope to provide a classification that is more representative of the current influence levels of the blogs therein.
Only links found in RSS feeds are counted. Blogrolls are not taken into account.
Our rankings are updated on a monthly basis and also include Top Blogs for several categories: Technology, Politics, etc. New categories will be added on a regular basis.

thanet strife

http://thanetstrife.blogspot.com/
thanet conservative blog

Recent topics : Science • Thanet Earth • Environment

What had Bertie and the 'Team' rolling in the aisles was the description of  us being a 'thanet conservative blog'.  As we have no counters, no monitoring, no whizzo links etc such news comes as a surprise!

The marvellous thing about the wide variety of blogs in Thanet is the simple fact that a wide variety of thoughts , ideas and information is available at the click of a mouse. There is no doubt in my mind that this can only be healthy, particularly as many who put comments on all our blogs, feel that they have an accessible and easy forum to comment on topics that affect their lives and 'anonymous' comment allows them to do so easily.

COUNCILLORS INVOLVED IN THE NITTY GRITTY.

I am delighted to report some very fast and active work on Thanet's behalf by two of our Conservative KCC Cllrs who are also TDC Ward Cllrs, who, funnily enough, are regarded by The Ezekielites as men to be cast into the 'outer darkness'.

Cllr Mike Jarvis, has registered his concerns about the debris on the roadside at Manston to KCC and pressed for action after going and visiting the site to see with his own eyes what the problem is. It would seem that Case No: 10602369 is about to be investigated by a Mr Chris Neat, a Highways Inspector and enforcement officer and hopefully this problem will be resolved very quickly. Cllr Jarvis informs 'Strife' that he has copied his correspondence to KCC Cllr Hibberd and kept him in the loop.

In respect of the disgraceful and dangerous condition of Beacon Rd in Broadstairs that has been highlighted by Cllr Mark Nottingham, Cllr Chris Wells has badgered KCC with the result that the dangerous state of this road will be addressed by KCC Highways for most of next week. Here is KCC's announcement:

Urgent short term road closure - Beacon Road, Broadstairs - from 16 March 2010

Because of  urgent carriageway repairs due to serious potholes, it will be necessary to close Beacon Road, Broadstairs.

This is due to commence from Tuesday 16 March 2010 and it is planned the road will be closed for 4 days, between the hours of 9.30 am and 2.30 pm, as a result of these works.

The road will be closed between the junctions of Cecilia Grove and Reading Street Road.  The alternative route for through traffic is via Westover Road, Northdown Hill, Green Lane and George Hill Road.

The works are being undertaken on behalf of Kent Highway Services.

I am sure readers will appreciate that the immediate responses and committment by these two Cllrs, having had problems brought to their attention , is commendable.

Whilst the 'nitty gritty' of holes in the roads and dumped waste material in the highway might be a boring aspect of Council work when compared to the exciting aspects of TC, visits to China and claiming credit for millions of Labour Govt expenditure in Thanet, it is exactly these basic issues that impact on our daily lives as Thanet citizens and that need prompt action and attention by Cllrs. My congratulations to both Cllr Jarvis and Cllr Wells for moving so fast on these issues.

CHINA GATEWAY - 18 MONTHS ON.

It is often at the end of a recession that many who have managed to hang on through the harder times, find that the period before growth returns, is the hardest to get through. Is this now the case for China Gateway International and their plans of October 2008 for Manston Business Park?

It would seem that not only are they in the process of selling off assets in Dover to raise money to reduce lending from The Israel Discount Bank (IDB) but last Monday CGI (formerly CGP) also announced a further 'share issue' of  2,142,858 ordinary shares at 14p each that have been bought effectively by directors Ken Wills, Chris Seymour- Prosser and Laxey Partners. Each has simply put a further £100,000 into CGI to, it would seem, pay some interest on the £31+ million owed to The IDB. Here is how CGI's announcement of Mon 8 Mar 2010 ended:
Commenting on the subscription, Robin Bolton, CGI's chairman, said "This subscription is in accordance with an agreement with Israel Discount Bank to enable the Company to pay interest and, in conjunction with the recently announced sale of the Dover Properties, reduce its total indebtedness. I am grateful to both IDB and the subscribers for their continued support for CGI".You can mull over the whole press release here.

Whilst rummaging through old files and the odd Tesco bag, I found a copy of the 2007 AIM Prospectus for CGP's launch on to the AIM Stock Exchange for listing as an AIM Company. Readers might remember that members of the Strife Team extracted from TDC (through FoI) that CGP (now CGI) had had over 17hrs of meetings with TDC and that extraordinarily, TDC had kept no minutes of these long and frequent meetings. As we revealed some time ago (courtesy of the Tesco bags) the only minutes taken and kept were by CGP. (hence our knowledge that 'Woger' Latchford came up with the idea of the sign shown in the pic above).

I digress, forgive me. Back to the AIM Prospectus prepared for CGP by Savills.  Does this sound familiar, given TDC's recent idea that Policy 25 of its Core Strategy should allow all its policies over farmland, environment etc to be over-ridden if a prospective 'employer' came up with a big scheme 'offering' loads of jobs? :

This is an extract from the AIM document of Jan 2007 that clearly refers to discussions with Mr White's Team at TDC Planning in 2006 regarding farmland outside the boundary of Manston Business Park that was then purchased by CGP; you might note the comment in italics that presumably refers to a specific officer! :

It must be noted that the site currently does not have planning permission for a business

park, and this will need to be applied for.

We would comment that part of the land falls outside the existing allocation identified in

the Thanet Local Plan which was adopted on 17 June 2006. We have considered the

existing Policy together with enquiries directly to the Policies Section of Thanet District

Council. The Council are keen to see the existing employment allocations taken up before

they consider extensions to existing Business Parks.
 
However, if a special user was

identified which could not be accommodated on any of the existing allocations, then a case

could be made for an extension of the property. This principle was endorsed by the

Planning Officer at the District Council.

Further to this the Planning Officer stated that the designations for Manston had taken

place in 2 phases, and that there may yet be a third phase. This view was supported by

PRC Planning Consultants who stated that the business park was intended to be the hub

of the business section in the region hence its title Manston International Business Park.

PRC suggested that the wording of the Council’s planning documents suggests that

additional land will be granted employment zoning in the future.


So the conclusion that can be drawn is that within TDC, as early as late 2006, a Senior Officer at TDC was happy to bin the Thanet Plan 2006, just approved by Full Council and set the scene for Policy 25 in TDC's Core Strategy proposals of 2009. In doing so at the time, he was quite clearly going against the Thanet Plan just approved by his own Council and its Cllrs. It begs the question of who has been running TDC; its Officers or its elected Cllrs?

Can you really trust this Council, its Leadership and Officers to play straight with its own Cllrs and electorate?

A SERVICEMAN'S PLEA FROM ABROAD FOR ACTION BY HIS CLLRS AND TDC

Whilst the news that ex  Conservative Cllr 'Panama' Broadhurst's firm Probe Security has been kicked off Dreamland is interesting (has it anything to do with some odd clamping,  as the arson attack on the  Scenic Railway almost 2 yrs ago didn't result in them being kicked off?), and the probability that  ex conservative Cllr Watt-Ruffell is probably now without a job, tonight's item is perhaps more worrying.
I copy in full the e-mail received by me today which was also sent to  our Cllrs and MPs.

Dear Councillors,

 

Most of you will be aware that I am currently serving with the RAF for 4 months in the United Arab Emirattes and due back to the UK early April...

 

You will also be aware that the residents of the estate close to the military base have, for the past 4 years, experienced many problems associated with the former RAF fuel depot on the Museum crossroads at Spitfire Way, Manston.  I have been informed today by my partner Elisabeth that the long established foot path leading from Bell-Davies Drive towards the military base at Manston has been blocked by several tons of building waste. See attached pictures.

 

The result of blocking the footpath by the owners of the fuel site has created extreme danger for pedestrians including young children who have no other option than having to walk into the adjacent road (B2190) which is extremely busy several hours each day. This is yet another example of the owners taking out their frustrations of not receiving planning permission on various project, onto the residents.   

 

I am requesting that enforcement action be taken with immdiate effect to close down whatever business is operating out of the old fuel depot and take the necessary action to officially recognise the footpath which has been in use for at least 40 years. You will see by the attached pictures of the various dangers caused by this wanton act of vandalism.  In addition to pedestrians being force to walk on the road you will notice various lumps of building debris encroaching the road, therefore potentially causing danger to road users especially cyclists. 

 

We have already had a very recent fatality of a cyclist close by the area concerned not wanting another.

 

Please persue this issue with the utmost haste as it is felt by many residents of the nearby estate that enough is enough.

 

 

Derek Crow-Brown

D CROW-BROWN

Warrant Officer Royal Air Force

Det WO

Al Minhad Air Base

UAE

Warrant Officer Crown-Brown's pictures clearly show the problem. I also show below a sign on the site that was there for a number of years and whilst many might agree with the sentiments expressed and have some sympathy, the safety issue is far more important and I urge our KCC Cllrs in particular to get onto this issue ASAP. I would suggest that WO Crow-Brown has enough on his plate in UAE without having to worry about his family's safety on Thanet's roads.