The Independent on Sunday ran an article yesterday about the regeneration of the British seaside. Among the grand designs mentioned were Margate's Turnip Centre, and my old showbiz chum Roger de Courcey's plans for Folkestone.
But no mention of Ramsgate. Probably because our friends on Uranus and their pals at KCC have neglected to draw up any grand designs for the Millionaires' Playground. Apart from flogging the best off to developers, and allowing the rest to rot.
So to redress the balance, today I'm launching The Richard Eastcliff Award For A Grand Design For Ramsgate. It's a catchy title, I'm sure you'll agree, and is bound to attract a great deal of media attention. Just email your ideas to:
richardeastcliff@yahoo.co.uk
The best of them will be published here, and the winner will receive a valuable signed photograph of yours truly. Plus my personal architect Mr Ceaucescu (no relation), who spent many years at the Janitorial Studies Department of the world renowned Ion Mincu Institute of Architecture in Bucharest, will turn your design into a working scale model (subject to completion of the guttering here at the old cliff top mansion).
So what are you waiting for? Let's put Ramsgate on the regeneration map!
12 comments:
Brilliant idea! Need a bit of time to draw up plans though - is there a deadline? Hope not as I'm off for a week soon as you already know. Can it be a plan for anywhere in Ramsgate or is it just the seafront?
I think I'll give people until the end of May to get their ideas in. That way we can launch our plans for Ramsgate in June, to coincide with the final designs for the Anthea Turner Centre, which are also due next month. Although that event's currently residing in my 'believe it when I see it' file.
I think we'll stick to the seafront, so the obvious choice would be a design for the Pleasurama eyesore, or one of the numerous car parks where other features burnt down in the past, or for revitalising the Pavilion, West Cliff Hall, that kind of thing.
http://www.dlwp.com/building/
Off you go then....
Ah, the old De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill. I spent an afternoon there a few months ago, they've done a marvellous job with it.
Perhaps Scotty could beam it over to the Pleasurama site for us?
Or perhaps the appointed architect could pop over there and copy it, instead of trying to fob us off with a block of flats in a hole!!!
Brighton seems to do very well as a thriving, bustling seaside town and all they have, that Ramsgate doesn't, is a strong gay community!
Well, that and it only takes an hour to get there from London, though I don't think that that is outside of Ramsgate's purview, either.
So what's the plan, Just? Convert the Pavilion into a gay club, and reinstate the Pleasurama site as a railway station? You may be onto something!
Richard me old mate - me old mucker its your long lost pal?
We should get rid of the ships in the inner harbour and use it as water sports/event area. The reintroduction of the ancient sport of keel hauling should draw the punters in - and we would be squids in.
Walter, I thought I told you never to contact me on this blog? I do hope you're not going to bring up those nasty rumours about the gerbil again.
Personally, I would give the entire Pleasurama site over to a huge block of public toilets. Maybe have a big neon sign along the front of it, declaring it as 'Seaside Cottage' or some such thing.
This would probably have a threefold effect of..
A) Knocking Brighton off the map.
B) Saving me a fortune in train fare.
C) The council would no longer have to pump sewage into the sea, pumping into the enormous waste for this bold venture, instead. So, cleaner beaches too!
Can't fail, can it!
If you build toilets on the former Pleasurama site you would have to repair the cliff face first otherwise you might be sitting on the throne when a large lump of chalk crashes through the roof and kills you - what a way to go!
Or with a bit of luck, it'll be the fella who's hunched over you that cops it!
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