Hurrah (again)! Or is it 'Boo!'? Well whatever, our beloved council has finally granted planning permission for the new Ike and Tina Turner Centre over on the seedy north side of the island. So love it or loathe it, you're gonna get it. Probably.So far it's only cost £8m (Turnip Mk I - DNS) + £15m (Turnip Mk II - yet to be built) + £2.5m (bit of a top-up) + £0.75m (road improvements/ruinations to Fart Hill) = £26.25m + VAT. Bargain!
Click here for full story on BBC website
Oops, no, sorry, that was exactly the same story from 2003. Click here for the same old, same old five years (and one day) later. Except with no mention this time round of works by JMW Turner being exhibited.
21 comments:
"This is a tremendous step forward and we remain on schedule for the creation of this landmark building or Margate," said Kent County Council (KCC) cabinet member Mike Hill.
Really?... on schedule? I suppose if you keep changing the plans and moving the completion date then it's quite easy to be on schedule.
...also he does say 'or' instead of 'in'...silly typos at the BBC...who so they think they are? KoS Media!
Perhaps they've given them a choice. Spend the money on rebuilding Margate, or popping a pointless white elephant on the seafront!
Well I for one think this is fantastic news and will help regenerate Margate.Work has started on the harbour arm(philip from iota from ramsgate is opening a gallery)and now planning is approved i know a lot of investors who were waiting for this will start investing.Bring it on!
The state subsidised and unproductive modern arty-farty crowd will be jubilant about this astonishing waste of tax-payers money and why not. The rest of us will be meeting the subsidy bills in the years to come. A man who changed his tune when allowed to view the problem from the in-side is still worth quoting from the days before he became a Westgate Tory Councillor:
"Why the fiscally challenged planners at Kent County Council in conjunction with Thanet Council, believe that opening a gallery in a famous artist’s name, with none of his paintings on display, will suddenly transform Margate into a cultural Mecca and attract hordes of cultural day-trippers is anyone’s guess." S. Moores 2004
Anon 2:38 - yes but they 'brought it on' in 2003! I for one will not believe it until I can see it with my own mincers.
And as for IOTA being nicked from here in Ramsgate, where it rightfully belongs, along with all our other art and culture, well! I'll have more to say on that later in the week.
Hooray! It's coming! It's coming!
Thank God the 19th Century mind set in Thanet has not prevailed.
I can't wait for it to be here.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Signed:
State subsidised and unproductive modern arty-fart.
The 19th Century mind set in Thanet would not be wasting tax-payers hard earned cash in such a profligate and waste-ful way. Turner didn't get state subsidy to come to Margate, bonk his mistress and paint wonderful pictures in post-coital euphoria!
The trouble with TC is first that it detracts from solving Margate’s real problems that seem to be the loss of Dreamland and other leisure facilities, Margate needs to be able to provide an all weather family day out which TC won’t provide. Second that the costs have spiralled out of all proportion with the potential benefits, I believe the expected annual running costs to be 2 million. Third it looks like heads of K9 without ears.
The voice of reason, Michael! The problem is that no-one listened or is listening now. Of course we need all weather family attractions but instead we will get a building that we will be wondering how to use in 2015. Miss Pomeroy and team will still be there as directors and curators but of a closed gallery; which is not very different from their present roles for a gallery that doesn't exist.
i wonder if Chipperfield has designed the inside so that it can be converted easily for alternative use? TDC Offices perhaps or a new 'Gateway' location?
Welcome back AGAIN!!!
There I was typing a comment late last night when the site disappeared, I thought I had broken it.
I was trying to answer the query about Mick the mystery man, well that's me and I'm not a mystery, just a Ramsgate resident who likes reading this blog. Not posted an Avatar because I don't know how to.
Did IOTA move because?
A Margate & the Turner Centre were an irresistible pull for such an august cultural enterprise
B Those nice Boogaloo people needed a venue
C There was some balls-up involving (sub-letting)rental terms
Come back home IOTA all is forgiven
IOTA going to ugly brick sheds with poorly painted windows and doors (at great expense by an arty-farty artist) on Margate Pier. How much is being spent on making those old storage sheds usable?
We'll have to wait and see if the £56,000 artistic paint job survives the makeover.
Glad to see something different evolve in Margate and glad to see it upsets some people too. Too many people in Thanet had their heads in the sand believing they could revive the good ol' days, thankfully that mindset is going the way of the Ark. There are a lot who don't like Kiss Me Quick hats and crappy arcades. The generation that held back development in Thanet is out of power now and it was a few who held their own interests at heart and damn whatever was good for the whole. People have lived in the past and thats where they'll stay. Plenty of people slate the TCC, TDC, KCC but its not being paid for from Thanet's funds and if the money isn't spent there it will be spent elsewhere in the country. The building looks great too, something people will come to see. Makes me laugh, if you painted it white, stuck some mock Tudor beams on it and a thatched roof there would be no discord at all! A lot of people in the UK lack imagination and vision.
Uncle Sam,
Margate's big attraction to visitors has been a gift of nature; its the beach! The reality is, whether you or I like it or not, is that the average Thanetonian does not know who Turner was and cannot name any picture he painted. If you go onto a crowded Margate Beach in the summer you will still find Londoners on a day trip from the city, enjoying being beside the sea. Most of them do not have a clue about Turner , his work or have any interest in the nonsense and farce of the modern Contemporary art scene! We need more visitors and we would get them from London if we had a support to the beach of all-weather attractions and facilities. Thanetonians remember the sad sight of a horde of French young visitors in white issue cagoules wandering aimlessly around Margate on a wet cold and windy late August day last year with nowhere to visit. So cut out the cultural up-lifting crap and at least acknowledge the reality; Margate is a seaside resort with an asset, its beach that needs to be added to. A cuboid art gallery with no pictures from Turner in it, is not going to attract hordes of visitors. You are dealing here in Thanet with a council that says 'Thanet is beautiful, lets keep it that way' and then promptly instals industrial security fencing in the heart of Broadstairs,its prettiest town. Do you really think that this same council and its councillors who support the Turnip Centre, have any validity concerning their wild hope that there will be a visitor revival inspired by a mundane art gallery?
Its wrong to put all margates problems at the door of TC and expect it to solve it. Yes lets have it, its a good starting point, i have spoken to many traders, locals and business types and they all seem pretty keen on it, but the real issue for Margate is the dreamland and lido site, that is were the story is. The sums involved in those deals would make the TC project wince. Knock down the sea-front turn it into a family park for the 21 century with facilities in line with a modern european country, oh yes that was going to happen but apparently it 'fell through', still at least we will have a nice supermarket and estate to look forward to...
The trouble is that, all too often, people tend to start their missives with something like 'the problem is', and then completely fail to offer alternatives or answers.
Goodness only knows how to resolve that one!
I think I may pop down to the beach today, with my bucket and spade, and have a good old, nostalgic bury of my head in the sand.
How typically arrogant and bigoted to assume that "average Thanetonians" don't know Turner or his paintings. What is an average Thanetonian in your view? Single Mum of 16 living on Millmead? Or Asylum seeker at the Nayland? I can assure you it's not only you superior types who are familiar with his work.
Yearning for the lost days of cheeky chappie seaside resort just proves the 19th century mind set is still alive and well here. It has held back any forward looking ideas from coming to fruition and continues to do so.
Margate's days as mini Southend are over. The people to whom the old idea of the seaside appeals have no money, thanks to the 19th Century attitude to employment that thrives in Kent and especially in Thanet.
If Margate is to prosper visitors must come from Europe and the rest of the country.
Uncle Sam, you said it for me.
If I might just beg to differ slightly. I think there is still a market for an element of seaside sauciness - camp and kitsch never did anyone any harm, and are part of the attraction for many who want to come and live by the seaside. In my view there has to be a balance between putting new attractions in place and keeping elements of our heritage. It seems to work for Brighton for example.
Modern coastal resorts that you see in the US, Australia, New Zealand and even down in the West Country seem to achieve a pleasant mix of salty environment, traditional seaside architecture, arts and crafts, surfies, good fishy grub, the odd drink or three and the inevitable frisson of fun that can be felt just by being on the coast. That's what we should be aiming for. I think many Thanetians don't realise what a good thing they've (potentially) got going here!
I think people may be over estimating the national and international importance of the K9 TC the approved plans are now available on the Thanet planning site and I have tried to work out (using a ruler on the computer screen so I may be mistaken, correct me if I’m wrong please) what we the tax payers are going to get for our money approximately £40,000,000 plus approximately £2,000,000 per year running costs, once again I may have this wrong.
In terms of actual gallery space it appears to contain four gallery rooms about 20 feet by 60 feet this appears to mean that there won’t be any more gallery space than in the Marks and Spencer building in the High Street, so I don’t think many people will be flying from the continent to visit it.
I agree. I don't see why a decent Art centre cannot be part of that though.
Brighton is thriving precisely because it has embraced an Art culture.
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