Monday, June 16, 2008

What's Left To Conserve?

Cripes! Talk about closing the gate after the horse has bolted! I see Thanet Council has just announced an extension of the Ramsgate Conservation Area to include Granville Marina. As you can see from my photo, the Grade II listed Marina Restaurant, which is part of the newly designated area, was well and truly, er, 'conserved' by a bunch of shonky developers back in February.

Although some of the other properties along there still stand in their original Victorian finery, the majority were vandalised long ago with the substitution of 60s frontages, while the rest of the area consists of weed-infested, derelict eyesores with only Heras fencing to show where once-splendid buildings stood. From the looks of the place, the horse bolted more than 50 years ago and has long since gone to the knacker's yard!

Click here for Thanet Council press release

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Presumably this conservation area doesn't include what's underneath the buildings in this area. It's a shame that the tunnels & caves are just being left to crumble...

Michael Child said...

The most important of the buildings in this area the theatre that later became Nero’s was demolished deliberately by the council, despite my attempts to stop them.

Click here for more pictures of the conservation work in progress

Anonymous said...

Cllr. Roger Latchford, Cabinet Member for Economy and Culture, says in the press release: “Granville Marina is a unique development, which has survived mainly intact for over 100 years. (Only took them a day to destroy it then) It’s a superb part of Ramsgate’s architecture and by taking it within the Ramsgate Conservation Area, we can ensure that it is saved for future generations. The recent problems with number one Granville Marina, which resulted in the council issuing a repairs notice to ensure the damaged parts of the building are re-instated just highlights the importance the council places on this development.”

!!!!!!!!!!!

Pity he doesn't feel as strongly about the Royal Pavilion, Albion House, the Customs House, Winter Gardens and all the other buildings they own that have been slowly rotting away for years - and this is the guy who said on local TV today that Margate's Big Event was the start of Thanet's tourist season - doesn't he notice what is going on in Thanet the rest of the time?? Or is he too busy destroying everything else to notice?

I could scream!!

Anonymous said...

MIllicent, Add to that the grade two listed Scenic Railway at Dreamland. Pressure needs to be kept up to see that works starts on rebuilding that!

Eric said...

TDC need to put the Granville Marina into the Conservation Area to secure a huge amount of regeneration funding for the whole of the seafront in Ramsgate.

Anonymous said...

Does that include the former Pleasurama site now Terence Painter has decamped? Might we get our swimming pool after all?

Eric said...

No the Pleasurama site isn't covered & thus no regeneration funding is ear-marked for that site. By the way, has Terence Painter finally decamped?

Anonymous said...

This building was a landmark on Ramsgate's coastline. Guess it will still look the same in 2009, 2010..Think local people are getting very fed up with Tdc, they are failing our towns badly when it comes to preserving our buildings. With the property market in a downward trend, one can only hope the Council has realised that there has been a change in ecomomic circunstances and that devlopments may now take years before anything happens. Tdc must not be allowed to sell off property assets in a downward market, this is bad asset mangaement. Tdc must not allow existing buildings under their trusteeship to decline further, this also devalues any furture value. Ratepayers are getting a bad deal from tdc's asset sales.

Anonymous said...

Was the sale of Northdown House, Albion House, land at Vere crpark, demolishing the Marine mentioned in the Tories manafesto at the last local election?

Anonymous said...

What's happening with the Pleasurama development? Not a lot at the moment from what I can see.

Michael Child said...

12.57 Must be about time some senior councillors and the developer donned hard hats and shovels and got them selves photographed pretending work had started, like they did last year.

Anonymous said...

Unless things happen soon, any building work will surely be delayed due to the economic downturn and the site left in it's present state for many years. Will tdc be then looking for a scapegoat, ie economic circumstances, and then try to walk away blamelessly from the project?