Friday, December 19, 2008

Bottle And Throttle

The lovely Mrs Gaddfather of Ale has emailed me with last minute details of the Gadds brewery bash tonight. It kicks off at 7pm and includes a tour of the brewery, nibbles, a quiz and beer (natch), all for £5 a head (no charge for designated drivers). All are welcome and details of how to get to the Gadds Brewery are on their website here.

And the equally lovely Cheryl from our beloved council's press office has penned this note:

Sorry to spring this one on you guys so last minute, but anything you can do to help promote this meeting which takes place tonight would be wonderful. It's not our meeting, but it's come to our attention that there's been very little publicity of it, so we're trying to do what we can to help!

'On Friday 19 December at 6.00 pm, Matt Clarke the Chief Executive at Kent Interview
(I think they mean 'International' - Ed.) Airport is giving a public presentation about the Draft Masterplan for the airport at Newington Community Centre. All local residents are invited.

'The Draft Masterplan sets out Infratil's proposals to expand business at the airport by increasing the number of both cargo and passenger flights. After a presentation about the Masterplan contents, residents will have their questions answered about how airport growth could affect them.

'The views of the public are important. New jobs will be created, but there will be some environmental impacts. In fact the Masterplan outlines how the Airport owners will seek to control noise and manage the increase in road traffic around the airport.

'Matt Clarke said: 'It is especially useful to hear from residents living in neighbourhoods close to the airport. The meetings we have held so far in parishes and at Nethercourt were all popular and we learned a lot from the feedback.'

Many thanks for any help you can give us with this!

Cheryl


Quite why my council tax is being spent on publicising a meeting being held for the benefit of a private company is beyond me. Oh well, I know which bash I'll be going to! Hic!

12 comments:

Eddie said...

'very little publicity' and 'the views of the public are important'.

Would 'bollocks' be too sceptical?

Can't wait for them to visit the east cliff...best keep your ear to the ground ECR just in case the 'very little publicity' is too little.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Apparently they won't be visiting the East Cliff, or any other part of Ramsgate, Eddie.

They are only holding meetings where parish councils have invited them, I'm told.

Which means that no councillor in Ramsgate, including the Charter Trustees, has bothered to lift a finger. Would any of them like to comment?

Anonymous said...

Not a real threat?

Lucy Mail said...

Plans for an airport at Newington community center? Lines of burning cars marking out the path to the runway?
Baggage handling and immigration control should be interesting!

Anonymous said...

I see the latest Thanet issue reported to FixMyStreet is described as 'Newington Poo Massive' problem.

So that's what they're calling themselves these days. Not much of a gang name though is it?

Richard Eastcliff said...

My spies report that only one person turned up to the airport meeting. Just goes to show how badly publicised it was.

As for the brewery bash, I'm still waiting for anyone to surface with a post mortem!

Richard Eastcliff said...

Yes, I know I said I'd be going to the brewery bash but I could only find £1.89 down the back of the sofa in the end.

Mike Harrison said...

" Which means that no councillor in Ramsgate, including the Charter Trustees, has bothered to lift a finger. Would any of them like to comment? "

Infratil were offered the Community Centre by Myself and Cllr Nicholson to do a presentation about the Airport Masterplan. It was their meeting and yes it was poorly publisised. We thought that it would be helpful to give the people of Ramsgate the chance to comment at a public meeting.

Dogs poo is a problem all over Thanet not just Newington since TDC abandoned all pretence of having a dog warden service.

And for everyones information Newington Community Centre is no longer the dark, unkept, unkempt, poorley maintained building it was when it was in the stewardship of TDC. The Residents Association have taken over the running of the place, cleaned it up, installed proper facillities, new windows, a new kitchen and office and have also appointed a full time Manager to run the place. The building is now used seven days a week both during the day and every evening as opposed to the two mornings it was used in TDC days.
Newington has a totally undeserved reputation as a bad place, there are a few individuals who cause a disproportionatly high level of problems. 99.99% of Newington residents are decent people and dont deserve the slagging they get from ill informed comments here and elsewhere.
Newington is no worse than anywhere else in Thanet.

Anonymous said...

High praise indeed.
Deafening aircraft noise won't improve the place.

Anonymous said...

Well Cllr Mike,

"Newington has a totally undeserved reputation as a bad place"

If you refer to the Kent police website, Newington has the 6th highest crime rate per 1000 people of all the quoted 23 wards in Thanet.

For those remotely interested:
Margate Central 385
Cliftonville W. 219.9
R'gate Eastcliff 140.4
R'gate Harbour 140.3
Dane Valley 103.4
Newington 100.0
St. Peters 99.5
Crime rate is per 1000 inhabitants.

Now, i dont dispute that the crime rate is coming down, or that it may indeed be due to a few individuals. But crime being due to just a few people doesn't help those who it effects.

If you wish to check the figures visit http://www.kent.police.uk/crimestats/?bcu=East%20Kent

So that puts Newington in the top 26% of crime by area.

I'm definately NOT saying that the people are generally bad in the area, but that the area has a high level of crime, which certainly doesn't make it good.

Anonymous said...

mike harrison, any central ramsgate councillors going to ask their 'subjects' if they would like to meet the airport owners face to face?

I would - I have to slope in on other parish meetings just to find out whats going on.

Anonymous said...

I am sure it must be illegal to have the airport so close to a town. Any expansion would be unliveable with. Do people realise just how bad it would be?
Th buildings would shake every ten minutes. Its not a minor inconvenience it is a death sentence for Ramsgate.