Cardyology

Cripes! I see that there's a rumour going round that Cardy Construction, the company that has been booked to build the Royal Sands (aka Titanic) development on the Pleasurama eyesore here in Ramsgate, is in a, um, spot of bother!

This gossip, and (please note Mr Cardy's lawyers) I am definitely NOT saying there's anything in it, was probably sparked by a charge and a subsequent winding-up order that was lodged against them last month, and appears to have been disseminated via Facebook and the local blogs, and other, Broadstairs-based, print sources.

Now, whilst someone has obviously been upset enough, and had their payments delayed for long enough, to go to the trouble of trying to wind the company up, that is definitely not the same as saying the company is on the skids, or that it is about to g* b*** (asterisks there to protect the innocent). In fact it's a tactic that's often used as leverage to get a delayed payment out of a firm when relations have turned a bit sour, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the ongoing viability of the company. I know this, because my accountant Cyril told me.

Not only that, but according to my information, the striking off letter was suspended three days later, suggesting that the dispute was resolved pretty quickly once it had escalated to that stage.

I must say, Cardy's last set of accounts, for 2012, look pretty healthy. But then the construction industry has been going through hard times, and who knows what their next set of figures will look like. I would cough up the twelve quid for a credit report on them, but Cyril says he needs that for his bus journey home.

Meanwhile there's another meeting at Duffer HQ in Cecil Square tonight to discuss the whole Pleasurama mess. I wonder if Deputy Leader Poole The Fool will acquit himself better tonight than he did here in Ramsgate earlier this week? My guess is 'no'.

Headless Chickens Coming Home To Roost?

Holy brown envelopes! Today's Isle of Thanet Gazunder reports that PC Plod is carrying out a wider investigation into corruption at Thanet Duffer Council in the wake of former Tory leader Sandy 'Shagpile' Beach's public misconduct trial!

The woodentops are said to be particularly interested in the 'property deals and personal interests of politicians and public servants, past and present.' Crikey! That should get them quaking in their Gucci boots and revving up the old Land Rover V8s ready for that long overdue trip to Malaga! Talk about brarn envelopes! More like brarn trousers!!???!!!!!??! (Geddit?!!!?!???!!!)

And given yours truly's extensive and, er, insightful coverage of Fannit events during the years under investigation, it's only natural that Inspector Knacker should come knocking on my door for the inside goss. Of course, I have been more than happy to accommodate him. If you have any juicy tips, just email me at the address on the right and I'll pass them on.

Meanwhile I see the great and good have been lining up to vouch for Our Sandy at Maidstone Crown Court, where the jury is still deliberating after two days. (I hear the jury room at Maidstone is well heated, and the tea and biscuits exceptional.) Norf Fannit MP Sir Roger Wind, local booze emporium magnate Sir Frank Thorley, and high-flying, chopper-loving, China Gateway-developing Sir Ken Wills have all stepped up to the plate to testify what a stout-hearted and honest fellow the former Tory leader, famed for his petition tossing at the Margate branch of Edinburgh Woollen Mill and portrayal of the Mayor of Margate as a 'fucking tosser' at a black tie do, is.

Carpet shop proprietor and ex-boxer Sandy denies the charges of misconduct relating to property deals in Margate's Old Town. M'lud.

Which reminds me, where did I put that Tesco bag?!?!???

Update (12:52 Friday 1 March): Sandy and his co-accused Phillip Emanuel have both been found bang to rights! Hurrah!

Building Shite

No doubt inspired by my previous item concerning typographical errors, reader Barry writes:

Has anyone else seen the artist's impression of the new development they're proposing for the slipways next to the Maritime Museum in Ramsgate Harbour? I enclose a photo.

It's on public display at the Ramsgate Town Council offices at the Custom House. I see some wag has made an attempt at a critique by scrawling an arrow to the development with the word 'site' above it, but they have surely ruined the joke by accidentally omitting the 'H'?

Haha! Yes, well Barry, if I had jug ears and horsey teeth I might well describe the thing as a monstrous carbuncle on the face of an old friend. As it is, my teeth are (natch) perfect and the old shell-likes a treat to behold, so I'll just say it looks like a crap uPVC conservatory on steroids!

Flat Rate In Margate

I thought I'd tool off to the smoke (London) today to grab myself a property bargain in the smoke (Margate)! All sorts of flats and houses in the Arsonist's Playground are going at knock down prices courtesy of Allsops the auctioneers, who are, er, flogging it at the Cumberland Hotel today and Thursday. Click here for the Margate sale list.

Flats start with a guide price of £25,000-£30,000, and apparently the entire freehold is up for grabs on that lovely, refurbed Royal York Mansions on the Piazza (Parade in old money). There's more about it on the excellent Margate Architecture blog.

I must say that, having been on a bit of a bender in Margate with some millionaire chums over the weekend, things definitely seemed to be looking up. For the first time in living memory, the number of private vehicles going up and down Fart Hill actually outnumbered the cop cars!

Update: Margate Architecture has now published the results of the auction. Click here to view.

Turn Your Garage Into Three Bedsits!

Ramsgate reader Mick writes:

ECR - given your current interest in grubby little erections I wondered if you had noticed that a garage in Bellevue Road, Ramsgate has been demolished and a three storey wood frame building containing three bedsits is being put up in its place?

I have enclosed photos of the plans from UK Planning and a photo from Google street view which was clearly taken before the garage was demolished. The character of the new building is totally out of kilter with the nearby Regency buildings in this conservation area in my view.

What idiot at TDC granted this planning permission? [My guess? Ken Gregory - Ed] Why do we need more crappy bedsits in this area? There are already enough run down converted houses attracting unsavoury types. What we really need are more decent families and family housing. Keep up the good work, Mick.

From this:

To this:

Is as easy as TDC!

Empty Promises

A reader has emailed me a link to the above video on YouTube. It was shot at one of those public sector renewal love-ins at the Margate Media Centre last week.

The subject under discussion is crap housing, and in particular the No Use Empty scheme. No Use Empty is, as you know, an East Kent initiative backed by KCC and Thanet Council. Its aim is to bring 6,000 empty and derelict properties (otherwise known as 'eyesores'), back into use by persuading landlords, and bribing them with grants, to do up their shitholes instead of leaving them and the surrounding area to go down the khazi, in the greedy expectation of profit tomorrow without spending a penny today.

A worthy cause you might say. But let me just save you nine minutes or so and summarise the video for you.

Audience member: What control do you have over the many asbentee private landlords in the area?

Speaker (Head of Community Planning KCC): I'm not making excuses, but the best person to ask isn't here.

Audience member: I run the new B&B in Hawley Square and in the last few weeks we've had five couples from out of the area, looking for family homes here, stay with us. The estate agents have told them there are no large houses to buy, it's mostly small units, the houses have been divided up.

Then we have the No Use Empty scheme... many of those projects are still standing empty and are touted as a success after they've only had a first wave renovation. These very small, one bed flats in these large historic buildings which would have been appealing to the people we actually want to attract to give a more balanced, settled community are then added to the other 880 empty properties that you've got. So you're actually losing some of the key buildings that would have been attractive to incomers... that would rebalance the social imbalance that's been created over the past 30 years.

Who's actually checking that these buildings... are now occupied and why are you turning beautiful buildings into more substandard bedsits and flats? When we renovated our listed building and took away ten bedsits we got nothing... and yet property developers are able to get money to renovate buildings and not occupy them, and they're still standing derelict. And that's KCC money.

Speaker (Head of Community Planning KCC): That is... is exactly the key issue here, but rather than give an answer blah 880 empty properties, that's a potential for investment blah.

Audience member: One of the problems is that we never know who to talk to... nobody knows who's in charge. Will you support a directorate that would bring everything together in one place in Thanet?

Chair: Colin is only a (council) officer, he doesn't need to answer that one.

It's enough to make you weep, isn't it?

Update: Arse! The video has been removed from YouTube by whoever uploaded it. Must have been embarrassed by the glaring spotlight of my publicity!

Update update: Er, it's back again now.

Click here to go to No Use Empty website
Click here to go to Margate Renewal Partnership website

Blow For Manston

Cripes! Yet another consignment of rotten bananas flown into Chas 'n' Dave Margate International Airport has been discovered laced with something to sniff at! 3kg of cocaine was found in amongst veggies on a flight from Ghana on Tuesday, according to the Kent Messenger.

It's not the first time cargo flights have concealed contraband. At this rate, it'll be snowing in Thanet all year round!

Click here for more on KM website
Yams. Apparently it was yams.

Ramsgate Development Rejected (Again)

Good news! The revised application to cram another crappy terrace of mock Georgian houses into a small hole here in the Millionaires' Playground was 'strongly rejected' by the Duffers' planning committee last night!

If you recall, Thanet builder DJ Ellis (he who sponsors the Chrissie lights and tarmacs church car parks in Westgate when the call goes out from distressed Doctor/Councillors), has spent three years trying to nudge this one through on an old bomb site in Adelaide Gardens.

National conservation campaigners SAVE (Save Britain's Heritage) wrote to our Jurassic Junta protesting at the proposal, arguing that the plans contravene guidance policies and that the right thing to do in this conservation area, surrounded as it is by proper, Grade II listed Georgian houses, would be to reinstate the three houses demolished by Hermann Göring's planning department 65 years ago. Now the demolition ball is well and truly back in the builder's court!

Cliff Top Mansion A Snip At £1.75m

No, not my cliff top mansion, silly! I'm talking about the oak panelled, stain glassed, parquet floored, grand staircased, ornamental plasterworked, richly carved fireplaced, Grade II listed East Court on Victoria Parade, a relic of the 'golden age of English housebuilding'!

But it's good to know that, should I need to offload my pile in a hurry, my assets could be flogged for a considerable amount of folding. As the Times rightly points out 'this end of Ramsgate does not overlook the container port'. Quite.

The magnificent East Cliff edifice was a special school for the dylsexic, but planning permission is currantly being sort to convert it into a bootique hotel, with the plans drawn up by a former pupil who's now an archietect.

Speaking of planing permission, we can expect much anti-Duffer huffing and puffing at next Wednesday's planning committee meeting, when the thorny topic of an application to cram another crappy terrace of mock Georgian houses into a small hole here in the Millionaires' Playground is due to be heard. Thanet builder DJ Ellis (he who sponsors the Chrissie lights and tarmacs church car parks in Westgate when the call goes out from distressed Doctor/Councillors), has spent three years trying to nudge this one through on an old bomb site in Adelaide Gardens.

National conservation campaigners SAVE (Save Britain's Heritage) have written to our Jurassic Junta protesting at the proposal, arguing that the plans contravene guidance policies and that the right thing to do in this conservation area, surrounded as it is by proper, Grade II listed Georgian houses, would be to reinstate the three houses demolished by Hermann Göring's planning department 65 years ago.

Needless to say, SAVE's words have fallen on deaf ears, and their recommendations have not so far made it into the briefing notes for Wednesday's meeting. I'm afraid here in Thanet, the 'golden age of English housebuilding' really is long gone!

Click here to read more about East Court on the Times website
Click here for Adelaide Gardens application (F/TH/09/0915)

East Of The Wantsum

Here's this week's East of the Wantsum (click it to big it). A slightly premature ejoculation, as the results of the public inquiry into our beloved Thanet Council's sell-off of the Montefiore site was still ongoing as the Gazunder went to press.

In fact much more heat has been generated in today's paper concerning Ramsgate Town Council's decision to abandon the sinking ship that is Albion House and decamp to the newly-renovated Custom House on the harbour. The red brick edifice has recently been tarted up by Neath Properties, who, according to the Gazunder, are the same people who brought you the, er, 'redevelopment' of our Grade II listed Marina Restaurant. Not only that, but they got grant money from the Ramsgate Seafront Townscape Heritage Initiative Scheme for the Custom House scheme. And now they'll have a guaranteed rental from the public purse.

Don't get me wrong, they seem to have made a much better job of the Custom House than they did of the Marina Restaurant. But should they really be rewarded for their previous abysmal efforts with our taxpayers' sponds?

Strange Customs (House Development)

Word has reached the old Eastcliff shell-likes that the scaffolding's up on the big red building down on Ramsgate front that's been sold to a developer to become some kind of business centre (or the Customs House in old money).

A closer inspection reveals this:

No, I'm not talking about the ubiquitous, bullet-headed Fannit builder in the foreground, but the banner that's been erected behind the Heras temporary fencing. Apparently the 'conservation works' have been 'grant aided through the Ramsgate Seafront Townscape Heritage Initiative Scheme 2007-2010'.

If you recall, I've been querying the whereabouts of the £1.5m Heritage Lottery funding that the Ms' P was granted back in 2007 for tarting up the front. At the time we had a German apparatchik in charge of doling out the dosh, but he resigned in a fit of Teutonic pique, noting that it would probably take ten times the money to restore Ramsgate's coastscape to Aryan standards of perfection, and that most building practices on our septic isle were substandard.

He was subsequently proved somewhat correct, when this happened 676 days ago (according to the 'Did You Know?' ticker in my sidebar on the right)...

...the rather, er, overzealous redevelopment of the Grade II listed Marina Restaurant further along the front by Auclair Properties. The Thanet Reich is currently in the process of compulsorily purchasing what's left of the Marina Restaurant after rejecting rebuilding plans presented by Auclair which included what HRH the POW might well have described as a 'monstrous carbuncle' of modern flats slapped on the side.

Curious, then, that Ramsgate THI Scheme grants of up to 75% now appear to have been given to the new owners of the Customs House, Neath Properties, who bought the place for £410,000 off Frank Thorley back in September, when they seem to share the same registered office in the same Douglas, Isle of Man building as Auclair, and even share, or have shared in the past five years at least, the same director, a Mr Roger Bennett!

Click here to visit Ramsgate THI Scheme on Thanet Reich website
Click here to read what the outgoing Ramsgate THI Scheme admin said
Click here to read about the Marina Restaurant debacle
Click here for Roger Bennett's directorships
Click here for blog about Isle of Man as a tax haven

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

Do You Want Your Assets Flogged?

Just a quick reminder that it's your last chance today to comment on the Grand Thanet Council Boot Sale, which includes West Cliff Hall here in Ramsgate, Northdown House and part of Margate Post Office. Click here for full details.

Brickbats and bouquets should be sent here.

Power To The Peoples?

I am gratefulled to the regular contributor Millicent for highlights an item in the latest edition of our treasured council's magazine Thanet Pravda. The article prints the Great Thanet Sell-Off - 16 pieces of, albeit slightly tarnished, Thanet silverware the council wants to vend.

As part of the sale of such gems as Margate Post Office, Albion House in Ramsgate and Northdown House in Cliftonville, the council is holding a 'consultation'. OK, there is an address he can write to with her comments by 6 June, but if you want to 'consult' faces to faces you'll have to be available on one particular weekday between 4pm and 7pm (or 5pm to 8pm if you living in Boredstares). Surely most decent, honest, hardworking peoples - the peoples who might actually give a material about these assets - will be connected in another way at those times? Unless the council are particularly interesting in the views of ancient duffers and the unemployeds? I ask it!

Flogging Your Assets

I see the Uranians have come up with no fewer than 16 pieces of, albeit slightly tarnished, Thanet silverware they want to flog off. Sites include Northdown House, part of Margate Post Office (as predicted by yours truly) and Ramsgate's crumbling West Cliff Hall (the defunct Motor Museum). Here's the list in full:

Site: Booth Place, Margate (Cliftonville West)
Proposal: Suggested by local people that this should be developed as a garden with parking and small residential development.

Site: Dalby Square, Margate (Cliftonville West)
Proposal: Retention of green space with some housing development with improved road layout.

Site: Northdown House and depot, Margate (Cliftonville East)
Proposal: Residential conversion of the house, with possible ground floor retention for appropriate community use. Land adjacent to the depot to be developed with cottages.

Site: 45 Hawley Square, Margate (Margate Central)
Proposal: Residential or commercial use.

Site: 22 Cecil Square, Margate (Margate Central)
Proposal: The Post Office will remain, with the upper floors converted for commercial or residential use and the lower ground floor available for appropriate commercial use.

Site: Land adjacent to Media Centre, Margate (Margate Central)
Proposal: Potential residential or mixed use development.

Site: Land at Barnes Avenue, Westbrook, Margate (Westbrook)
Proposal: Will not involve significant built development and any use will be mainly community related use of the land.

Site: Land at Knockholt Road, Cliftonville, Margate (Cliftonville East)
Proposal: Could be used for additional garden space for adjacent properties

Site: Albion House, Ramsgate (Eastcliff)
Proposal: The majority of ground floor and basement retained for community use, building brought in line with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, with the upper floors converted for residential use.

Site: Albion Place car park, Ramsgate (Eastcliff)
Proposal: New development re-instating the early 19th century terrace for possible residential use.

Site: Land at Dumpton Park Drive, Broadstairs (Viking)
Proposal: Possibility of building one property and extending the gardens for neighbouring properties.

Site: Garage 3, Colemans Yard, Ramsgate (Central Harbour)
Proposal: Possible residential conversion.

Site: Motor Museum, Ramsgate (Central Harbour)
Proposal: Possible commercial use.

Site: Closed toilets Boundary Road, Ramsgate (Eastcliff)
Proposal: Possible commercial use, maybe as a café.

Site: Land at Greenfield Road, Ramsgate (Northwood)
Proposal: Possible use for garden extensions.

Site: Vere Road Car and Coach Park, Broadstairs (Bradstowe)
Proposal: Improved coach and car parking, with some residential development

As ever there'll be the usual, half-arsed consultation. Kuh! They'll be scraping the sand off our glorious beaches and giving it to builders next! Er, no, sorry, I forgot, they already did that when they built Port Ramsgate!

Click here to investigate the latest pile from Uranus

Charity Begins At (Your Executive) Home

Yikes! Now I've heard it all! Presumably these people are the caring, sharing face of property development here on the Ile de Thanet. They've emailed me to say they're launching a new, fortnightly publication whose 'main aim is to help our local community by donating all of its profits to charities, good causes and redevelopment in the Thanet area.'

They've got 261 members on their Facebook site, and a sneaky peek at their website elicits the following:

The magazine is sponsored by Skyblu Studios Ltd (Who they? - Ed.) to help bring the best of what Thanet has to offer to its residents and tourist (sic) alike by supporting the ever growing changes and improvements going on around the community. We intented (sic) to support the redevelopment of the district and the many charity and non-profit organisations that help to make Thanet thrive.

They continue: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Mauris ut elit. Sed eu pede. Morbi quis ante a pede feugiat egestas. Etiam feugiat mi in pede. Aenean massa sem.

Oops! I guess that bit must still be, er, under construction. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day!

Beside The Seaside

Following my triumph at the Baftas last night (dishing out 500 prawn vol-au-vents in under an hour is no mean feat I'll have you know), I've decided to reinstate my name above the title.

Before setting off for the smoke yesterday, I went for a stroll along the prom here in the Millionaires' Playground. Glorious sunshine, heaps of visitors, no training flights, everything a seaside town should be in the summer, except in February! But being the 'living, gloating metaphor of all that's wrong with our society', you wouldn't expect me to putting up pictures of happy people enjoying themselves, would you? No, thought not. So here's what I clocked:

Rubble cleared from the recent 'conservation' of our Marina Restaurant. Builders in charge appear to be Willow Construction Ltd. It seems to have become a bit of a tourist attraction in its own right, albeit in a shaking of the head in disbelief and tut-tutting kind of way.

A bit further along, these listed buildings on Kent Terrace are in a fine old state (click on the picture to see the full gory details). How long before a puff of wind sends them the same way as the Marina? I gather the owners have been asked to tart them up, but with an outlook that includes ten acres of flat roof felt above an amusement arcade, on which someone has dumped an old sofa, I can see why there's little incentive.


The end of my stroll, and the charming vista of illegally parked foreign lorries on the Western Undercliff. Our beloved council charges them £10 for a stay in the port lorry park, but has only ever issued one ticket along here, so it's a no brainer as far as the drivers are concerned. The only downside is that there are no toilet facilities, but hey, no worries! An empty bottle of Lucozade, or a plastic bag if it's biggies, soon fixes that!

The obvious solution would be for port security to patrol this area and clamp any offenders. But that would involve one part of the council (Maritime Services) talking to another (Foreshores? Open Spaces? Answers on a postcard.) And we all know that ain't ever going to happen, don't we?

Auclair On The Eastern Front 2

Thar she blows! So, the experts in whose capable hands the restoration of our Marina Restaurant lies appear to be registered in the Isle of Man. Rather odd for a Swanley based firm, don't you think? Why does this not inspire me with confidence?

Click here for Isle of Man Companies Registry

Auclair On The Eastern Front

I see today's Isle of Thanet Gazunder is towing the party line about the 'necessary' demolition of the listed Marina Restaurant here on Ramsgate's Côte de Rubble. One interesting fact to emerge from the story, though, is that the developers are a company called Auclair Properties in Swanley.

So, who are these well-known, experienced, heritage-loving people entrusted with the rebuilding of one of our town's fine Victorian edifices? Are they on the internet? Not according to Google. How about Companies House? Nope, not a sausage. Hmm. Perhaps they're hiding their light under a ton of bricks!

Click here for full Gazunder story

Rubble Trouble

Our local biblio-bloke and tireless Ramsgate campaigner, Michael Child, tells me he's going to be on BBC Radio Kent tomorrow morning, talking about the 'conservation' efforts down on the front.

They interviewed him today, and you should be able to catch his dulcets between 7.30-8.30am. Of course, it was me that tipped them off. Well, if you've got connections use them, that's what I say!