'Dark Forces' At Work In Thanet

Cripes! All that Manston mullarkey has somewhat distracted me from the comings and goings at Thanet Duffer Central this week!

Our esteemed leader, Coiffeured Clive, has gone after posting the longest resignation letter in the history of resignation letters. So in comes Irish Johnston, the Margate Mauler who shoots prisoners first, then takes them without asking questions. Er, sorry, not sure where I was going with that. 

The fallout has seen the departure of Poole the Fool from the TDC cabinet (he'll be the chap who patronised you if you were a protester at any of the Pleasurama eyesore meetings), and Michelle Fenner, her of 'Whoops! We've handed £1.5m to the live animal exporters!' fame.

That's not including the ongoing kerfuffle over the council's Chief Executive Sue McGonigal allegedly being involved in some scandal over planning, but I'll leave that aside for now. 

Any-old-how, a missive has plopped into the ECR mailbox purporting to emanate from Ms Fenner herself. When it comes to local politics, you have to realise I'm a self-confessed bear of very little brain. So I'll just reprint Fenner's farewell in full - unexpurgated and unedited - and let you make of it what you will. My only comment being that, in casting the Swivel-Eyed Loons (©2013 - D Cameron) as 'The Forces of Darkness', she may be confusing OBE-Wodge Kenobi with Darth Vader!

I read in the press some comments referring to dark forces in relation to my work and Cllr. Poole’s work in Clive Hart’s Cabinet.

Our actions as Cabinet members were not the result of dark forces in relation to 

• the Live animal export issue and our decision to impose a temporary ban to protect the staff at the port
• The motion I tabled against the bedroom tax and its disastrous effects on Thanet residents 
• The motion on equal marriage, in line with
• The renewed Equalities policy promoting fairness in the Council and in the community at large
• The procurement Strategy supportive of local suppliers
• At the General Purposes Committee we acted in support of the Chief Executive’s rights against complaints 

We did this because we used factual evidence and we were guided by our sense of social justice and our integrity

I wish for all this good work to continue because the alternative is unthinkable.

Indeed there are dark forces at work

They reside with the people who use this platform to undermine the democratic process and they reside with UKIP

With this council, we have a forum to speak out as councillors and also with the 2 parliamentary candidates for MEP and the UK Parliament.

I urge my colleagues on the other side and my friends and comrades on this side to turn their fire on and speak out against the policies that would hurt badly the residents of Thanet whom we all represent against the UKIP pledges to get rid of employment laws which protect staff, which provide paid annual leave and maternity leave, and to replace them with policies based on prejudice, ignorance and discrimination.

UKIP and their acolytes from the National Front and their ideology ARE THE DARK FORCES. And we must all stand against them, not try and befriend them.

I will certainly continue to do so.

Cllr. Johnston decided not to include me in her Cabinet as she thought that I would not be able to provide the 24/7 availability that she thinks is required, so I will continue my work to promote equality and social justice in my own way.

This is why I am minded to vote in favour of Cllr. Johnston as Leader of Thanet District Council.

East Of The Wantsum

Here's this week's EotW (click it to big it).

To be honest, it's such a beautiful, sunny day here in the Cannes of Kent that I've completely lost the urge to moan about anything! So I'm just going to head down to the strip, grab a cool beer from the Belgian, and take in the sight of the Heras fencing on Pier Yard, the sound of pneumatic drills on full bore, and the smell of raw sewage gurgling into the marina!

On The Of-fence-ive

Bloody hell! I must get a new headline writer! So there I was scanning through the 47 free newspapers that plop through the letterbox each week, looking for stories. As any media mogul worth his salt knows, there's no point reading the editorial content. You've probably seen it all before. No, what I always read are the adverts. And I wasn't disappointed.

On page six of the Isle of Thanet Extra I spotted this:

Notice of a public inquiry next Tuesday to appeal against our beloved council over the erection of 2.1m high security fencing without going to the awkward bother of getting planning permission.

The appeal is listed as having been brought by 'Samber Limited'. A quick search of the interwhatsit elicited the news that 'Samber Limited' is a Jewish charity based in Golders Green whose aim is: 'To advance religion in accordance with the Orthodox Jewish faith and for such other purposes as are recognised by English law as charitable.' The appeal refers to 'land adjacent to the Montefiore Synagogue, Honeysuckle Road, Ramsgate', where Samber Limited appears to have taken it upon themselves to install a large erection without bothering to ask the council.

It's not the first time, however, that 2.1m security fencing has caused upset on the Ile. Earlier this year there was a huge kerfuffle when it was put up, again without planning permission, in Broadstairs. And in April, reader Foxy complained about this new fence in Cecilia Road, Ramsgate:

On those occasions it was the council that didn't bother applying to itself for planning permission. Now, however, it seems that it's going to all the trouble of a public inquiry to test the good taste of our local boundaries!

Click here to view case on Planning Inspectorate website

Update: Reader Walter writes: Stop the bus!!!!! Samber purchased the land from a developer who put the fence up and a gate without planning permission. It was then blocked off by an inappropriate gate and the new/old owners were told to remove it - and we had a new right of way instigated after.. yup after yet another public inquiry. TDC are actually (and I spit in TDC's direction as I type this) the good guys in this case!

I have reworded this story to reflect this, Walter, and to eliminate my previous erroneous drivellings. All I can say is that my glass eye must have required polishing earlier in the day!

Wish You Were Heras?

My spies at RAF London Kent Ramsgate Manston International Airport tell me they spotted something rather unusual last week. No, not a bus load of happy holidaymakers bound for foreign climes, that would be too unusual for words! No, what they actually saw was a cargo of Heras temporary fencing being loaded onto one of those knackered old freighters that fly from there.

Maybe after more than three years, er, gracing our East Cliff here in Ramsgate, it was jetting off to the sun for a well-earned break!

One Up, One Down

Regular contributor Samantha writes:

I was pleased to see Mears joiners working on behalf of Thanet Council finally reinstating the boundary to Granville Court behind Victoria Parade in Ramsgate last week (see photo attached). It has taken months to get the council to clear this site and replace the hoarding around it after it became dangerously dilapidated and a magnet for fly tippers. Well done TDC (at last)!

And there's another cheer for TDC from reader Brian who sent in this shot of our once-crumbling East Cliff:

As you can see, most of the 'temporary' Heras fencing has been removed. And it only took three years, three months and three days! In fact it had been there so long that this is the first time I've had the pleasure of peering at the prom in its full, un-Herassed glory, as I only DFLed to the Millionaires' Playground at the start of 2006.

I'm tempted to dispense with the 'temporary' fencing counter-uppy thingo on my sidebar, which is currently registering 1,170 days. But then not all the fencing has disappeared, and there are one or two spots of it erupting further up. And a substantial patch has recently burst out along Royal Parade on the west side. Rather like acne really. Whaddya think? Should I stop counting? Or are happy days here again?

Separated At Birth?

Reader Amy writes:

I wonder if anyone else has spotted a similarity between the Tonbridge Securitas depot, scene of the UK's biggest ever cash heist in 2006, and Culmers Land, otherwise know as Stalag Broadstairs? Are they by any chance related?

Security depot

Walk in the park

Nice Chopper

I see our flying doctor/councillor has been getting all gooey-eyed over local squillionaire Ken Wills' super-duper helicopter. The Doc drools:

A big Augusta 109, the airborne equivalent of a Bentley, owned and flown by Thanet businessman, Ken Wills. When the Chinese delegation arrive in a month or so to look at the site of the proposed China Gateway at the Manston business park I'm sure they will get a very comfortable 'birds-eye' view of Thanet in the process.

So much more newsworthy than the council-sponsored uglification of Broadstairs, eh Doc?

In The Doc For Censorship

Yikes! Thanet's most famous Tory blogger has accused me of censorship! Talk about pots and kettles!

Here's the story so far. Dr Biggles refused to publish our local Tree Huggers' concerns over the hideous new fencing that our Tory council has put up in Broadstairs, and instead buried the issue on an existing strand. So in the interests of maintaining a free press, I published the news here. Now he has the temerity to say:

I did make one of my rare forays over to the ECR site yesterday and left a comment of explanation against his story, where it was suggested that I didn't print photos of fences for sinister "political" reasons. That comment was not published.

Now as regular readers of my blog will know, I have never censored comments that do not fit in with my view of the world. Not even when one of those, er, well-rounded Thanet Lifers added the Wildean bon mot: I'm f*cked off with left wing c*nts like you. I made this point on the Doc's blog, to which his response has been:

Grow-up ECR! What others choose to write on your website is not my concern.

Grow up? Who does he think he is? The headmaster of Thanet or something? He's now backtracking and claims that his comment on my blog may have 'disappeared into hyperspace' rather than being censored, as he previously implied. But that's not the point. The argument on his blog was originally about him censoring a story because it was 'not interesting enough'. The fence debacle in fact attracted more comments than anything he's ever printed there, so either he was being disingenuous, or he's got a very poor nose for news.

Pursuing his usual policy of drowning out any criticism by 'swiftly moving on', he's subsequently buried the entire story under an avalanche of the usual Tory twaddle and, sure enough, it's now been relegated to the archives. But as the Doc should know, there's no hiding in cyberspace, and you can see the whole sorry saga yourself by clicking here.

Photo: Paul Wells

Railing Against The Council

Last year I had a bit of a run-in with those Thanet Tree Huggers, who I accused of playing right into the hands of Ramsgate-polluting Oozalum Airlines and Manston owners Infartil by accepting £3,000 worth of 'environmental' funding from them. But Amy, one of their leading lights, has sent me a copy of a recent email written by Chief Tree Hugger Paul Wells concerning the offensive fencing that has gone up around the allotments in Broadstairs, and I have to admit they've got a point.

Presumably Amy is familiar with my soft spot for rubbish railings, given my incessant, er, railings against the temporary fencing along our East Cliff here in the Millionaires' Playground. Of course, I couldn't ordinarily give a monkey's about Boredstares, but the same email was sent to true blue councillor/doctor Biggles for publication on his Thanet Life blog, only to be promptly buried on page 98. The same page where all criticism of the ruling Tories ends up.

I therefore make no apologies for reprinting Mr Wells' email, and a couple of his photos, in full:

As a result of reading a letter in the Isle of Thanet Gazette on Friday, I went down to Culmers Land in Broadstairs to see what has been going on there over the Christmas period. I think what has happened is quite awful and I attach a composite picture of the footpath entrance into Culmers Land from Alexandra Road as it was in October 2007 and as it now is.

In 1998 Broadstairs & St Peters Town Council asked Trees for Thanet if it would plant 250 hedgerow trees to help screen the allotments fence and make the walk through Culmers Land from the car and coach park to the harbour more attractive for locals and visitors. 21 young volunteers carried out the task one Saturday morning in February and the young hedge was hand weeded by volunteers for the next two summers until the plants became established . As the picture shows, a rather nice wildlife hedgerow was produced.

This work has now been ruined by the most insensitive, ill-conceived and poorly placed security fencing you are ever likely to have the misfortune to come across. Whilst I fully support the requirement to install secure fencing to prevent the scandalous attacks of vandalism that are the scourge of all allotment holders in Thanet, what has happened at Culmers Land is a disgrace and shames those responsible. Those responsible have created a barrier that has turned Culmers Land into a prison-camp with the only thing missing being ‘goon towers’.

The new fence has not been built on the boundary fence of the allotments but up to 5m into the small park area and as a result cannot be screened by fresh planting in front of it as it borders the tarmac footpath. Why was it not constructed on the original fence line or was the work involved in clearing the old one away and lopping some insignificant trees too much bother? If it had been sited properly, the hedgerow planted in 1998 would have automatically have screened it and further planting would have been possible where necessary. I am sure this type of security fencing can come in a range of colours; was green not an option? This fence is on the main pedestrian route to Viking Bay beach for coach visitors and is utterly out of character for a Victorian picture postcard resort and greets visitors to the town! What regard has been paid to Thanet District Council’s motto ‘Thanet is beautiful, let's keep it that way’?

My enquiries with TDC Planning Dept have revealed that no Planning Consent was applied for this monstrosity as it was meant to be 2m high (and thus avoids the need for consent). I measured the fence at 15 points yesterday and all heights exceeded 2m 35cm and so this fence is in breach of planning regulations. I have already lodged a complaint with the planning Dept at TDC and urge your readers to do likewise.

One final point. As our local biblio-bloke Michael Child has discovered, the new railings destined to eventually grace our cliff top will not be of the heritage variety. Let's hope we don't end up with a similar abomination to the one they've erected in Broadstairs.

Thanet is beautiful, let's keep it that way!

Fence Of A Thousand Days

As you can see from my counter-uppy thingo opposite, the 'temporary' Heras fencing along our crumbling East Cliff has now been in place for 1000 days. But did you know that when it was first erected:

- Shoes were a novelty, having just been introduced to England by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Only three years earlier the first steam engine was invented by George IV
- Tea was the principle currency of Belgium

Work has now started on repairing the cliff, although rumour has it that this might take nine months to complete. Meanwhile there has been a suggestion from regular contributor Millicent that we all go down there and hold a candlelight vigil. Picture that - a thousand candles perched on the cliff edge! No, on second thoughts perhaps not. Their weight might just tip the balance

The Hole Truth

Crumbs! Or should I say crumbling? This hole has appeared over the last few days on our crumbling East Cliff. Having spotted a contractor's van parked in the vicinity last week, with a few council types milling around, I assume that it's part of the tendering process for the repairs.

Still, I'm not about to remove the counteriser-ometer from my sidebar just yet. 905 days and counting since the temporary fencing was erected. What's the betting we make 1000?

Fence Post

Here's an idea for what to do with the 'temporary' fencing that's, um, graced our crumbling East Cliff for the last 815 days.

It's courtesy of that place with fewer listed buildings than Ramsgate - Bath. Their local arts group, BANA, is running an open art fair (I think I've spelt that right).

Artwork for the requirements of this Art Fair will be deemed to be any original work of Art which has used the medium of coloured Pigment in a 2D fashion to create a work of Art suitable for hanging on a system of Heras Fencing which constitutes the Arts Display area. Costs of Artwork will range from £100 to £10,000. No reproductions or limited edition prints.

At those sort of prices, we could hold a sale and pay for the cliff to be repaired ourselves. And have enough left over to book Elton for the grand opening!

Bath Open Art Fair

Fencewatch

Steering rapidly away from heated debates about antiquated amusement parks, I thought I'd head for, um, safer ground today and bang on about that old favourite, Ramsgate's crumbling East Cliff.

A while back I treated you to the full SP on Heras, the company that has supplied most of the 'temporary' fencing along our dilapidated cliff top. 'Most' being the appropriate word, as I've now spotted a new species - Beaver 84!

Beaver 84 is a dynamic, customer driven business engaged in the hire and sale of quality new and used non-mechanical plant to the construction, engineering, oil, TV and leisure industries and government funded bodies, it says here.

TV and government funded bodies, eh? That gives me an idea for killing two, er, fences with one stone. Maybe I could get my old showbiz chum Bill Oddie to set up his night cameras here in Ramsgate. You never know, a week of Fencewatch might be just the thing for KCC TV!

10 Things You Didn't Know About Heras Fencing

Isle of Thanet Gazunder Cut-Out-And-Keep Guide

Everyone's talking about Heras fencing! And with the East Cliff display now in its third season, and growing bigger every year, we've spent half an hour trawling the Heras website to bring you this fence-tastic guide to Heras - the company that invented the concept of temporary fencing and remains the European market leader!

1. If all the Heras fencing in the UK was joined up, it would stretch as far as Copenhagen.
2. Blacksmith Archibald Heras invented the system while attempting to improve the design of mobile bedsteads for Wellington's army.
3. David Bowie's 70s hit We Could Be Heroes was written as an advertising jingle for the firm and was originally called We Could Use Heras.
4. Heras fencing is used at London Zoo to prevent gorillas from accidentally mating.
5. The town of Arras in northern France took its name from the amount of temporary fencing used during its construction.
6. On the Pacific island of Tonga, Heras fencing is seen as a status symbol, with the king possessing more than 23 miles of it.
7. Irish composer Padraig O Floinn's Dublin Symphony uses two lengths of Heras fencing instead of a woodwind section.
8. Many superstitions have grown up around the fencing, and some people in Scotland believe that it can cure warts.
9. Much of the Space Shuttle was constructed out of Heras fencing.
10. Future Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a fan, and refuses to travel without taking at least one section with him.

The Number Of The Beast

I see from the new tickerometer on my sidebar that 666 days have now passed since 'temporary' fencing was erected along our crumbling East Cliff.

Anyone of a nervous disposition would be well advised to keep away from the edge for the next 24 hours, in my humble opinion.