Monday 25 February 2013

New planning applications,

The TDC planning website is one of the most bizarre websites I have ever come across in as much as the web addresses of the pages on it change after a few hours so you can’t publish links to them. If you want to look at any of the applications you need to go to the site and enter the application reference in the search box, this link takes you to the site http://www.ukplanning.com/thanet

Date Published*Application No.AddressStatus
25 Feb 2013F/TH/13/008120 EDITH ROAD, RAMSGATE, CT11 0ENcurrent
25 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00831 SPELDHURST GARDENS, MARGATE, CT9 3HJcurrent
25 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00989 CRESCENT ROAD, BROADSTAIRS, CT10 3QUcurrent
25 Feb 2013F/TH/13/01335 LININGTON ROAD, BIRCHINGTON, CT7 0ALcurrent
22 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0093BINBROOK LODGE KINGSGATE BAY ROAD BROADSTAIRS CT103QLcurrent
22 Feb 2013L/TH/13/010021 HAWLEY SQUARE, MARGATE, CT9 1PQcurrent
20 Feb 2013A/TH/13/00902 THE SQUARE BIRCHINGTON CT7 9ABcurrent
18 Feb 2013A/TH/13/0106MARGATE AND CLIFTONVILLE CHURCHES ADVERTISING RIGHT MARINE DRIVE MARGATE CT9 1DHcurrent
18 Feb 2013F/TH/12/0861LAND REAR OF 76 HIGH STREET RAMSGATEcurrent
18 Feb 2013F/TH/12/09603-4 ZION PLACE MARGATE CT91RPcurrent
18 Feb 2013F/TH/13/005634 CLIFFSIDE DRIVE BROADSTAIRS CT101RXcurrent
15 Feb 2013A/TH/13/0074UNIT A, TIVOLl BROOKS, MAR GATE, CT9 5TBcurrent
15 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00362A HOLLY LANE MARGATE CT93NAcurrent
15 Feb 2013F/TH/13/01012 CORNWALL GARDENS CLIFTONVILLE MARGATE CT92JHcurrent
15 Feb 2013L/TH/13/00821 HIGH STREET, MARGATE, CT9 1DLcurrent

* This date is when Thanet District Council first published this case file.

New documents published by Thanet District Council,


Thanet District Council licensing applications,

Name of Applicant / ClubAddress of Premises / ClubNature of application. New or variationProposed licensable activities / or proposed variationDate by which representations may be made
(no less than 28 days after date received)
Messrs Frederick Osborne & Roy VanderweeleBentley's Lounge and Grill, 13-15 High Street, Margate CT9 1DLNew premises licence applicationSupply of alcohol, regulated entertainment and late night refreshment22 February 2013
Mr Martin WrightBeach Kiosk, Viking Bay, Broadstairs CT10 1EUNew premises licence applicationSupply of alcohol26 February 2013
Chief Superintendent Alan HortonKey Stores, 105 High Street, Margate CT9 1JTReview of premises licencePrevention of crime and disorder and protection of children from harm28 February 2013
Mrs Margaret PayneThe Devonhurst, 13 Eastern Esplanade, Broadstairs CT10 1DRNew premises licence applicationSupply of alcohol and regulated entertainment04 March 2013
Mr Harold DuraisinghamMargate Express, 17 High Street, Margate CT9 1DLNew premises licence applicationSupply of alcohol06 March 2013
Mrs Anasooyathevy Anandasundaram108 King Street, Ramsgate CT11 8PANew premises licence applicationSupply of alcohol12 March 2013
Mr Alan DolanWest Bay Cafe, Sea Road, Westgate on Sea CT9 8QANew premises licence applicationSupply of alcohol and regulated entertainment18 March 2013

Friday 22 February 2013

Thanet Council - Sun rises on the East

Thanet is already sparkling in the economic dawn that is the East Kent Growth Strategy.
Thanet was one of the six local authorities which, in Canterbury on Thursday 14 February, agreed a new East Kent Strategy for Growth. This is a long term strategy for integrating the infrastructure and individual district investment plans of all the local authorities in the area. It provides for a joined-up and cooperative opportunity to deliver project priorities as the region forges its recovery.
East Kent is a location with real growth potential, and is now attracting an increasing level of investment and national and international interest.  Thanet is a key partner in this and its aspirations are wide ranging: even in Education the most recent figures show that Thanet is second only to Canterbury (which, after all, has two universities) in the proportion of staff working in this field.

Thanet is also second to Canterbury in the volume and spend of international visitors. Margate has been voted a top tourist destination and the specialist outlets in Margate’s Old Town have the opportunity to benefit from the extra visitors who are guided through on their way to Turner Contemporary. Ramsgate’s Marina is over-subscribed and the Port is ideally placed for servicing the London Array windfarms.

Only Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks have a higher proportion of staff involved in real estate activity – which must say something about the amount of regeneration going on in Thanet!
Further evidence for the success of Thanet’s aspirational activity is that, amongst its East Kent partners, the employment rate in Thanet has risen from a poor starting point four years ago (63%) to match those of Swale, Dover and Shepway, at just over 70%. This bucks the trend shown by other parts of Kent where even Ashford, although still a high-flyer, has fallen back from 80% to 76% during the same period.

In the East Kent Growth Strategy there are twelve spatial priorities which are predicted to deliver up to 22,000 new jobs between them.  Furthermore, whilst Thanet is only one of six local authorities involved, a full quarter of those priorities have been earned by the district:
Margate-Cliftonville Regeneration
Ramsgate Port, Marina and Waterfront
Thanet Central Island/ Manston
Cllr Cive Hart, the Leader of Thanet District Council, said:  “The strategy is a tremendous opportunity for East Kent. It reflects and builds on how the districts are working with each other, and with KCC, to provide a joined-up approach. This structured cooperation will help to attract large scale investment.
Thoughtful integration of the county’s infrastructure and synchronisation of the enhancements of the best attributes of each district will enable us to form a whole which is even greater than the sum of its parts.  This is a long term approach to ensure the best possible outcomes for all of us. Thanet is already showing what can be done, and we look forward to providing our partners with the benefit of our experience, at the same time as learning from their successes.”

Thursday 21 February 2013

Gagging Orders


Yesterday I published on this blogsite one page of a 4 year old confidential Thanet Council report about the Ramsgate Pleasurama Development. The page I published contained no sensitive information.  I also tweeted that I was going to make the confidential report publically available. I expected a response, but perhaps not as rapidly and as strong as I got.
Frist I received this e-mail from the Council Chief Executive  Sue McGonigal
Dear Cllr Driver,
 I have asked that a meeting be arranged to discuss the issuing of papers to you, as a result of your recent breach in respect of the publication of pink papers. I will not be in a position to provide you with any of the requested documents until after this meeting. Should you require any clarification of my ability to refuse these documents to you in your role as Chairman of OSP, please contact Harvey who will be able to help.
As instructed I contacted the Council’s solicitor Mr Patterson. Mr Patterson informed me that Officers are legally required to protect the interests of Thanet Council. If officers believe that an elected  Councillor is likely to disclose information which might damage the interest of Thanet Council they can
·        Refuse to let a councillor have copies of confidential information, even though that Councillor might have a constitutional right to see this information and even though a councillor has been elected by the people to see this information.
·        Take an High Court Injunction out and seek costs against a Councillor who publishes or allows to be published information deemed to be confidential
·        Remove me, as Chairman of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel, from the Pleasurama Due Diligence Process because Council officer might believe that I may leak information which might damage the interests of the Council.
I have been summoned to the Headteachers study on Monday morning to talk about this  matter.
Like most people I cannot afford to be involved in a High Court hearing and I don’t have the time to defend myself, so it looks as though I  have no choice  but to retreat with my tail between my legs.But I would like to make the following points.
·        A major public campaign backed by 100s of Ramsgate residents  are very very concerned about Pleausurama. I believe that it is therefore in the public interest to make all documents related to this development public. After all this is public land at stake
·        The page of the document I published is almost 4 years old. Had I published the entire document the information it contained was so old and outdated that it could no longer be described as sensitive.
I find it very strange that during a week when the NHS has been taken to task by the Government, for gagging whistle blowers, Thanet Council is trying gag its own elected Councillors for trying to circulate information which is in the public interest.
It’s also very strange that when a former Leader of Thanet Council is on trial for misconduct in public office, Thanet Council wants to try to silence a Councillor who wishes to make the Council more transparent and accountable.
Is it any wonder most people in Thanet have an extremely low opinion of Thanet  Council and its councillors.

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Ian Driver, Statement about Great Wall of Ramsgate


I am sad and angry about the wanton vandalism and destruction of the paintings on the Great Wall of Ramsgate.
This act of vandalism is totally indefensible and unacceptable. I hope the culprit is caught.
I have made my views about graffiti clear on my blogsite. I support graffiti as an art form and as a means of political and social comment.
I stand by these views and will not change them.
The damage to the paintings on the wall is vandalism. It is not graffiti
I do not and never have encouraged vandalism
I condemn the vandalism to the wall
I also condemn those people who have used  this terrible incident to  distract attention from the vandalism  hidden by the Great Wall of Ramsgate  - the decade old vandalism to a prime seafrontlocation know as the Pleasurama Development.
100s of people from  Ramsgate have expressed their anger about this unaccepable decade old vandalsim to their seafront.
To try to exploit this awful incident for political or other purposes is pathetic, dishonest and insulting to the people of Ramsgate.
 
Ian Driver 19/02/2013

Monday 18 February 2013

Turner Contemporary announces 2013 March events programme

 
 
 
 
Press release
Turner Contemporary announces 2013 March events programme

Alongside our current exhibitions Carl Andre: Mass & MatterRosa Barba: Subject to Constant Change and Turner’s Perspective: Selected by Rosa Barba, Turner Contemporary is delighted to announce highlights from its March 2013 events programme.

Major events taking place at Turner Contemporary this March include; Carl Andre: Mass & Matter, a panel discussion with Tate Liverpool’s Gavin Delahunty, lecturers Dr Alistair Rider and Dr Grant Pooke, as well as a text-inspired weekend festival of activity with Words to be Spoken Aloud, featuring work by artist Sue Tompkins and 1066, a new work by Turner Prize nominee Fiona  Banner as well as the Margate Writers’ Squad. In addition, Humphrey Ocean, Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, reveals new interpretations of Turner’s perspective drawings in a free spotlight tour.
 
 

 
Carl Andre: Mass & Matter
Panel discussion

Wed 6 Mar, 7pm, £6/£5 concessions
Tate Liverpool’s Head of Exhibitions & Displays Gavin Delahunty and lecturer Dr Alistair Rider discuss the context in which Carl Andre’s practice emerged and its influence. Chaired by Senior Lecturer in History & Philosophy of Art Dr Grant Pooke.

 
Words to be Spoken Aloud
Fri 8– Sun 10 Mar, free
A weekend festival of text-inspired performance, exhibitions and workshops. Artists including Fiona Banner and Sue Tompkins, Margate Writers’ Squad and sculpture students from the Royal College of Art come together to transform ‘found’ text into art. Starting with Friday’s Late Night Live and throughout the weekend. Curated by Ruth Beale and Nicole Bachmann, supported by Wysing Arts Centre and Arts Council England.

Tea+Talk: Optical Phenomena
Thu 14 Mar, 3pm, £6/£5 concessions
Through optical demonstrations, physicistBrian Blandford shows how light creates spectacular atmospheric phenomena such as rainbows and haloes, and reveals how the nature of light has influenced artists such as Turner.
Free cup of tea with every ticket


 
 

Turner’s Perspective spotlight tour
Thu 21 Mar, 3pm, free
Humphrey Ocean, current Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, sheds new light on Turner’s perspective drawings, which the artist made to accompany his lectures in the mid-19th century.
 
Family Philosophical Inquiry
Sat 16 Mar, 10.30am – 12 noon, free
Join children and teachers from Bromstone Primary School for informal conversations, using the artworks as a starting point. At Turner Contemporary, we use Philosophical Inquiry to introduce adults and children to artworks. This approach brings together hands-on exploration with a philosophical structure that supports creative questioning and thinking.
 
Perspective Drawing
Adult workshop

Sat 30 Mar, 10am-4pm, £50/£40 concessions
Inspired by our exhibition Turner’s Perspective, artist David Redfern teaches the basics of perspective drawing.
Book online at kentadulteducation.co.uk
Code MAR/02255/A/LC

 
Free exhibition tours
Every Sat, Sun and Bank Holiday, 11 – 11:30am
Perspective Windows
Tue - Sun, 10am – 6pm, drop in
£3 per child/free for adults, under 3s and families living in CT9
Clore Learning Studio (subject to availability)
Artist David Redfern teaches the basics of perspective drawing in a self-led activity.


Materials
Saturdays 1 – 4pm, drop in
£3 per child/free for adults, under 3s and families living in CT9
Clore Learning Studio (subject to availability)
Inspired by Carl Andre, feel, explore, play and build in this self-led activity.
Supported by WWMartin.

 
 

Craft Club
Sat 30 Mar, 1 – 4pm, drop in, free
Learn to knit, crochet, weave, sew and more with our friendly craft enthusiasts.
 
Family workshops 
Sun 3, Sun 10, Sun 17, Sun 24, Fri 29, Sun 31 Mar, 1 – 4pm, drop in
£3 per child/free for adults, under 3s and families living in CT9

Full event information can be found on our website atturnercontemporary.org/whatson.
 
 

New planning applications,

The TDC planning website is one of the most bizarre websites I have ever come across in as much as the web addresses of the pages on it change after a few hours so you can’t publish links to them. If you want to look at any of the applications you need to go to the site and enter the application reference in the search box, this link takes you to the site http://www.ukplanning.com/thanet


Date Published*Application No.AddressStatus
15 Feb 2013A/TH/13/0074UNIT A, TIVOLl BROOKS, MAR GATE, CT9 5TB current
15 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00362A HOLLY LANE MARGATE CT93NAcurrent
15 Feb 2013F/TH/13/01012 CORNWALL GARDENS CLIFTONVILLE MARGATE CT92JHcurrent
15 Feb 2013L/TH/13/00821 HIGH STREET, MARGATE, CT9 1DL current
13 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0075NORTHDOWN CP SCHOOL TENTERDEN WAY MARGATE CT93REcurrent
13 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0028LAMBERTS YARD, DANE VALLEY ROAD, BROADSTAIRS, CT10 3JJcurrent
13 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00182 ADELAIDE GARDENS RAMSGATE CT119HHcurrent
12 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00248 HOCKEREDGE GARDENS, WESTGATE ON SEA, WESTGATE-ON-SEA, CT8 8AN current
12 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0035LAND ADJACENT TO NORTH GOODWIN HOUSE, CLIFF PROMENADE, BROADSTAIRS CT10 3QYcurrent
12 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00574 SHUTLER ROAD, BROADSTAIRS, CT10 1HD current
12 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0058FLETE FARM BUNGALOW, VINCENT ROAD, MARGATE, CT9 4LQ current
12 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00636-8 CLIFF STREET, RAMSGATE, CT11 9HS current
12 Feb 2013OL/TH/13/0026LAND ADJACENT 34, ST MILDREDS AVENUE, RAMSGATE current
11 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0023INTABABE MERCHANDISING 32 WINTERSTOKE CRESCENT RAMSGATE CT118AHcurrent
11 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0073HARBOUR BAKERY 28 GRANGE ROAD RAMSGATE CT119LPcurrent
08 Feb 2013F/TH/13/003448 ESKDALE AVENUE RAMSGATE CT110PBcurrent
* This date is when Thanet District Council first published this case file.

New documents published by Thanet District Council,

Thanet District Council licensing applications,

Name of Applicant / Club Address of Premises / Club Nature of application. New or variation Proposed licensable activities / or proposed variation Date by which representations may be made
(no less than 28 days after date received)
Mr Erdal Cakin Eddy's Fried Chicken, 290 Northdown Road, Margate CT9 2PT Variation of premises licence Increase in opening hours and late night refreshment 17 February 2013
Mr Anthony Farrow Nimbus (Landslide Coffee Shop), Manston International Airport, Manston, CT12 5BP Variation of premises licence Extend hours for supply of alcohol and late night refreshment 20 February 2013
Messrs Frederick Osborne & Roy Vanderweele Bentley's Lounge and Grill, 13-15 High Street, Margate CT9 1DL New premises licence application Supply of alcohol, regulated entertainment and late night refreshment 22 February 2013
Mr Martin Wright Beach Kiosk, Viking Bay, Broadstairs CT10 1EU New premises licence application Supply of alcohol 26 February 2013
Chief Superintendent Alan Horton Key Stores, 105 High Street, Margate CT9 1JT Review of premises licence Prevention of crime and disorder and protection of children from harm 28 February 2013
Mrs Margaret Payne The Devonhurst, 13 Eastern Esplanade, Broadstairs CT10 1DR New premises licence application Supply of alcohol and regulated entertainment 04 March 2013
Mr Harold Duraisingham Margate Express, 17 High Street, Margate CT9 1DL New premises licence application Supply of alcohol 06 March 2013
Mrs Anasooyathevy Anandasundaram 108 King Street, Ramsgate CT11 8PA New premises licence application Supply of alcohol 12 March 2013
Mr Alan Dolan West Bay Cafe, Sea Road, Westgate on Sea CT9 8QA New premises licence application Supply of alcohol and regulated entertainment 15 March 2013

Changes to this blog




I have changed the way that I am dealing with comments on this blog, this only related to anonymous comments and doesn’t affect anyone commenting using their blogger account, nor does it stop anyone who wants to preserve their anonymity from doing so.    

I think the main problem relates to the amount of traffic that this and the Thanet Press Release bog now gets, around 2,000 visits a day to Thanetonline and around 700 to Thanet Press Releases.

There are several different types of problem comment, I will explain below.

1 Commercial spam comment, this runs at around 200 comments per day, some getting through the automatic spam filter and some not, however on all 200 occasions I receive a comment notification email. Obviously this means that I can’t read all of the emails so I have had to turn this facility off. Before the current spam storm that has been going on for several months, nearly all of the emails related to comment that had actually appeared on the blog. My phone made an unpleasant noise when a comment appeared on the blog and I took some action, either deleting, spamming or replying to the comment as appropriate.

2 Obscene and insane comment, this seems to have no purpose and be akin to people writing on lavatory walls, although recent experience seems to suggest that some of this is commercially related. What starts out appearing pointless often leads to the same mad comment appearing at a later date with a link leading to either an infected and malicious site.

3 Comment which has content that may be libellous, in many cases it mentions real local people and I have no way of telling if the libellous allegations are true or false, apart form possibly giving up my life to investigating them, so the only thing I can do is delete them as soon as I see them. My guess is that they are a mixture of allegations that have some foundations in truth. Comments left by people who are just too stupid to realise that there are limits to what you can say in public forum. Comments left by people who would like to see my blogs closed down, so approach this by leaving comment that is likely to either attract a libel action or a complaint to Google who host blogger and have rules which if broken result in a blog being removed. Comments left by people with mental health or behavioural issues.                 

I had considered turning comment moderation on but frankly I don’t have the time or the inclination to vet all the comments. I guess like most of the other blog readers, I look at the blogs occasionally during the day, reading the comments as threads and trying to make sense of them, sometimes adding something myself, if I have the inclination.  

The comment management I do completely differently from a page that shows all of the published comment for the blog, the options here are, delete leaving the “this comment has been deleted by the blog administrator” delete altogether so it and any replies vanish completely and spam so it and any replies vanish completely.

The regular commentators who either use their own names or a pseudonym, John Hoyler, Tom & Tim, bloggers like Simon, Tony and Peter, Chris Wells and so on never leave comments that need deleting and I didn’t want to interfere with their ability to leave comment.

So at the moment I am going down the road of altering the comment permissions when I don’t have the opportunity to keep an eye on the blog. I tried it out last night, turning off the facility to comment anonymously while leaving the facility for signed on commenters to comment and then turned it back on this morning.

Early days of an experimental solution, but already I have had a large reduction in commercial spam.      

Any thoughts from blog readers about this will be gratefully accepted and I will take them into account.     

Saturday 16 February 2013

My Article in The Times this week on Food


My Article in The Times this week on Food – or click to BBC Newsnight interview -http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qqsc3/Newsnight_13_02_2013/
 
When Sir Terry Leahy appeared on Desert Island Discs he rightly trumpeted the decline in food bills from 50 per cent to 10 per cent of family income. His remarks were broadcast just days before the horsemeat scandal revealed fraud in the food supply chain. That was not a coincidence.
 
However, in the past five years we have seen food prices increase by a third. This problem will only get worse as we feel the effects of the American drought, Russia’s recent grain export ban and ever greater Chinese demand. The era of cheap food is, sadly, over.
 
But in a highly competitive market our food industry has not changed its business model. Instead it has tried to adapt to food inflation by fitting a more expensive product into a cheap price structure. The result is that serious corners have been cut.
 
Retailers blithely claim that they are absorbing the costs of rises in prices of meat and grain. But the truth is that the consumer is unwittingly “absorbing” them through reductions in the quality of ingredients and smaller quantities.
 
So the £1 cottage pie in your local freezer shop will be the same price that it has been for years, but today will contain less meat and more artificial fillers such as high fructose corn syrup. This will not be accompanied by an ad campaign saying “30 per cent less meat”. Packaging too is “absorbing” food price rises, so there is an increase in the fresh air you are now buying when you reach for your cereal packets.
 
It is the poorest people who are most vulnerable to both the price rises and the decline in food quality. The horsemeat scandal has focused on the role of supermarkets and their supply chains, but there is a whole sector of the population who can’t afford to shop in supermarkets.
 
Some of my constituents in Kent buy their food from pound shops, cornershops or takeaways, where the quality can be lower. In some neighbourhoods, a proportion of families in privately rented homes do not even have a cooker: they have to rely on a microwave and fast food.
 
Britain will have to change its approach to food. We cannot contract out our food policy to an industry whose gospel is “cheap as chips”. The Government must take back its role as consumer protector from the supermarkets and the food industry — and ensure that the real interests of ordinary shoppers are upheld.
 
We must also put a lot more effort into helping the most vulnerable to feed themselves in an era of ever-rising prices. We can do little to stop global food inflation. But we can stop British consumers from being misled and begin to value food properly.

Friday 15 February 2013

Open letter to Councillor Poole

Dear Councillor Poole
I am writing to you about your e-mail to a Ramsgate resident concerning the Pleasurama meeting held on Wednesday 6 February at the Belgian Café Ramsgate. Your e-mail says
“I would like to put the record straight.........I arrived after the start of the Belgium Bar meeting with Cllr Driver in full flow expounding his usual misinformation and half-truths. This is why I intervened with my 'rubbish' comment. I was referring to what Cllr Driver was saying. I was not referring to the residents and apologise if this was the impression given”.
Your recollection of events is wrong. I did not speak at the meeting until AFTER you had spoken. My opening remarks when I did speak were in response to your outrageous statement that people at the meeting were “talking rubbish”.
The meeting was filmed by the BBC and TV choice. It is clear from their  footage that your comments about “talking rubbish” were directed at the people attending the meeting. The footage also shows that I spoke AFTER you. There were over 80 people at the meeting. Many of them have posted on Facebook and contacted me privately to confirm that I spoke AFTER you.
I can only assume that you have told a deliberate lie in order to avoid blame for your arrogant abuse of Ramsgate residents who have genuine and deep-seated concerns about the Pleasurama development.
I am also rather mystified about your claim that I am peddling half-truths and misinformation about the Pleasurama development. When the BBC challenged you about this claim you ended up agreeing with what I had said!
The transcript of this interview has been widely published including todays Thanet Gazette.
Finally, I am extremely concerned that you appear totally determined to push through the Pleasurama development come what may. You have attacked ridiculed and insulted people who oppose the project. You have accused people of spreading half-truths and misinformation which when challenged about, you are unable to substantiate. Now you tell lies to extract yourself a difficult situation.
Frankly I do not think you are a fit and proper person to oversee the Pleasurama development as you seem incapable of viewing it objectively.
Perhaps you should consider you position.
 
Ian Driver (Councillor)

Monday 11 February 2013

Registering a success!


Successful canvassing last year raised the proportion of registered voters in Thanet to 86.6%.
Electoral Registration Officer Sue McGonigal said: “It is really important that the residents of Thanet are able to take part in choosing who makes decisions both locally and on a wider scale. For this, the annual registration of voters is essential.
 
“In previous years registrations in Thanet stood at only 80% of those eligible. We therefore set up a group to look at ways of improving registration, in particular to see how other parts of Kent managed to achieve higher registration figures.
 In February 2012 a Scrutiny group recommended a change of approach to undertaking the canvass, and the need for £20,000 extra funding to address this, which I was happy to support.”
For the annual canvass the new method used an initial postal request followed by door to door canvassing of non-respondents.

In the end 6,053 forms were obtained by canvassers knocking on doors – almost 10% of the total returns!

Sue McGonigal added: “Although this is a great and welcome improvement there is still room for increasing the percentage further, so we shall be renewing our efforts at the next round of canvassing in November. However I would like to stress that registration is a legal requirement and we would rather save the money we spend chasing replies in order to use it on delivering front line services. So we do need everyone’s help here as well!”

Results of council spending consultation

 

At the full Thanet District Council (TDC) meeting on 7 February Members voted through the Cabinet recommendation not to increase the TDC aspect of Council Tax for 2013/14. This decision means that the tax will remain at the same level for a fourth year. However, in the long term, with further Government funding cuts on the horizon, the outcome of the council’s recent budget consultation becomes particularly significant.

In order to decide how to allocate the Council Tax to fund services and to make improvements, the annual public consultation on spending-priorities took place between 29 October and 7 December 2012. The results of that survey have just been published and feedback from the survey has been shared with the key managers and councillors responsible for setting the council's budget.
The survey results are now available on the TDC website:
http://www.thanet.gov.uk/council__democracy/consultation/budget_consultation_2013.aspx
Cllr Rick Everitt, Cabinet Member for Financial Services, said: “We’re looking closely at the results as they influence our decisions on how we spend the budget which we have available.
 “It is interesting that some of the top priorities are those in which everyone can play their part to make sure the area’s needs are met while in the process helping the council to avoid the need to allocate extra money to compensate for thoughtlessness.

“For example street cleansing and waste and recycling head the list of things which respondents find most important and we certainly recognise this too:  We have around 50 staff operating 15 freighters making over 3.6 million waste collections a year. They do a really good job in all weathers but if we all do our part to bag up waste properly that can really help to keep costs down.

“Similarly cleanliness and safety along our extensive coastline is also something in which we can all play our part so that beach inspections and water safety tasks can be carried out economically.
“Community safety is yet another area where thoughtfulness, awareness and appropriate reporting of problems can do a lot to maintain the best aspects of our area and to target problems successfully.
“I think the real message here is that the council has done as much as it can by stabilising Council Tax for a further year and we will allocate funds as effectively as possible, but everybody has it in their hands to help us enhance Thanet as a great place to live and work. It’s not just about what the council can do.”

New planning applications,

The TDC planning website is one of the most bizarre websites I have ever come across in as much as the web addresses of the pages on it change after a few hours so you can’t publish links to them. If you want to look at any of the applications you need to go to the site and enter the application reference in the search box, this link takes you to the site http://www.ukplanning.com/thanet

Date Published*Application No.AddressStatus
08 Feb 2013F/TH/13/003448 ESKDALE AVENUE RAMSGATE CT110PBcurrent
07 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00711 BIRCH CLOSE BROADSTAIRS CT102NFcurrent
07 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0067LAND REAR OF 11 OSBORNE ROAD BROADSTAIRS CT102AEcurrent
07 Feb 2013F/TH/12/098396 GORDON ROAD, WESTWOOD, MARGATE, CT9 4EAcurrent
07 Feb 2013F/TH/13/006642 LINDENTHORPE ROAD, BROADSTAIRS, CT10 1BQcurrent
06 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00653 BEACH RISE WESTGATE ON SEA CT8A 8ABcurrent
06 Feb 2013F/TH/13/006427 SUTHERLAND DRIVE BIRCHINGTON CT79XDcurrent
05 Feb 2013F/TH/12/0749FLAT 3,9 CHANDOS SQUARE, BROADSTAIRS, CT10 1QN current
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0005WESTGATE ON SEA CRICKET CLUB, ST MILDREDS ROAD, WESTGATE ON SEA, CT8 8RF current
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/003042 TRINITY SQUARE, MARGATE current
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00323 LYMINGTON ROAD, WESTGATE-ON-SEA, CT8 8ES current
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00471 HIGH STREET, MARGATE CT91DL current
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00452 WESTBROOK GARDENS MARGATE CT95DJcurrent
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0048PETER A JOHNSON LTD THE OLD POST OFFICE CANTERBURY ROAD SARRE BIRCHINGTON CT70JYcurrent
05 Feb 2013F/TH/13/003723 PENSHURST ROAD RAMSGATE CT118EGcurrent
04 Feb 2013F/TH/13/004966 FITZROY AVENUE, BROADSTAIRS, CT10 3LTcurrent
01 Feb 2013F/TH/13/005513 MAYFORTH GARDENS RAMSGATE CT110LLcurrent
01 Feb 2013A/TH/13/00607 ST JOHNS CRESCENT RAMSGATEcurrent
01 Feb 2013F/TH/13/00462 CONVENT ROAD BROADSTAIRS CT103BEcurrent
01 Feb 2013L/TH/13/0013132 GRANGE ROAD RAMSGATE CT119PTcurrent
01 Feb 2013F/TH/13/0044CUMMINS POWER GENERATION LTD COLUMBUS AVENUE MANSTON PARK MANSTON RAMSGATE CT125BFcurrent
* This date is when Thanet District Council first published this case file.