The Front Page. - Copy 122 (Dover Port - DHB Statement, Connaught Park Pond)
27 August 2010
Dover Harbour by Paul Wells (Scotchie) . Very grateful to Paul for the splendid aerial shot above..just in.
Port Latest: Some of you will have heard about the UNITE (Trade Union) statement the other day with regard to the Port of Dover. They stand strongly against Port Privatisation and their statement can be easily summed up by its first paragraph which went thus...
"Allowing the Port of Dover to fall into private hands would be disastrous for the UK’s transport and economic interests. And at a time when ferry companies at the port are struggling to survive, the business case for Port Privatisation is not stacking up either, says the union." it goes on to say..."Unite fears that the government may seek to use any positive response to the DHB's consultation as a pretext to fast-track a sell-off."
I have had a release directly in from the Dover Harbour Board themselves answering this statement from UNITE...and here we are.
RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT BY UNITE
ON THE PRIVATISATION OF THE PORT OF DOVER
Friday's statement by the union Unite has failed to grasp the rationale and driving force behind the Port of Dover' s voluntary privatisation scheme.
Unite claims that it would be disastrous for UK transport and the economy to let the port fall into private hands. It is entirely for the long term benefit of UK transport and the UK economy that the privatisation scheme is currently being considered by the Department for Transport. As a trust port, the Port of Dover is unable to finance significant additional capacity when required as its status as a public corporation does not allow it to borrow. This will have the ultimate effect of the port being unable in the longer term to handle the increase in traffic forecast over the next 30 years. This in turn will create unsustainable congestion and a wholly inefficient port which, as a facility handling around £80 billion of goods a year will be detrimental to the local and national economy.
Unite suggests that a sell-off was shelved by the previous Government due to an unfavourable response. In fact, it was the previous Government calling a General Election which meant that a decision was unlikely to be made until a new Government was in place. The Port welcomed the new Government's extension of the consultation period as an opportunity to present greater detail on the scheme and the benefits it will bring. Indeed, such benefits are unprecedented in that a Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT) would be established with an immediate cash sum of £10 million with a tripling of the PDCT's assets through the holding of shares in the new company. The PDCT would be independently chaired and would be both representative and for the benefit of the local community and the long term regeneration of the area.
As a trust port, the Port of Dover cannot pursue such a course as all of its profit has to be ploughed back into maintaining and enhancing the port. Therefore, for Unite to state that the people of Dover will lose out is entirely wrong and its claim that the port's discharge of social responsibility will suffer is misguided when the port will, through the PDCT, be in a position to do so much more for Dover and its community than it has been able to do for the past 400 years.
Unite's statement fails to recognise that the Port of Dover's scheme is a unique opportunity to expand the business, create jobs and prosperity, unite the port with its community and secure the long term future of a key national asset that will need to expand and grow if it is to remain the jewel in the crown which everyone wishes it to be.
End of DHB Statement.
Leave your comment below.Open to All.
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Reader Peter Hart has sent in these fascinating pictures, fascinating for all the wrong reasons, of the fountain and pond in Connaught Park. As you can see the whole thing has been left to rot and decay. The water is low and the fish are dead or dying.
Peter Hart says....
"After spending thousands of pounds on a new fountain, on planting and fish introduction, the Council are letting the pond "rot". The fountain is never switched on, the pond is drying out and the fish are dead."
We know Connaught Park is very popular with everyone, so its fair to say this is a very sorry state of affairs. Peter has contacted the Dover District Council and the situation is not good. Peter has also contacted the RSPCA who are now looking into the matter with regard to the dead fish. But back to the Council...it appears that the Council do not have the funding to do anything about this. It would cost a small fortune to fix it, guestimate is £100,000, so at this juncture it looks like the pond will be emptied and drained and left as a hollow nothingness, a void...and no doubt a "receptacle for rubbish" as Peter Hart says. So, another one of Dover's watery assets gloomily bites the dust, probably never to return. We are grateful to Peter Hart for bringing this to our attention otherwise it all may have slipped away un-noticed. Leave your comment in the box below. It's open to everyone. You dont have to be a member.
* *
Dover Harbour by Paul Wells (Scotchie) . Very grateful to Paul for the splendid aerial shot above..just in.
Port Latest: Some of you will have heard about the UNITE (Trade Union) statement the other day with regard to the Port of Dover. They stand strongly against Port Privatisation and their statement can be easily summed up by its first paragraph which went thus...
"Allowing the Port of Dover to fall into private hands would be disastrous for the UK’s transport and economic interests. And at a time when ferry companies at the port are struggling to survive, the business case for Port Privatisation is not stacking up either, says the union." it goes on to say..."Unite fears that the government may seek to use any positive response to the DHB's consultation as a pretext to fast-track a sell-off."
I have had a release directly in from the Dover Harbour Board themselves answering this statement from UNITE...and here we are.
RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT BY UNITE
ON THE PRIVATISATION OF THE PORT OF DOVER
Friday's statement by the union Unite has failed to grasp the rationale and driving force behind the Port of Dover' s voluntary privatisation scheme.
Unite claims that it would be disastrous for UK transport and the economy to let the port fall into private hands. It is entirely for the long term benefit of UK transport and the UK economy that the privatisation scheme is currently being considered by the Department for Transport. As a trust port, the Port of Dover is unable to finance significant additional capacity when required as its status as a public corporation does not allow it to borrow. This will have the ultimate effect of the port being unable in the longer term to handle the increase in traffic forecast over the next 30 years. This in turn will create unsustainable congestion and a wholly inefficient port which, as a facility handling around £80 billion of goods a year will be detrimental to the local and national economy.
Unite suggests that a sell-off was shelved by the previous Government due to an unfavourable response. In fact, it was the previous Government calling a General Election which meant that a decision was unlikely to be made until a new Government was in place. The Port welcomed the new Government's extension of the consultation period as an opportunity to present greater detail on the scheme and the benefits it will bring. Indeed, such benefits are unprecedented in that a Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT) would be established with an immediate cash sum of £10 million with a tripling of the PDCT's assets through the holding of shares in the new company. The PDCT would be independently chaired and would be both representative and for the benefit of the local community and the long term regeneration of the area.
As a trust port, the Port of Dover cannot pursue such a course as all of its profit has to be ploughed back into maintaining and enhancing the port. Therefore, for Unite to state that the people of Dover will lose out is entirely wrong and its claim that the port's discharge of social responsibility will suffer is misguided when the port will, through the PDCT, be in a position to do so much more for Dover and its community than it has been able to do for the past 400 years.
Unite's statement fails to recognise that the Port of Dover's scheme is a unique opportunity to expand the business, create jobs and prosperity, unite the port with its community and secure the long term future of a key national asset that will need to expand and grow if it is to remain the jewel in the crown which everyone wishes it to be.
End of DHB Statement.
Leave your comment below.Open to All.
* *
Connaught Park - In A Sad State of Neglect!
Reader Peter Hart has sent in these fascinating pictures, fascinating for all the wrong reasons, of the fountain and pond in Connaught Park. As you can see the whole thing has been left to rot and decay. The water is low and the fish are dead or dying.
Peter Hart says....
"After spending thousands of pounds on a new fountain, on planting and fish introduction, the Council are letting the pond "rot". The fountain is never switched on, the pond is drying out and the fish are dead."
We know Connaught Park is very popular with everyone, so its fair to say this is a very sorry state of affairs. Peter has contacted the Dover District Council and the situation is not good. Peter has also contacted the RSPCA who are now looking into the matter with regard to the dead fish. But back to the Council...it appears that the Council do not have the funding to do anything about this. It would cost a small fortune to fix it, guestimate is £100,000, so at this juncture it looks like the pond will be emptied and drained and left as a hollow nothingness, a void...and no doubt a "receptacle for rubbish" as Peter Hart says. So, another one of Dover's watery assets gloomily bites the dust, probably never to return. We are grateful to Peter Hart for bringing this to our attention otherwise it all may have slipped away un-noticed. Leave your comment in the box below. It's open to everyone. You dont have to be a member.