PatrickS
- Location: Marine Parade, Dover
- Registered: 19 Sep 2015
- Posts: 448
Howard wrote
#534
"Just been past and looks like groundworks for the multiscreen cinema are in place, I can't remember now whether that was the first part planned to be completed."
Plenty of site activity over the past week/10 days in both areas designated for the Cinema and Hotel complex.
These were the first scheduled to be completed and the much publicised Sept. 2016 opening of the 5 screen cinema that we will all be watching.
All on track then!!
By the way, DDC's Scrutiny (Policy & Performance) Committee was supposed to keep an eye on Council's involvement in the DTIZ / St James project following pressure from Alan Shirley and others (remember the petition!) for more openness in respect of exactly what DDC was doing and how much they were spending here.
Haven't heard a lot lately on this. All too quiet.
Perhaps might be worth keeping an eye on the recent posts under " DWDR, Bananas and a Cable car "
Guest 1266- Registered: 8 May 2014
- Posts: 381
Until Dovorians finally decide enough is enough and demand DDC is abolished then nothing will ever change. Mr Watkins and his merry men will continue to treat those they are suppose to serve with absolute contempt.
Jack of Hearts
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Good thing we all do not think the same way as post 542
Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,000
Jack Heart wrote:Until Dovorians finally decide enough is enough and demand DDC is abolished then nothing will ever change. Mr Watkins and his merry men will continue to treat those they are suppose to serve with absolute contempt.
Just wait until you have a Unitary Authority for East Kent and you are subsidising mad schemes which aren't even 'local'! 'Rather the Devil you know' IMHO.
howard mcsweeney1 and Ross Miller like this
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
The way I look at is that for more than a decade we have been walking past waste ground as more and more unwanted buildings have been demolished. Soon after each hoardings are put up and the paint starts to peel, weeds grow leaving that part of Dover looking like a scene from an after the nuclear holocaust film.
Nowadays every time I pass the site I can see and hear work going on and there is a sense of urgency, what is not to like about that? The final result will not please everybody of course but it will be a lot better than what we have now.
Judith Roberts, Jan Higgins, Button and
2 more like this
Judith Roberts, Jan Higgins, Button, Paul M and Chris like this
PatrickS- Location: Marine Parade, Dover
- Registered: 19 Sep 2015
- Posts: 448
The sole purpose of my post is not to decry the development of an central area within Dover Town that Howard quite rightly described in #545, but to reinforce the accountability of those involved and to ensure that we are all kept informed and up to date on progress of this major and v. important project, and just as importantly about the reasons why it has taken so long to complete and the delays in contractual undertakings. No more, no less.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Much as I respect what Patrick says about accountability and delays the fact remains that work is going on apace I even saw a vehicle moving on site last Saturday morning. I feel it is not the time for recriminations but to look forward to the end product.
Going off at a tangent I go into Folkestone at least once a week and see the small avenue leading to Asda and the like full of coffee shops with people sitting outside even in this weather sipping an over priced drink. Wouldn't be suitable for Dover as we have a more working class community but over there they moan about Guildhall Street being redundant and Sandgate Road going down market.
You cannot please everybody.
Guest 1849- Registered: 12 Sep 2016
- Posts: 440
Local politics is a microcosm of national politics: get yourself elected in a safe seat, surround yourself with nodding dogs and avoid controversy. All around the country there are examples of how projects come to fruition where competent, professional people go about their work in a studious manner.
The DTIZ, first announced in various forms 20 years ago, is the epitome of how not to do things, in the private sector heads would have rolled years ago.
The private sector in the shape of Bond City have been pulling DDC's pants down for years, its a complete embarrassment.
Guest 1935- Registered: 2 Dec 2016
- Posts: 68
Captain Haddock wrote:Just wait until you have a Unitary Authority for East Kent and you are subsidising mad schemes which aren't even 'local'! 'Rather the Devil you know' IMHO.
I would like to agree with you, as I fear not only the Unitary Authority but the consequential increase in scope and power of the DTC. But the DDC has already proven itself not fit for purpose.
It's like asking a terminally ill patient if they want to try a cure that has minimal chance of success.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
We abolish DDC, hardly anyone trusts DTC, a Unitary Authority would be too distant, so what's left? Before anyone asks I'm busy with other things.
Guest 1849- Registered: 12 Sep 2016
- Posts: 440
I don't want to abolish DDC, I simply want them to show signs of competence.
Word reaches me that several senior people at DDC are very concerned about a possible merger with another body and spend more time lobbying to protect their own interests rather than get on with what they are extremely well paid to do.
This thread is about the DTIZ, some of us attended a meeting about in The Discovery Centre more than 2 years ago, the situation is farcical but nobody is accountable. The Leader of DDC posts here regularly, I invite him to lay out a schedule in order that local taxpayers can monitor the situation.
Of course he won't, he's made too many meaningless promises in the past.
Guest 1266 likes this
Guest 1849- Registered: 12 Sep 2016
- Posts: 440
Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,238
The original St James development plan from 1995.
Arte et Marte
Guest 1849- Registered: 12 Sep 2016
- Posts: 440
Very interesting, Cllr Sansum was part of DDC at that time, perhaps he can shed some light on why these plans went up in smoke.
A Robert Frost stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal Democrat in 1995 - anyone we know?
Guest 1849- Registered: 12 Sep 2016
- Posts: 440
Well I never, this gets even more curious
https://www.dover.gov.uk/Council--Democracy/Past-Leaders-of-the-Council.aspx
The effective leader at the time this pamphlet was issued was Anthony Sansum of the Labour Party.
It seems no group has a monopoly on ineffective, buck passing project management.
Guest 1862 likes this
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,000
D Little wrote:
A Robert Frost stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal Democrat in 1995 - anyone we know?
David,
I have been in contact to see if Bob Frost the disgraced DDC councillor is he same as 'your' Robert Frost.
The former has informed me that at that time he was unable to support Major's dreadful government which was responsible for the National Lottery, Sunday Shopping, Cones Hotline, "Back to Basics" campaign and the Dangerous Dogs Act amongst other lunacies.
Indeed in 1997 he claims to have voted Labour as he viewed Tony Blair as a breath of fresh air before he went mad and started to believe his own publicity. (Blair that is!)
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Finding it difficult to take in Bob Frost as as Limp Dim no doubt dressed in a baggy multi coloured sweater, corduroy trousers and Hush Puppies.
Guest 1935- Registered: 2 Dec 2016
- Posts: 68
Fortunately people like PatrickS and D.Little post to remind us all of why we are where we are.
DTIZ is a mediocre development of tin sheds normally seen on scrub land off a bypass.
It is a decade late and has none of the high quality promised.
The CPO Inquiry only succeeded because the Inspector was misinformed on the probable tenant take up, readiness of investors and DWDRs dependence on BH coming down.
Why is this important now?
Because those same people in DDC (and DHB) will now try and take forward the failed DWDR!
God help us all
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Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,000
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,887
No matter how well it does it wont be the all forDover so we need something more
Paul Watkins likes this
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Arte et Marte
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"