27 February 2010
12:0241470Sue - I respect the work you, Roger, JHG, Chris P etc do and I respect your motivation. It is a fact that some reps will work harder than others. C'est la vie. However, the truth is that in the 11 years I have lived here the town has deteriorated, facilities that most of us see and that tourists (if they are lucky, as the signage is poor) get to see are neglected and poorly advertised. Communication between local reps, local bodies and the general public is poorly thought out, poorly managed and poorly delivered. Probably our biggest draw, our history and tourism, is pitifully addressed by people paid to address it, and public relations are appalling. I am not "sniping from the sidelines". I work for a living and expect to deliver a good service and a good deal for my salary. I don't complain if justifiable attention is drawn to shortfalls in my service - I address them and improve. If one takes on a job, however small/large/recognised the remuneration, one takes responsibility for its delivery and outcomes.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
27 February 2010
12:5741473Again Well said Bern when you vote this time just think about all this before you do it.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
27 February 2010
13:5541474Sue
I would never be rude to a lady and sincerely apologise if my post left that impression.
It contained 2 questions and I simply re-used your terminology to explain how many Dovorians, I suspect, feel about the council.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
27 February 2010
14:0441475Sue, I as much as I appreciate your efforts, and I do, the plain fact is Dover town centre is worse now that at any time since I moved here back in 1986.
The list of items you kindly put up to show what has been done leads me to ask two questions, and here they are:
Q1. How many jobs have been created as a result of the improvements listed?
Q2. How much inward investment to Dover town centre have the improvements listed generated?
Please do not think I misunderstand the importance of the items you provided, but, despite the huge effort to get them, for which I am sure some are grateful, they are but frippery when compared to the decline and certain death of our town, which is what we are witnessing.
For example, demolished bus garage, burnt out church near Ladywell, closed and boarded up indoor market, closed Churchill hotel, MFI gone, Row of shops on Townwall Street closed and boarded up, paper mill closed and boarded up, commercial premises in Lorne road closed and boarded up, Buckland Hospital close to closing, other shabby premises including the infamous Castle Street eyesore. Just examples, I dare say other members can add to the list.
So, with all due respect, a kneeling bus to Market Square is nice to have, but I'd rather see inward investment either through commercial channels or even tourism, and we know what DDC (blue and red) think about that.
Lastly, I respect the fact that you are prepared to stand your ground for the councillors but sometimes one has to acknowledge that not nearly enough of real substance has been delivered for the folks of this town. Trying is one thing, being successful another.
This subject also leads me to ask again a question for, I think, the third time since returning to Dover, "What has our MP done for Dover". I am still waiting for answers on that one.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
27 February 2010
15:5041479Sid Im leaving the rugby to answer a few questions .I think you will find the list i supplied really showed improvements to the environment .Deal Pier attracts visitors,play area improvements people have been screaming at us for these .We had ten years of neglect so it has proved costly .New homes provided,we have over 3,000 on the waiting list Over one million has been spent on improving homes in the private sector alone .Over £ 600,000 on adaptions for the disabled
Low floor buses many elderly and disabled can now travel on these .Concessionary fares more people travelling .They like to hop on a bus to Canterbury
Have you visted the White cliffs Business park .Factories and work shops .
What we do lack is an educated work force .
Where are our engineers .Media and art studies do not create wealth .
I will repeat what I have said often on here .Councillors donot litter the streets or write rude messages on any available bus shelter..
We alone cannot force people to open up shops .You get a decent shop and no one uses it We are living in a deprived area and when a few people realise this then perhaps consideration will be shewn to those who and I dont mean myself who work days on end to move this town forward .
I posted on here a few days ago there are people who have never been to St Radigunds or the Rabbit Warren as it is called on the Buckland Estate .
I was on the buis the other day and a young mother and her friend were swearing all the time .They were not happy as they had to fold the pushchair .Poor souls .I used to have a child on each hip and still manage to board a bus if not I walked .
Every one wants something for nothing and never appreciate what is being done
27 February 2010
17:0641484Sue - you go girl! I know you work hard, and full respect for that. And I love Dover, love living here (actually, sacrifice quite a bit in terms of access to jobs as the Old Man and I have to drive miles each day to and from work if we want to do what we are good at), but it has to be said, notwithstanding all the positives you mention which are sterling work and very welcome, Dover is not served well by the corporate local reps.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
28 February 2010
08:1541526As a resident, but also as Dover Business Support Manager, I walk up and down the proverbial High Street almost every day.
As Business Support Manager I know the highs and lows of Dover Town - I've photographed virtually all of it.
I have 3 dossiers of Dover's buildings and I've split them into the worst buildings; the ones that needs either new windows, repainting or something relatively minor doing to them and those in Castle Street.
The worst ones, I've sent to the Portfolio Holder at DDC asking, pleading with him, to take these worst ones up and action section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act, where the LPA (local planning authority - in this case DDC) can force the Landlords to do up their run-down and dilapidated buildings.
There are other buildings in other Towns and villages that are (apparantly) much more important that those in Dover, so no, they won't take them up, well they "might" but not for a considerable time.
These 215 notices have to go through the legal team and DDC (any authority) have to be prepared, once the ball has started rolling, to see it through and this costs money, money that DDC do not have.
I have to say though that 90% of letters written, result in the landlord doing up their property, which then means of course that the cost to DDC would be minimal.
I am going to determine the owners - (the worst two (to my mind) are number 10 King Street and the side wall and above the front of the Best Kebab business in Cannon Street, Dover and write to them as DBS Manager.
The other ones that need some kind of refurbishment I am calling in personally to see.
Any Town Centre building that is scheduled to be part of DTIZ (and the most recent news is that ASDA are coming to Dover), will not have any work done on it until it is all sorted.
There are new planning applications being worked on for some other Town sites too.
The properties I've photographed in Castle Street, I have taken to David H. as he is Chairman of the Castle Street Society and he is going to chase the owners of those properties and get them tidied up.
Every Town, especially in this recession, has closed shops, but I'm damn sure they aren't all left in the state some of our's are.
I have met with the Mayor Sue Jones and some local artists and we are working on ways we can have the closed ones painted - some with banners, some with other artwork, so that the shops don't even look closed, people can walk passed them, just not go in them.
We need the co-operation of the agents and the landlords and some agents won't give out details of their landlords, so that's an extra hurdle to jump.
Many commercial buildings in Dover are owned by people who buy them at auctions and then leave them run-down and dilapidated.
I have agreemnet from Kent Highways that a quarterly chewing-gum cleaning schedule can be set up.
I also have agreement from the Community Pay-Back Team that the black flower tubs will be cleared of weeds and dog-ends and have new compost and flowers (supplied by DDC) planted.
This should have started the week before Christmas, but then it snowed and eventually when that had gone, it snowed again and then of course again - and now it's always raining.
I am working on bringing a proper market to Dover - around the Market Square and up Cannon Street and if enough stall-holders come, up Biggin Street too.
Co-operation has been offered by both the District and Town Councils, so good on them.
I have also been assisting businesses with other issues - business-rates, fire-risk assessments, promoting and marketing them through various means and when I have enough members (of Dover Business Support) I can start placing adverts in the local paper.
Business rates are the biggest bane of any (local) business, they are totally disproportionate to the level of trading, the business is doing and Dover businesses are not doing well.
If the Government and its VOA department do not change their rating system, then there will be more closed shops - there are many people who have created a good business plan, but at the end of the day, the rates kill it.
They're all happy to pay business-rates, it's that they are just so high and disproportionate.
And in between all the above, I am trying to recruit members to DBS, because without them, I can't do it.
Do you think all the above is worth £3.00 a week ? - the cost of membership of DBS. I do believe that if any business cannot afford this, even on a monthly S/O, then their business is indeed, in a parlous state, so then it would be that they don't support what I'm working on - 5, sometimes 6 days a week.
Roger
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
28 February 2010
08:5141527interesting article Roger.Thanks.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
28 February 2010
08:5541529Thanks Marek - there is much more I'm working on, but the posting was becoming too long.
Roger
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
28 February 2010
09:4441531Yes a good report there Roger .I was present when Roger was discussing the derelict properties and I know the answer given .Indeed it is correct we have derelict properties in other parts of the district .
Roger has explained that a great deal of Officer time is required to sort these problems out .We are short of staff recruitment has ceased and pay is frozen .
At the conference in Brighton we were able to hear first hand of the problems faced there also Hastings .Thanet has problems more empty shops than Dover .
Did you see the programme re The Steele Industry closing .
From Rogers posting I hope you can all see that people are working and some very hard .
Budget meeting at DDC on Wednesday how many will spare the time to listen to the debate ???
I shall not be there Im away .My first break for two years .
28 February 2010
10:3641537Roger, you are a true star. Dover is lucky to have you.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
10:4041538Derelict properties thats good wording,they have been in Dover a very long time and nothing done about them,the blues have been in office now at the D,D,C for a number of years and all they have done is added to that list or put a fence around the ones they have pulled down.
We only have to look at all the towns around us "Yes"even Hastings they are working on their town to make it better "Yes they have derelict properties like we have in Dover but you can see work going on,and when they take a old building down with in weeks they are working to put one in its place,not like Dover left for years, in Dover they have been like it for 40years or more.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
28 February 2010
12:0241544Thanks for your support Vic !
It seems the order of the day for you, now you are ptrliamentary candidate for UKIP, is to bash or criticise anyone who doesn't vote UKIP.
The work above and that I have yet to do, has absolutely nothing to do with politics; more to do with passion - for Dover and position - as DBS Manager.
Roger
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
28 February 2010
12:2041547I hope you get some well earned support from the local business fraternity Roger, and hopefully, they`re all aware of this forum and can see what it`s all about.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
28 February 2010
13:2541557Sorry, Sue, I can't agree with much in your recent posts. The fact remains that the DTIZ remains a non-event; we hear stories of ASDA pulling out, ASDA being kicked into touch by DDC, and the smoke screen has begun to fog the reality so that blame isn't apportioned. Also, why should posts be deleted merely because you happen to disagree with them? I accept that putting together a development of this size takes time, energy and funding but - seriously, now - how much more time does DDC need? On another thread Barry W said he first got involved with this in the 80s...........making this development a shambles.
Time for posts accusing or defending those responsible has expired; it's now time to get fresh blood on board and get some movement on the DTIZ. You have to accept that criticism for this farce is inevitable; sweeping the matter under the carpet by erasing posts will solve nothing. Dovorians are not ostriches.
True friends stab you in the front.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
13:2941558Mr Cooper. I go long with all you say"fresh Blood"Sounds good to me
28 February 2010
14:2741569Watch out folks! Vampire Vic is on the prowl for fresh blood! Full moon tonight anyone?
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
14:5641570Roger I am on your side but it is all talk mate you do not get the back up from the D,D,C that you need.
I keep over all the years the planning Briefs and the cost of them of our town, and at this very time I am looking yet again at the Planning Brief of the York Street site cost of this brief was about £28.000 lot of money in July 2002. Just to read out to you word by word just one part of it (1.8)The site is currently owned by several different parties, therefore the achievement of comprehensive redevelopment will depend on site assembly and the relocation of existing uses.
Every effort will be made to resolve anyland ownership issues.through negotiation.Now Roger we come to the best bit.
"BUT AS A LAST RESORT THE COUNCIL WILL BE PREPARED TO CONSIDER THE USE OF ITS COMPULSIRY PURCHASE POWERS"
This makes good reading even for me and I have been reading this for some 6years,
Now we come to the last part.
"THE COUNCIL ALREADY OWNS A SIGNIFICANT PORTIONOF THE SITE.
Now Roger that was in 2002 what has the D,D,C, done to the significant portion of that site they own,I can tell you in one word NOTHING. I can go on with this there is pages of it.
Also there was a Retail/Leisure Study,completed in September 2000 again costing alot of money and nothing was done about that one to.
You can say well Vic the Blues was not in power at that time,but that does not matter because they could have worked with both of them Briefs at the same time saving funding,now it has all been done again costing alot more and still nothing is geting done.This has nothing to do with me trying to get votes ,I am a Dovorian and older and have seen my town go down hill year after year by both the reds and the blues the planning as I have just pointed out to you have been done time and time again with nothing being done. I will stop now but there is alot more to come yet,and it is in print not me saying it.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
28 February 2010
17:2141583i think that all the evidence points to nothing ever happening.
we have had the archeological dig, the bus station pulled down and nothing else, other than photocalls from councilors wearing hard hats.
i said on here about 5 years ago that hastings council had taken positive action regarding compulsory purchase orders, vic has brought the subject up again here.
both colour councils have tried but failed on the issue of the DTIZ and town centre.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
28 February 2010
17:3041585Howard I was working in Hastings on buildings as a welder,and we have family there,but back to Dover I have alot more paper work on what the D,D,C, have said over the last few years and "Failed" as you put it, is hiting the nail on the head.I hope all read what I have put down this time and it gets in the local papers.