Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Sorry Mr Watkins I am not in agreement with you on this one,the blues have been in office to long to pull that one out of the bag,you was there in the good years still nothing was done then,I saw the plans oF the DTIZ you had done when I was on the town council that was 5 years ago, and you then said"It is full steam ahead.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Good points Sid, I agree with most of them.
Sorry Vic but because you are not "in the loop" you have no idea what is going on in the background where talks are being held.
The hold-up with DTIZ has nothing to do with DDC, more to do with the developers and ASDA and as far as is known, they are stilling working on coming here.
With so many different land-owners and none of them playing ball, it has been quite a struggle to get anything moving, but it really is almost there.
Sometimes I feel it is a bit like the hospital - so many different views and opinions that no one site was supported, people were going in all different directions and so we lose it (probably). Let's not lose this opportunity.
Roger
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Sorry Roger, But you are just toeing the party line,say what you are thinking.
Unregistered User
Vic, It is a matter for the market to deliver. All the decisions necessary to go ahead have been taken It is up to them not us to say why they will not go ahead. They have planning permissions, comnpulsory purchase decisions ready to go. All obstacles from other agencies have been removed subject to planning conditions being satisfied.
We know there are difficult times out there and Morrisons have taken market share initially but that is competition and if they let Morrisons get in that's their problem and their commercial mistake.
Well done Morrisons, good for the consumer.As I acknowledged before your inside info. on Morrisons was spot on.
Watty
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Thank you for your post Mr Watkins,yes my inside info was spot on with Morrisons,and it is the same about Burlington house,I said it would still be up in six years time,and I said that 3years ago in the press and on the forum and that is right to.
As I said before I think you are trying hard but do not have a very good team round you so get even more new faces the old school tie game is not working.
Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
Well we have had two very good postings from the Leader ,he is able to inform you better than Roger or I as we have to be careful in what we can say or not say .Roger is telling the truth not toeing a party line .
Today Im off to County Hall Maidstone .Why do I bother to tell you this .Simply because funding is tight all round .Age Concern must ensure there is enough funding to keep our wonderful Riverside Centre going .
Tough times all round .
The recession is hitting everyone .Vic this is not the best time to enter politics the good days have long since gone .There is so much negativity now and you cannot answer everyones problems .
Im so old I can remember the war and how my parents struggled .We had to make do and mend .A few shops .Hospitals miles away hardly any public transport it was a case of on your bike
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
As I said in one of my post,s we had very good times 2.3years ago and nothing was done then by the D.D.C. I am just talking about the Town not housing.
Unregistered User
Bern, PC and risk adverse whether the same or separate are symptoms of an over regulated , interfering system that drains resources from front line services. In your working world you know that to be true.
As for new blood and new thinking, I have said I do not regret new ideas and thinking. I have a very good contingent of new, younger councillors with a wide range of experiences, Roger will confirm that. They are coming thru. the ranks and we have a balanced Cabinet and Chairmanships of new and experienced. As I stated in the previous posting you can have all the new blood but you can't beat the system and have to work within it.
We have now positioned ourselves in many strategic areas where decisions are made , county, regional and national and obtained designations that bring Dover priority funding within an exclusive grouping across the South East. You don't move forward without a firm evidence base-as you know- and you don't get the job done by sitting in Dover whinging.
What I and others can't do is move forward without these designations, private investment and firm decisions for plannning policy being in place.
There is no public money to do the job solely by District Councils.Indeed in my view the future of District Councils is very time limited.
Unless the systems change, District Councils will voluntarily accept their own demise and merge with neighbours -as is happening in East Kent.
They are too small to do the job and Counties are too large to be effective and accountable.
So there you have it.
Watty
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Sue writes
Vic this is not the best time to enter politics the good days have long since gone .
Don't you really mean the days of fiddling one's expenses are over.
There is so much negativity now and you cannot answer everyones problems .
Is that because the electorate are better informed and more active and don't blindly accept everything we are told as being the gospel truth.
Im so old I can remember the war and how my parents struggled .We had to make do and mend .A few shops .Hospitals miles away hardly any public transport it was a case of on your bike.
I am not so old and cannot remember the war except for the fact that it destroyed our family and forced my father to leave his homeland and marry in the UK(thank God!!) But surely you wouldn't want anyone to go through the hardships that you suffered.The idea of entering politics at any level is to improve the conditions and make life better and fairer for the next generation.Or am I missing something?
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Well said Marek again,just to say Sue again I have been in politics now from the late 1950s,I have not just enter as you put it and all that has been at Dover.
Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
Marek Im unaware of any fiddling .Hospitality is very limited and always has to be declared .Gifts have to be declared .I once was given flowers which I had to declare and they were promptly sent to a residential home .
I wish some of you would come into the real world .Freebies what are they ?
I refer to the war Marek as I believe those who grew up then did not expect the state to provide .We all got on with it .People look at other towns and want large shops .want is the apt word .Dover District has some of the most spendid countryside ,quaint towns and a glorious coast line .
I stated previously last night I was in Alkham .God did a good job beautiful landscape .
Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
Vic ,you may have been interested in politics but in the forty years I have lived here I only recall you were on the Town Council for Four Years and River Parish Councilfor Two years??Were you on the old Borough??Eastry Rural ,Sandwich ??
I go back to the late sixties .I was in to politics years before I was elected .
Paul is right we do have young blood on the council and very good they are too .I hope that my experience can help them in some way .Mean while I have my new role which takes me out of the local arena but hopefully spreads the word for Dover .
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Sue
I was referring to the "Great H of C MP's scam" and their expenses claims and house flipping not to any DDC,DTC,YMCA,WI war council....or whoever locally runs the town.Who shouted Fred Karno???? Take 50 lines
.
I was 1 of 6 kids and my Dad was in full time employment 1936-47 (Various Polish/British Air Forces .1947-81 Oil Well Engineering Company(OWECO) based in Cheadle Stockport.Sid may have heard of them.
Right your turn to do a spot of how 'ard we ad it brinkmanship
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Sue I was with the blues then with Mrs Cotton working in the HQ at the bottom of Castle Hill ,I was one of the back room boys,all paper work,done that for some years,I was even doing it when I was in the Army when I came home on weekends off. I f you wish to know more please come over and have a chat at some time.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
Yes I realiase you worked in the back room Vic I did the same but not quite the same as being in the firing line as a Councillor .We had a Alf Cotton thought he was a Liberal ?
Paul, many thanks for the considered responses, much more than I expected, really.
I didn't put up my mini-manifesto for folks to have a go at DDC or DTC, but to give an idea of how addressing matters, at all levels, a bit more aggresively, we might bring about the improvements to Dover that I guess we all would like to see.
This will clearly require effort from the public, Parish, Town and Disctrict councils PLUS our MP, assuming he/she is interested of course. That track record is dismal so far.
Joined together above party politics and all working for the same thing, the betterment of Dover, is what I believe the public want to see. And when I talk about the betterment of Dover I don't just mean a bit of fancy wall-work on the seafront, and a few plant pots in town.
If we are proud of our town, then we should stand up for it and share our passion with those who need others to deliver for them.
As I said, let's find ways to make things happen rather than excuses for not doing something.
PW, I cannot disagree with your view on over-regulation and sodding targets strangling endeavour and entrepreneurial talent, and I welcome your embracing new blood, but I wonder how long that new blood will fizz and crackle with the weight of under-achievement and over-complex and unclear pathways to drag it down and stifle it.
It has been said before, by me and by many others: let's stop making excuses (even if they are almost-valid) and let's start thinking around corners and MAKING THINGS HAPPEN! Roger is unfailingly positive and I have nothing but admiration for him and his works. If only the rest of us followed his example.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Thank you Bern - much appreciated.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
no one doubts your efforts and abilities roger, however if they are not matched by the the representatives of the authorities or business then they can be wasted.
i remember your loyalty scheme when you used the simile of membership being a couple of pints of lager and still having trouble to get shops signed up.
i am getting the opinion that dover businesses(not all) are just want to jog along as they are and do not want to build a future.
one only has to look at any sunday or bank holiday(irrespective of whether there is a regatta, big cruise ship arriving or christmas light turn) on to realise that we do not welcome visitors.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I believe you are right on your comment Howard that some businesses don't want to help build a future for themselves, let alone Dover.
Part of the problem is that they have been let down in the past (not by the Loyalty Scheme I might add) by bodies that have purported to support them.
Until they can see things change, they will just plod along. There isn't one cure for Dover's ills, but all the businesses do need assurances that the Town is being helped and supported
and the latest ASDA story doesn't help.
I need to be able to write articles for the local paper(s) to let the public and businesses know what I'm doing.
Roger