Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
DDC Press Release....****
SEA CHANGE FOR DOVER DISTRICT -
MAJOR MULTI MILLION POUND BOOST WELCOMED
Exciting multi million pound proposals for Dover are being taken forward following major news from the Government confirming a £3.8m Sea Change grant - and partnership agencies are welcoming this major boost for the future.
Plans include an appraisal of a cable car from the Western Docks to Dover Castle; landscaping and artworks on the Esplanade in Dover; improvements around the historic castle, including updating the secret wartime tunnels, to allow new presentations of its history and heritage; and the refurbishment of the Bleriot Monument, which commemorates the first cross channel flight, which is due to be completed by July 2009.
The grant has been made as part of the Government's Sea Change funding programme, which aims to support economic regeneration in coastal areas through investment in culture and heritage. Dover is one of three towns to benefit from over £10m in the first wave of Sea Change grants. The funding has been secured following a successful KCC-led bid. The County Council will also act as the accountable body for the distribution of the money.
Dover District Council, Kent County Council, the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), English Heritage and the Dover Harbour Board, all part of the Dover Pride Partnership, are developing major proposals. The proposals would ensure Dover's cultural assets play a central part in the regeneration of the town, and provide better access and connectivity for visitors and residents.
Margaret Hodge, Culture and Tourism Minister said: "I'm delighted these fantastic plans for Blackpool, Torbay and Dover are now going ahead. Not only will they encourage new visitors to the area, but they will also help support and enrich the community."
Cllr Paul Watkins, Leader of Dover District Council said: "These are formative, progressive times for Dover. A wealth of major development proposals coming together can deliver a world-class future. These state of the art proposals will provide vital linkage between the town, port and heritage, adding further significance to the arrival of the high speed rail link in 2009. The direction of travel is forward to very exciting times."
II
Chairman of Dover Pride and KCC Cabinet Member for Regeneration Roger Gough said: "This is good news and I am pleased for Dover. Funding has also been approved for a whole variety of work, including continuing our good work on the esplanade and big improvements at the castle."
Tracey Wahdan, Visitor Operations Director for English Heritage SE said: "This funding will enable English Heritage to realise the potential of Dover Castle as one of the finest visitor attractions in England by significantly improving the interpretation of the Secret Wartime Tunnels and the Great Tower. This should in turn help to greatly increase the number of people not only visiting the Castle but also the town of Dover. We look forward to working with Kent County Council and Dover District Council on this project."
- ends -
And sweet FA for the actual centre of the town itself.
Plus ca change...
Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
Lets just hope that its put to a usefull project and that the people of Dover have some sort of say, we know our Castle is a gem within Dover but we have to have the rest in place as we want the visiters to our town to stay.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Not sure if a cablecar or an upgrade to the ventilation of the tunnels will make that much of a visitor number difference - they have c300,000 per year.
A refurbish around Bleriot is certainly overdue - the area looks awful and it is hard to imagine not one tree in that area 99 years ago...
What Dover does need to to spend money on the Roman Painted House and get the adjoining archaeology opened up, assistance to the Crabble Mill to help join them with the town, money to re-open the Grand Shaft over the summer (very little!), a relatively small amount to improve access to the Western Heights (perhaps a visitor centre), assistance to open Langdon Cliffs through the evenings
A grant from one government body to another with a vast amount of the money going on consultancy isn't going to help many the town at all.....
Been nice knowing you :)
Hear hear Paul.
It's all more fudge, fudge, fudge, spin-tasmic spreadsheets, pish-posh and costly consultation again. As ever - god lumme.
That word 'appraisal' in the DDC press diktat also scares me to the core, in reference to the world class Barcelona-eque cable car which will very soon whisk hordes of thrilled tourists from somewhere near the Western Docks transit sheds up to the castle (the castle is fantastic as we all know but, come on, it can really look after itself, unlike the sickly town it majestically looms over).
Re the soaring splendour of the cable car project, it's more likely that MFI will reopen in Woolcomber Street than poor old Dubris will start rivalling the Catalan capital.
We're not even the Matalan capital, let alone Catalan. Get real, powers-that-be.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I think one of the most important things that would help tourism outlets - historic sites and attractions etc. is to have a return of the tour bus - maybe two buses to keep the timetable realistic.
It should go to where outlets can (financially) benefit from such a bus-load of passengers; places like starting at the cruise terminal when the right kind of ships are in (when they're not Port of Calls, then the bus could start from the Market Square), going on to the Market Square for the Museum and Bronze-Age Boat and Roman Painted House, then down to the Marina and Richard's Southern Queen Boat and the Churchill; then up to the Castle, from there, it would go round the back to the Langdon Cliffs and the Visitor Centre; after there the Ramada Hotel to pick up and drop off, then round to the Transport Museum and afterwards, down the (Whitfield) Hill to Crabble Corn Mill.
A leaflet would be produced that would be self-financing through advertising and would be distributed far and wide, including all the Hotels and guest houses, as well as all those sites mentioned.
Roger
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
I agree with all of Scotchie suggestions and notice something of disturbing interest in the initial press statement. Why is it not a surprise that this news is welcomed by SEEDA and Dover Pride when the bodies consist of English Heritage (who own and operate the castle - a major winner in this money) and DHB (who own and operate the Esplanade). The Castle is already a major attraction and all the studies have shown that visitors see it as a day trip to bus into and out of. With the exorbitant entrance fees charged by English Heritage, and how much more they will make out of the improvements, they are the ones who should be investing in the castle. DHB are very proud of their profit figures, gained primarily from the lorries that clog up the town, and seem prepared to spend very large sums on making life easier for the lorries. Why can they not spend some of that on the Esplanade?
There is an enormous wealth of historical and natural attractions on the Western Heights and a large pool of our Roman heritage in and around the Painted House, not to mention other sites around the town. If SEEDA and Dover Pride had better representation from across the board, rather than being top heavy with DHB and, to a lesser extent, English Heritage, maybe the rest of the town would get a look in. It would be preferable to being looked down upon as visitors sail over the top on their way to the castle in a cable car.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Absolutely!
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
And absolutely again. Well said Chris.
Spot on, Chris.
How is our dear, decaying shanty town centre itself going to benefit from this pie in the sky, headline-grabbing scheme?
I think we all know the answer to that one.
Andy
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i think that the editorial in the mercury today does actually sum up some of the recent postings on here.
not often graham gets on his high horse and shouts, but he did today!!
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
One paper mentioned money for the Heights - interested to know more....
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 660- Registered: 14 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,205
I think Graham hit the nail on the head in the Mer***y,I have made comments on here and the thread Better Dead about these downbeat comments.We all know Dover can improve but to slag it off without being constructive is not helping.
There are some on here that need to put thier mouth were the money is,it is easy to sit there and critise and let the others do the work and take the flack while they moan and groan.
As Graham said these postings can be are read throughout the world and they do nothing to encourage people vo visit and invest in Dover,and Gwyn Prosser has criticised the cynics.
I say once again if those who ONLY come on here to have a go at Dover time after time,should stand up and be counted,stand for where the decisions are made.
It is frustrating being a Councillor because everything has to be done correctly and this means slowly,and we all want action now.
I have said we should take the BUT out of Dover,I love this Town,the people,the sights the walks and I look forward to the regeneration,but it must be done correctly,where I work is one of the first parts to be done,and because of poor management and building work,it was a mess and we have spent 18months complaining (constructive) about it.
So once again lets see these people do something about what they are moaning about and stand for Council,I look forward to the Challenge,these people make Barry sound intresting as he can speak on more than 1 subject.
If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
As the Western Heights has been mentioned in a few of these posts was just wondering who is responsible for the up-keep of the Knights Templars "church" we have up here we have had a few tourists asking where it is ,at one time someone was up here keeping the grass cut but in the past couple of months it has been allowed to "go wild" as it is only a ruin with walls not a foot high very soon there will be nothing to see at all except a dip in the ground which would be a shame the fence surrounding it leaves a lot to be desired as well
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Knights Templar Church is under the control and maintenance of English Heritage.
What do I know is budget has been cut within EH (I probably shouldn't say that really) which means the Heights, parts of Richborough and parts of Deal Castle, amongst others are not getting cut.
What is needed is for people to notice this and write to them and state how bad it is - and how bad it will get over coming months....
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
john
i agree with what you say, however wha can frustrate some of us is our betters mouthing off what they are doing and nothing transpires.
it galls when photo opportunities are taken, claiming credit when nothing has happened.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
John a very good posting there...
Yes I saw the Mercury too and while yes its nice to have favourable postings Im afraid a lot of people, as the Mercury suggests, are disgruntled here in Dover and they are just expressing how they feel. This seems fair enough. Its a free choice, a free speech. I dont think any of us would want a situation where the members can post but only if its favourable...although I do take the point being made by yourself, by The Mercury, and indeed it seems by Gwyn Prosser about talking the town down.
What I would say is that all the members on this Forum Club are responsible members of the community, all fully named and open, not in any way anonymous, and if they are expressing disgruntlement then disgruntlement must fairly exist. I think this is a very important point about our contributors being fully named. We purposely went out of our way this time to dispense with the traditional pseudonyms which gave much leeway to the negative. We were requested not to take this route by various bodies and when we started up again we complied, for the better too as we see.
But to go back to the main point...Although there has been much promised to us Dovorians by way of mega cash and development, so far not a single sod has been turned in pursuit of this goal. Maybe when people see some physical movement forward they will cheer up and may see the light of optimism shining through.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
Hear, Hear
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I have just got back from Greece and am out of touch and did not see the Mercury but I do get the drift.
There is a lot of understandable frustration out there and we should not censor critisism but those who critisise what is being done should do so from a constructive perspective.
Dover has a lot of complex problems and no one authority has all the solutions and certainly not all the money to address them. Dover will improve from a whole range of actions on many fronts and there is a great deal of exciting stuff going on that will have a positive impact. It all takes time and the amount of red tape in the way is astonishing. Progress is indeed slow, too slow, but at least there is a great deal going on.
I expect that no-one is more frustrated over delays and the time being taken than those local people who do have some influence over events.
I trust we are all united in wanting the very best for Dover's future...not itty, bitty half-baked solutions. We all, understandably, get frustrated by the inertia we see around us, especially concerning the as-yet-nonexistent St James area 'redevelopment'.
The last thing we need or deserve is to be patronised and/or gagged by the town's er, great and good.
Don't let it happen. As a lobby, the Dovorians who care are not going to go away.
Regards all,
Andy