Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
20 December 2009
11:5935302Without wishing to disagree with many here, Whitfield was clear of traffic yesterday, we negotiated it without any hassle at all. Jubilee Way, on the other hand.........well, we all know about that.
I beg to ask what sense a Town Centre hospital makes, given the traffic problems yesterday with the town apparently gridlocked. At least at Whitfield access to any hospital would remain reasonably possible, on yesterday's experiences.
True friends stab you in the front.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
20 December 2009
12:1935310yesterday morning it took an ambulance 10 minutes to get from the railway station to the roundabout at the bottom of folkestone road with twos and blues going.then it had to go on the wrong side of the road to get on the roundabout.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
20 December 2009
13:1035317Also Andy, with Whitfield, anything like a hospital would have more room to expand. We have to look to the future as well as the present. Looking at my experience of Canterbury, Ashford, Maidstone and Kings this year, people are driving round and round in circles trying to park. The visitors are the problem. Any part of Dover would quickly become snarled up with traffic heading for a hospital. Remember all those visitors. A hospital in Whitfield could grow as big as Canterbury, deciding of course on what size you want it, and what cases it would deal with. I`m a great sentimentalist, but I`m afraid, Buckland has served it`s purpose well, and there`s no room for expansion. So, are we looking for a small general hospital like Buckland, or a larger, more modern hospital like Canterbury, with even greater facilities?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
20 December 2009
14:0035318Regarding access to Whitfield, you`ve got Whitfield hill, Melbourne ave, Jubilee way and up via the castle. And of course, up here, you have no traffic lights slowing things up. You can even pop into tescos and have a read of the magazines while you`re waiting for opening hours, and grab a bunch of grapes for the patient, if you forgot to patronise the town shop. (Hopefully not). I bet on a second floor, the patients could see across the channel on a clear day. Not many in hospital in this country who can see another country from their bed. So Whitfield it is then. I`ll get an extra couple of lucky dips and see if I can get things moving.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
20 December 2009
19:4835338no rail link at whitfield, if people use buses they would one to get into town and another up to whitfield.
the original site would alleviate all these problems.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
20 December 2009
20:0235341Sorry Howard, I didn`t get the bit about the rail link, unless you were referring to people coming from outside of Dover, but Whitfield would be no further from Dover Priory than Canterbury and Ashford hospitals, are from their main stations. (Canterbury perhaps a little closer). It would be a popular destination, and I`m sure buses would be well patronised and frequent. I can understand you wanting a hospital in Dover, but as I said above, how big do you want it?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
20 December 2009
21:0335348I'm actually sitting here wondering what the business park at Whitfield is really for; this week DDC have turned down planning applications for a new out of town shopping centre, much to Vic's extended disappointment, and our beloved Council seem to reject a new hospital for the site without actually telling us why. Is it to remain, therefore, just a slip road for the Whitfield by-pass or will anything constructive arise from it all? I believe that if it is to be kept for further developments of small industrial units, DDC are barking up the wrong tree if the speed with which the current batch are being sold/let.
Isn't it time for a transparent and more open planning consultancy, and time common sense set in?
True friends stab you in the front.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
20 December 2009
21:0735349Andy well said,they can not sell or rent the units they have got.most of them are to small with not much ground outside.
Get rid of the planners,get new ones in and away we go.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
20 December 2009
23:3335366Andy
DDC haven't rejected the application for a retail park at Whitfield, they just deferred it.
I've put a posting about it somewhere on here.
Roger
Alec Sheldon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 18 Aug 2008
- Posts: 1,036
21 December 2009
01:5935369To be honest I don't care where they build it, although I live in Whitfield. I just wish they would get on with it as it is not going to be much use to me at my age. (75)
In the last six weeks I must have been up to Canterbury hospital ten times for various appointments, tests, bone scan, MRI scan and seeing consultants etc. I am a non driver and have had to rely on friends and relations and sometimes the bus to get there. I have got a bad dose of Sciatica at the moment and it is no joke getting on and off buses with the aid of a crutch.
I cannot fault the treatment that I have had at Canterbury, it has been first class but I wish that I could have had the treatment in Dover. Every appointment letter that I have had says "leave yourself 30 minutes for parking". It is very difficult to find a place, people who took me just dropped me off at the Outpatients and went driving around until they found a place.
I would have liked to see the new hospital in the town as it would have brought a bit of life back into it but where would the new parking places be. The present carparks are nearly always full.
Howard, I have had to attend the hospitals at Margate and Ashford over the years and they are no where near a railway station.
21 December 2009
10:0435386I am sorry you have suffered Alec, you have my sympathy. What everyone wants - far above the spurious "choice" we keep being forced to have! - is good local facilities. People don't want to be able to "choose" to go to Doncaster because it has a better hospital, they want a better hospital near where they live!! Get on with it, for goodness sake!! Build the damn thing and get it done!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
21 December 2009
23:0935429alec
sorry to hear about you having to travel unneccesary distances.
re; the QEQM and william harvey, they are massive places with great parking, our one would not be on that scale if in the town centre.
the need for good public transport is paramount.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
22 December 2009
08:1035438That's the whole point, it's not going to be an acute, general hospital as per Ashford, Margate or Canterbury, but it will have all the outpatient facilities that a large hospital would have.
No in-patient beds (for big/major operations); some minor ones may be carried out, but not things like transplants etc.
I'm not sure about killing two birds with one stone, but it would have helped move Dover Town and the businesses forward, in a massive way.
If it was in Town, new traffic-magement procedures would have to be put in place.
Roger
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
23 December 2009
08:1835480So the talking goes on, but the coming together doesnt
Dover needs a hospital not talkers
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
23 December 2009
09:1935487Hear hear All together now Hear hear
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 December 2009
11:1735496susan/keith
i think that the opposite is the case, all we are getting now is silence form the people that were most voiciferous.
that is why i think that the hospital is a non starter in the immediate future.
february is the deadline, so i believe, it will be the middle of january before everyone is back fully from the festive break.
doen't take much working out to see that the likelihood of a positive decision is remote.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
23 December 2009
12:3235503I just think that there is no news just yet. These things grind along slowly, far too slowly.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,023
23 December 2009
12:4035504The Christmas Holidays have not started yet .Still 2 days to go .Oh silly silly me local government pack up early .Gone are the days when people worked right to the last minute .I have spent many an hour working over the Christmas Holidays
Barry even the full council meetings are set earlier and earlier ..
Dont ask me about helping dad on the milkround .Milk delivered everyday of the year .
23 December 2009
15:2835510Whatever speed at which things grind, information would be a blessing - or rather, an obligation.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
23 December 2009
17:5835532i think that barry knows more than he is letting on, he always dines at the tables of the mighty.