Wednesday 4 February 2009

VISION FOR THANET PROPOSED

Thanet district Council press release

A vision of how Thanet will look in 20 years time is being put forward by Thanet District Council for people to comment on.

The document looks at how the council would like to see the whole area and specific parts, including Broadstairs, Margate, Ramsgate, Westwood, the Manston Park business park and Kent International Airport, looking forward to the year 2030.

The vision is going before Cabinet on Thursday 12 February, with a consultation version due to be published by the end of the month if Cabinet Members are happy with the document’s contents.

By 2030, the council believes that Thanet’s economy will have been renewed, helped by a busy airport at Manston, a thriving offshore wind-farm industry and the arrival of more creative businesses in Margate, helping bring more residents and visitors into the town. Other ambitions include tackling deprivation in the area’s poorest neighbourhoods, improved education levels and leisure facilities, less crime and better road and rail links.

Broadstairs is seen as remaining a traditional seaside resort, while Ramsgate is viewed as a premier sailing destination, with an expanded marina and additional ferry operators. Margate is predicted to undergo the most radical change, following on from the success of Turner Contemporary, with extensive redevelopment of the town centre a likely prospect.

The vision for Manston is that the Manston Park business park and Kent International Airport will become the commercial centre for Thanet, with both creating thousands of jobs over the next 20 years. Westwood is seen as a complete community, with homes, schools, leisure, sports, shops and other facilities all in the area.

Leader of Thanet District Council, Cllr. Sandy Ezekiel, said: “It’s important for the council to set out how it sees Thanet progressing and developing over the next 20 years. By doing this, we can then focus our activities and resources into making that vision become a reality. It also sets out clearly exactly what we are aiming to achieve for our staff, members and residents and that’s why we want all of them to take a look at the document and give their views. The council isn’t just producing something for itself, we’re producing it for everyone who lives and works here and we want people to play their part in helping to form the vision for Thanet

6 comments:

  1. The assumption in this 'vision' is that TC will be a resounding successful visitor attraction and it is interesting that there is no 'vision' to preserve farmland and open country-side and improve water quality and the natural environment. TDC seem to regard the open country-side as land to be exploited and covered with concrete. On present form do we need 'visions' from a discredited Leader and Cabinet; smacks of odd 'visions' by Iran's President.

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  2. Ramsgate a sailing centre? The lovely old harbour is rapidly filing with mud and sand,a result of past bad planing building a rockery outside,and cutting the tidal flow,filling in the sluices designed by Smeaton to flush out mud build up,then selling the dredger,the last nail in the coffin,soon all the yachts in the inner basin will sit on the ground at neap tides because no dredging has been done for 15 years.
    Stargazer

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  3. Wind Farms they only have a life of 20 years,have lots of gearbox problems and do not work when there is no wind,the way forward is tidal power,we have 3000 miles of coastline no place is less than 75 miles from the sea,the tidal current is always predictable,and can be minipulated to increase or decrease its rate.When Boris builds his island it could be designed to produce enough power to supply the whole of London.
    Stargazer

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  4. I think you will find Sandy's vision is non - existant, he doesnt need to worry he can always escape to his yacht! He was the one who said Margate was on the up?

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  5. I've never read so much utter tosh in my life.

    I'd like to say 'I told you so' in 2030, but most of them are so old and knackered they won't be around to see the complete b*llocks they've made of the place!

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  6. Stargazer I am hearing increasingly concerns from the scientific and engineering community that offshore wind farms contribute considerably to our carbon footprint, both because of the construction to withstand the sea and the high maintenance.

    Richard I am afraid I too think a lot of it is pipe dreams based illusions about what is viable, both technically and economically, this business of going for transport hubs suggests that they either are unaware of the shape of Thanet, or haven’t caught up with the invention of the wheel.

    Bertie have you seen the plans for the Turner? The gallery space looks no bigger than the existing space in the M&S building.

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Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.