Well actually not quite true as when the council had used up the seven hundred thousand pounds of your money they borrowed three hundred thousand pounds on your behalf.Click on the link to see what I mean http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/foi/id9.htm I am now asking them how much money they have spent on other aspects of the project so far, I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one.
I have replied to the response I had to the official complaint I made about the ongoing saga.
Click on the link to read my reply http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/foi/id8.htm
As no one at Thanet District Council seems to know what to say about the Pleasurama saga everything is met with the longest possible delay. For example the council have to respond to a complaint in 10 working days, which sounds fine, what happens with complaints relating to Pleasurama if my last one is anything to go by is this.The Major Developments Officer replies on the last possible day.
It then goes on to the head of his department who has to reply within 10 working days, he replies on the last possible day.
It then goes on to the chief executive who has 10 working days to reply, he replies on the last possible day.
Add on to this the couple of days it takes me to absorb and reply to each one and you have another week, so all in all that is seven weeks.
It is only after this that I can take the matter to the local government ombudsman i.e. a senior civil servant outside of TDC who will take about a month to come up with the answers.
This is what happened with the flood risk issue and resulted in the EA report going into the public domain see http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/ea/
Now my questions all have to go through this process, questions which relate to things like how come you spent a million pounds on fudging up and painting the cliff face, even though I told you that as it had some of its foundations missing, the work was a waste of time with out sorting these our first?Or how come you have boarded off a load more space down there, when you say you won’t start proper construction work until 2011?
The big question of course is why wont the council just tell us what the hell is going on?
I have decorated this post with the only pictures that the council have paid to have put online to show the people of Ramsgate what this development may look like.
You may wish to click on them to enlarge them to get some idea of the brave new world that the architect and council envisaged for us, the architect is the same one used for China gateway who wanted the industrial and human sewage there to be passed though on site septic tanks and dumped into our drinking water supply.
Quite apart from the atrocious waste of public money, what about the view from the prom? No more gazing down at our lovely Blue Flag beach. It look likes all we'll be able to see is the rubber-ribbed condominium roof!
ReplyDeleteEr, I meant 'looks like'. These days I tend to down a couple of Morrinovs before lunch.
ReplyDeleteRichard I have added a detail from the first set of plans (bottom of post) to illustrate your points.
ReplyDeleteI have always understood that council officials were employed to advise the council and carry out their orders. These orders might be decided at a local political level or sub-contracting directives from national government.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like an ideal time to raise your questions and concerns with all the prospective parliamentary candidates for Thanet South & North and see what answers you receive. If they can't get any answers or at least finger the bottleneck they would be crap as an MP and not worth a vote.
Michael, Have you been in touch with Laura Sandys to see if she can help?
ReplyDelete14.09 and JH I have approached all of the local politicians on numerous occasions about this matter, apart from the Thanet North labour candidate, as I have been unable to locate his email address.
ReplyDeleteI started writing to my MP about this sometime in 2003 well before the planning application was approved, however I believe it would help if other people wrote to both their town, district, national and European representatives and prospective candidates.
Could you see the beach when Pleasurama was there ?!
ReplyDeleteMichael, I am amazed at the continuing disregard by TDC of the EA report that quite simply warns of a rapid, deep inundation of water into this site with the right conditions of high-tide and winds. I am also not quite clear how TDC claim they have got back £550,000 in respect of the £1,000,000 of tax-payers money spent so far? Can you elaborate?
ReplyDeletei think people over estimate the power of the elected members. The officers gets first dibs at the budget to spend on carpets £55K double glazing £500K a shower for those who cycle to work or play footie at lunchtime £25K.
ReplyDeleteThen the cabinet gets told sorry there is a black hole we have spent all the money.
i think people over estimate the power of the elected members. The officers gets first dibs at the budget to spend on carpets £55K double glazing £500K a shower for those who cycle to work or play footie at lunchtime £25K.
ReplyDeleteThen the cabinet gets told sorry there is a black hole we have spent all the money.
so with the office refurbishment and Royal Sands easy to see where the missing budget is. Doh if only they made bean counters like they used to, Tony Rush or Arthur King would never have made this sort of B*********
ReplyDelete20.09 The main Pleasurama building and the only one that obscured the view at all was the old Victorian railway station, it was less than a quarter of the size of the proposed development and much lower.
ReplyDeleteSo the answer is, yes it did obscure some of the beach depending where you stood on the cliff top, from what I can work out from the latest plans, where the new development is at its highest you will only be able to see the horizon, the gaps between the main lumps are lower and you should be able to see about the high tide line.
Bertie I am becoming convinced that the risk of cliff collapse is even more serious than the flood risk.
I asked the district auditor for the detail of the total TDC spend on the project to date and have had a reply from him today, saying that he was the wrong bloke to ask and to ask TDC.
Look at the 550K like this, suppose back in 2003 you managed to get the option to purchase a house at the 2003 price in perpetuity and say the price then was £50,000 and then five years later the house owner said hang on are you ever going to pay me anything I have just had to spend £8,000 on repairs.
Well if you said to them as I am not living there at the moment I will give you £4,000 toward the £50,000 and pay you the rest when I feel like moving in
23.07 How does one spend 500k on a shower?
23.49 I am genuinely of the opinion that there is no one in the council that would respond quickly to, “don’t waste the money painting that wall, it’s missing some of its foundations.
What does the TDC chief Engineer have to say on the subject, the borough engineers were always ones you could rely on as long as the bean counters gave them the money.
ReplyDeleteDoes TDC have any engineers left ?
ReplyDelete