Sorry about the last post I tried to use my mobile phone, difficult on a bright and sunny day as I couldn’t actually see what I was doing.
Plenty of excellent material on the web already as you see from the video above, pictures from above on Simon’s blog see http://birchington.blogspot.com/2012/03/towers-come-down.html
I will add some more pictures from this morning as I get around to it.
For something the council described as not an event quite a few people turned up as you can see from the pictures of my morning walk
some of these may take a little while to appear online
And here the ones from the camera with the longer lens on it http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/laptop312/id7.htm I may sort the picturs out a bit more at some later date.
And here the ones from the camera with the longer lens on it http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/laptop312/id7.htm I may sort the picturs out a bit more at some later date.
I cannot believe TDC got away with not classing this as an event - I assume basically to save money on staff and follow up events in Ramsgate.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching at the top of Government Acre, we drove back down for breakfast at the harbour - it took over half an hour! I met lots of people from canterbury district who v rarely venture to Thanet. Yet the council did not capitalise on this one bit.
We had breakfast at Miles Bar, orders were taking 15 mins, just to get coffee, and the manager said they were turning people away!
IF the council had have put a harbour event on - even unrelated - people would have packed the town out, carpark revs, local spend, repeat visits, all these could have been increased, yet the council ignored it, roads got blocked, people get irrate, and cars left via the fastest route out of here.
I really hope people compain to the council about this huge failure of understanding and short sightedness.
Peter
In fact I have sent an email to my local TDC cllr as follows:
ReplyDeleteI was amazed and shocked that TDC did not turn what was obviously a huge event for the District - the demolition of the towers - into an event for Ramsgate. I, along with thousands of others, watched the demolition from Government Acre on Sunday morning, and could see that there were many more at vantage points along the way. I personally feel the council mis-managed the situation by not actually managing it. I have read reports that the Community Development Manager (who chaired the Safety Advosory Group for this) stated that this was not an event, that the council did not want to take financial or H&S responsibility for any potential event, and that it didn't want to try and staff something on a 'non-work day'!
Having been at this 'non-event' myself, and spoken with many people from across east Kent who came to this 'non-event' I was shocked that the council ignored its potential so much. Having spent 30 mins driving after the demolition from the west cliff down to the harbour for breakfast, we then waited for 15 mins for a coffee and 30 mins for breakfast - the cafe/bar we were at at the habour said they were turning people away as they didnt have capacity to seat people - the same could be seen in all the cafes and bars along the strip. IF the council had decided to make an event of this, imagine the boost the town could have had in inward day visitors, and potential return visits to the area and town. The council has been quite good in the past at putting events on in the harbiur area, and some clever programming could have capitalised on an event that attracted thousands.
Beyond the obvious tourism, I'm sure Westwood Cross would have received a welcome boost also, as well as the town center it self. The issue with the early Sunday morning 'non event' was that it unfortunately 'finsihed' at a time when very little else would be open in the town, so many people would have turned round and left - a well placed event, even just a band!, would have retained people much longer.
Ramsgate really lost an opportunity to sell itself and the wonderful cafe culture it has developed organically over the last few years, and I - as someone that works in this sort of area in a neighbouring council - was really upset that the council took the decision to ignore rather than proactively develop the potential of this event.
I was also concerned by the 'mess' that this 'non event' caused to roads and potentially dangerous vantage points (such as cliff faces, and even people walkign across the mud flats as the tide was out). I am not sure, but I would expect if there would have been any serious injurys, the council's 'not our problem' attitude would have been severely scrutinised by courts and lawyers. Ignorance isn't always bliss.
I hope senior officers are kicking themselves this morning, and I really hope that this was something that Members didnt take a decision on, but that Members will actively discuss with the CX and senior managers at the earliest opportunity.
I hope you'll forgive my 'rant' above, but I know if this would have been 10 miles down the road in Canterbury, we would have turned this to our advantage, and not just sat idley by.
If this had been in Margate then I'm pretty sure the council would have splashed out on it !
ReplyDelete