A very Ramsgate issue, the new Council Cabinet, some old pictures

Now if, for instance, the UK were to be governed from the German parliament for the duration of the brexit negotiations, do you think we would get a very good brexit deal?

Here in Ramsgate we are governed from Margate, which is Ramsgate’s main rival town this past two or three hundred years. Nothing wrong with Margate and I hope the investment made by the local councils pays off. The regeneration of seaside towns is a tenuous business. There must come a point though when the council has so much invested, such a big potential Dreamland debt that they really can’t let Margate fail.

This does really make me wonder about how Ramsgate issues impact on Margate, does the Pleasurama, Westcliff Hall fiascos, which are equivalent to Dreamland and Winter Gardens, mean Margate is 10 or 15% better off commercially?

I suppose that Ramsgate’s most avoidable woes were Westwood Cross gutting the town centre and Pleasurama gutting the main sands. The problem started in about 1860 when the railway system became faster and more reliable than the paddle steamers, making it easier to get to Brighton that Thanet and then from around the mid 1960s the cheap foreign package holiday finished things off.

But here we are spring is in the air, the new Wetherspoons has opened, which makes Ramsgate a much more viable family destination than it was and living in the triangular part of the country as we do, family destinations are limited.

Is there anything that can be done? Past years I have asked the council to get the Pleasurama site cleared and use it for temporary leisure and parking, this only happened for one year. 

Of course if Ramsgate were governed from Ramsgate of a non rival town like Canterbury then we probably would be doing reasonably well. I don’t think past solutions would work, I don’t see a ferry helping much, as both the road infrastructure and pollution controls have moved the goal posts, same with an airport of any sort. Anyone who has ever booked a holiday abroad knows how it really works now, train to London and underground to the right bit of the airport is most likely. 

So given that we are where we are and when we are, are there any temporary patches that we could realistically get applied for this summer to make things just a little bit better?

Links to the pictures of when we pulled it off last time 

link 1 

link 2

link 3

Of course I could be mistaken and the councils could be gearing up for some special treatment for Ramsgate for this summer of 2018

One of the largest, if not the largest shops in Ramsgate, New Look, is under threat of closure, another problem, but I suspect part of a much larger problem.

Interestingly parking charges are increasing

Always a bit of a tangle this, asking for something attainable rather than some sort of solution, which I don’t think really exists.

We have a new council cabinet and I wonder if any of them have an interest in Ramsgate 

Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Environmental Services

Description

To lead policy development and advise the Cabinet on:

1.  Street cleaning;

2.  Recycling and Waste collection;

3.  Community Safety;

4.  Cultural and Community Development;

5.  Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults;

6.  Land Charges;

7.  Environmental Health;

8.  Building Control;

9.  Strategic Planning;

10.Enforcement;

11.Conservation;

12.Foreshore and coastal management;

13.Parking and residual highway matters;

14.CCTV;

15.Engineering Services;

16.Street Scene Enforcement;

Post is held by

• Councillor Rosanna Taylor-Smith

Cabinet Member for Financial Services and Estates

Description

To lead policy development and advise the Cabinet on:

1.  Finance including revenue and capital for general fund and HRA budgets preparation and monitoring;

2.  Treasury Management;

3.  Insurance;

4.  Monitoring and Final Accounts;

5.  Income, Payments and Systems Control and Improvement

7.  East Kent Audit Partnership;

9.  Housing and Council Tax Benefits and Revenues (including Debt Recovery);

10.  Property Management (including asset disposal, acquisition and asset management);

11.  Commercial Property;

12.  Estate management;

13.  Media Centre.

Post is held by

• Councillor Ian Gregory

Cabinet Member for Housing and Open Spaces

Description

To lead policy development and advise the Cabinet on:

1.  Grounds Maintenance;

2.  Cemeteries and crematoria;

3.  Parks and open spaces,

4.  Playgrounds;

5.  Public toilets;

6.  Allotments;

7.  Health and Well-being

8.  Events;

9.  Indoor and Outdoor Leisure and recreation, including theatres;

10.  Play Areas, Sport and Youth;

11.  Partnership with Your Leisure Kent Ltd;

12.  Licensing;

13.  Housing Intervention;

14.  Private Sector Housing;

15.  Housing Needs/Homelessness;

16.  Housing Strategy;

17.  Client-side East Kent Housing;

Post is held by

• Councillor Lesley Ann Game

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Enterprise Services

Description

To lead policy development and advise the Cabinet on:

1.  Regeneration and economic development;

2.  East Kent Opportunities Ltd;

3.  Thanet Regeneration Board;

4.  Harbours;

5.  Tourism.

Post is held by

• Councillor Jason Savage

Leader of the Council

Post is held by

• Councillor Robert W Bayford