Royal Sands Ramsgate aka Pleasurama Ramsgate, Cardy Construction the paint the weeds the mess, an update? I really don’t know.

Over the years that the Pleasurama debacle has rumbled on and the most high profile leisure site in Ramsgate has been a disused mess of rubble with occasional dubious looking construction activity I periodically email the main protagonists for an update.

I start with the primary developer as contacting the council can be a tedious business, and the last few times the primary developer has been Cardy Construction, up to know they have responded promptly, sometimes saying that the council were not allowing them to say anything, but at least they have responded.

This time has been a different matter.

A week ago today I sent their MD the following email:-

-----Original Message-----
From: michaelchild <michaelchild@aol.com>
To: mstannard  **********@****
Sent: Fri, 3 Jun 2016 13:19

Hi Michael I have just been doing my trawl of the local Facebook groups and there are a lot of posts about Pleasurama aka Royal Sands and also some pretty negative ones about Cardy Construction because of your company’s involvement.

I think most of this is because of lack of information, the last I have is the email below from Mike Humber TDC.

I will put in another request for information from TDC, but this usually takes about eight weeks before I get a reply, and so I wondered if you had any update that I could publish now.

I don’t think masses of negative and uniformed speculation on social media benefits anyone and negative information about your company, which is after all one of the better and more responsible local developers can’t be helpful to you.  

“Ref No: 84703/3211812

Subject:        Pleasurama

Dear Mr Child,

Thank you for your communication received on 15th December 2015 where you requested information about the Royal Sands Development and Wellington Crescent Cliff Facade Wall.

For ease of reference I have summarised your questions with a response in each case below:

Can you kindly give me an update on the Pleasurama aka Royal Sands development on Ramsgate seafront?

An update has been provided on the Council’s website but for ease of reference I have provided the text below:

Work to the cliff façade on the Royal Sands site has taken place as planned, however unfortunately weather has delayed the final paint finish.

Due to the weather conditions expected this winter a decision has been made to delay this work until the early spring. This final painting is estimated to only take a few weeks after which the Development can commence.

If there is an officer coordinating the project can you please provide contact details? If not, please consider putting someone in charge of coordinating the whole project.

The project to deliver the new Royal Sands development is the responsibility of Cardy Construction.  Chris Rolle the Interim Head of Economic Development & Asset Management at Thanet District Council is the appropriate officer to contact for any questions relating to the site itself prior to sale.

Last week various rumours which were apparently supported by some TDC councillors, appeared on the internet, saying that the wrong paint had been used to coat the façade.  This was followed by the council issuing a statement, saying that the paint job wasn’t finished when the scaffolding was up, and a further coat of paint still needs to be applied.  Does this mean that the scaffolding will need to be re-erected? Or does this mean that the council intends some other method of applying the paint and if it does what method will be used?

The paint used does meet the required specification however the coating to some of the blockwork panels will need to be repeated due to poor weather conditions at the time of the initial application at the end of the contract period.  It is better to leave this until the warmer weather in the spring. Arrangements have been made for the contractor to return to complete the work.  The method of access is still to be confirmed but it is possible that this will be via a hydraulic platform which will avoid the need to re-erect scaffolding.

Since the initial planning application was approved in 2003, the Environment Agency have designated the site a “Flood Zone 3a (High Probability)”

Have the council either conducted a flood risk assessment or produced any report detailing why one isn’t necessary?

You have previously requested information on the subject of a flood risk assessment for the site.  This was responded to in an email from Doug Brown on 18th November 2009.

Does the whole liability of maintaining flood protection for the new development rest with the council or has any of it been mitigated either to the developer or the EA?

Flood defences are provided and maintained by Local Authorities under permissive powers, they are not duties.  However the existing sea wall at Ramsgate is likely to continue to be maintained by the Council in accordance with the ‘Hold the Line’ policy indicated in the Isle of Grain to South Foreland Shoreline Management Plan.

In 2005 the council commissioned Jacobs Baptie to examine the cliff façade, the conclusion of their report states that the structure has a short serviceable life. Since the report the council have had the façade pointed and recoated twice.

Do the council envisage this happening every five years for the life of the development and do the council envisage funding this?

The structure is the subject of regular inspection and the observations from these inspections inform the maintenance regime.  The 2005 inspection report predates the maintenance work undertaken in 2008 and 2015 which has improved the condition of the structure and extended its service life.  It is not possible to confirm the frequency of future maintenance work but the cliff facade will remain a TDC owned and maintained structure.

To facilitate the ongoing cliff maintenance do the council have any report stating the distance required between the development and the cliff façade, needed to maintain it economically?  With the structure having a short serviceable life, do the council have any plan for replacing the cliff façade with the new development in place?

The Council has not commissioned a report which identifies the most appropriate distance between the building and the façade to facilitate economic inspection and maintenance.  There are no plans to replace the façade with a new structure.

Do the council hold any engineers report stating that it is safe to build a residential development in front of the cliff façade?

The Council has not commissioned and does not hold a report on this specific subject.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: Information Request Assessor, Thanet District Council, PO Box 9, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent CT9 1XZ, or email to foi@thanet.gov.uk

Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

***** ****

Technical Services Manager”

The picture is to cheer you up Best Michael

This didn’t produce any response. So on Wednesday I sent:-

-----Original Message-----
From: michaelchild <michaelchild@aol.com>
To: mstannard ******@****
Sent: Wed, 8 Jun 2016 14:21
Subject: Royal Sands aka Pleasurama

Hello Michael I emailed you the other day and I notice that I didn’t get a response, as you are normally very good on prompt replies I wondered if either my email to you or your reply to me had got lost in hyperspace. Could you kindly confirm that you got it and indicate when I can expect a reply from you?

When out to lunch at the moment I am painting the harbour arches, photo attached for your amusement. 

Best Michael

No reply to this one either. So yesterday I sent emails to all of the email addresses on the contacts page of their website http://www.cardygroup.co.uk/contact/contact.php?type=contact asking them to confirm that they had received the message and passed it on to their MD.

From: michaelchild
To: accounts
CC: joinery ; tenders ; hr

---

; suppliers
Sent: Thu, 9 Jun 2016 18:03
Subject: Fwd: Royal Sands aka Pleasurama

Hi I emailed Michael a couple of times and haven't had a response, I assume he has either changed his email address or you are having server problems can you pleas confirm you have received this and pass it on to him saying I will confirm that I have received it by return. 

Best Michael

For all but one of the email addresses on their website I got the following response:-

From: postmaster
To: michaelchild
Sent: Thu, 9 Jun 2016 18:05
Subject: Undeliverable: Fwd: Royal Sands aka Pleasurama

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

hr@cardygroup.co.uk
The e-mail address you entered couldn't be found. Check the address and try resending the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk.

So today, just after lunchtime, I phoned Cardy Construction.

M “Can I speak to the MD?”

C “No he’s in a meeting.”

M “This is a fairly important matter as your email sever appears to have gone wrong, can you check the inboxes of the email addresses to see if my email arrived anywhere?”

C “No I don’t have access to any of these email accounts.”

M “Can I speak to anyone in your company with some higher level of authority?”

C “No they are all busy but will get back to you.”

M “Ok if someone gets back to me today, otherwise the whole sorry story goes on my blog.”

My take on this is that something has gone wrong with the plans the council and Cardy Construction have for the development and no one wants to talk about it, of course I may be wrong and obviously readers can draw their own conclusions.

Grass is already growing out of the cracks in the cliff wall and the latest paint job was only a few weeks ago, so that could have something to do with it.

I will endeavour to try the councillors next, but am not expecting anything decisive or useful.

Royal Sands aka Pleasurama Development in Ramsgate update and another April East Kent Critic to read this time 1982.

Photos and comments about the painting of the Pleasurama cliff façade starting abound on FaceBook, so I snapped a couple of pictures of the work in progress with my mobile phone.

The latest information I have from TDC sent to me at the end of January this year is:-

“Ref No: 84703/3211812

Subject:        Pleasurama

Dear Mr Child,

Thank you for your communication received on 15th December 2015 where you requested information about the Royal Sands Development and Wellington Crescent Cliff Facade Wall.

For ease of reference I have summarised your questions with a response in each case below:

Can you kindly give me an update on the Pleasurama aka Royal Sands development on Ramsgate seafront?

An update has been provided on the Council’s website but for ease of reference I have provided the text below:

Work to the cliff façade on the Royal Sands site has taken place as planned, however unfortunately weather has delayed the final paint finish.

Due to the weather conditions expected this winter a decision has been made to delay this work until the early spring. This final painting is estimated to only take a few weeks after which the Development can commence.

If there is an officer coordinating the project can you please provide contact details? If not, please consider putting someone in charge of coordinating the whole project.

The project to deliver the new Royal Sands development is the responsibility of Cardy Construction.  Chris Rolle the Interim Head of Economic Development & Asset Management at Thanet District Council is the appropriate officer to contact for any questions relating to the site itself prior to sale.

Last week various rumours which were apparently supported by some TDC councillors, appeared on the internet, saying that the wrong paint had been used to coat the façade.  This was followed by the council issuing a statement, saying that the paint job wasn’t finished when the scaffolding was up, and a further coat of paint still needs to be applied.  Does this mean that the scaffolding will need to be re-erected? Or does this mean that the council intends some other method of applying the paint and if it does what method will be used?

The paint used does meet the required specification however the coating to some of the blockwork panels will need to be repeated due to poor weather conditions at the time of the initial application at the end of the contract period.  It is better to leave this until the warmer weather in the spring. Arrangements have been made for the contractor to return to complete the work.  The method of access is still to be confirmed but it is possible that this will be via a hydraulic platform which will avoid the need to re-erect scaffolding.

Since the initial planning application was approved in 2003, the Environment Agency have designated the site a “Flood Zone 3a (High Probability)”

Have the council either conducted a flood risk assessment or produced any report detailing why one isn’t necessary?

You have previously requested information on the subject of a flood risk assessment for the site.  This was responded to in an email from Doug Brown on 18th November 2009.

Does the whole liability of maintaining flood protection for the new development rest with the council or has any of it been mitigated either to the developer or the EA?

Flood defences are provided and maintained by Local Authorities under permissive powers, they are not duties.  However the existing sea wall at Ramsgate is likely to continue to be maintained by the Council in accordance with the ‘Hold the Line’ policy indicated in the Isle of Grain to South Foreland Shoreline Management Plan.

In 2005 the council commissioned Jacobs Baptie to examine the cliff façade, the conclusion of their report states that the structure has a short serviceable life. Since the report the council have had the façade pointed and recoated twice.

Do the council envisage this happening every five years for the life of the development and do the council envisage funding this?

The structure is the subject of regular inspection and the observations from these inspections inform the maintenance regime.  The 2005 inspection report predates the maintenance work undertaken in 2008 and 2015 which has improved the condition of the structure and extended its service life.  It is not possible to confirm the frequency of future maintenance work but the cliff facade will remain a TDC owned and maintained structure.

To facilitate the ongoing cliff maintenance do the council have any report stating the distance required between the development and the cliff façade, needed to maintain it economically?  With the structure having a short serviceable life, do the council have any plan for replacing the cliff façade with the new development in place?

The Council has not commissioned a report which identifies the most appropriate distance between the building and the façade to facilitate economic inspection and maintenance.  There are no plans to replace the façade with a new structure.

Do the council hold any engineers report stating that it is safe to build a residential development in front of the cliff façade?

The Council has not commissioned and does not hold a report on this specific subject.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: Information Request Assessor, Thanet District Council, PO Box 9, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent CT9 1XZ, or email to foi@thanet.gov.uk

Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

***** ****

Technical Services Manager”

As they seem to be doing what they said they would and at the time they said they would I don’t see that there is anything much I can ask them at the moment.

The latest I have from Cardy Construction was in mid December of last year:-

“Dear Michael 

Thanks for your email. 

You will need to speak direct with TDC on the specific details of the matter. As we have not been party to the works to the Cliff Face. 

We have been advised that completion of  the Cliff Face works by TDC have been delayed till the Spring. 

Until such time that the Cliff Face works are complete we will obviously not be in a position to commence the Development.

Kind Regards 

Michael 

And Best Wishes to you and your family for Xmas”

Once again I don’t see any reason to ask for an update until the cliff paint job is finished.

My observations at the moment:-

Well I suppose the obvious one is pretty much any work on the cliff seems to need more space in front of the cliff than there will be if or when the new development is built.

For anyone new to the issue of the cliff façade and the cliff, you may wonder, what’s it all for?

The concrete cliff façade isn’t there to hold the cliff up, but is there to prevent weathering (the process of heat, water and cold damaging the surface of the cliff causing small lumps to fall off). The downside of this is that any major cliff fall caused normally by water further back, builds up until the pressure is sufficient to bring down part of the concrete façade and a considerable amount of cliff behind it.

In practice the cliff behind the Pleasurama site is an unsupported chalk cliff, weakened by tunnelling for HMS Fervent, navel guns mounted in it during both world wars and poor surface maintenance.

The last big fall there, bringing down cliff façade, steps and of tons of chalk was in 1957.

My own take is that the council should get a proper civil engineers report and survey done detailing where under the cliff it is safe to build residential accommodation, before any building work commences.

On to The East Kent Critic, as the weblogs for this blog say that more than 1,000 people read the one I put up yesterday here is another lot, as before compulsive clicking on the images of the pages should get them to a readable size.

 On to banging my own trumpet, here is the link to today’s new acquisitions in my bookshop http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/paddy-ashdown-returns-to-bookshop.html I should add that as it’s Thursday tomorrow the bookshop will be closed.  

Pleasurama aka Royal Sands Development Ramsgate Update

If you live in Ramsgate you probably know some of the good and bad points about this development and I would imagine for most of us the worst of the thing is how long Ramsgate has been stuck with a dreadful unusable mess behind the main sands.

There are various schools of thought on whether it will ever get built and a whole stack of political stuff related to the site value, whether it has actually been sold and contracts exchanged with the latest developer Cardy Construction of Canterbury.

There are pages and pages of optimistic announcements and not so optimistic announcements on the council’s website at https://www.thanet.gov.uk/search/?q=royal+sands 

A council document search for Pleasurama http://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/ieSearchResults2.aspx?SS=pleasurama&DT=3&ADV=0&CA=false&SB=true&CX=11536540&PG=1& and Royal Sands http://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/ieSearchResults2.aspx?SS=royal%20sands&DT=3&ADV=0&CA=false&SB=true&CX=11536543&PG=1& comes up with even more stuff.

However the point I am making here is that wolf has been cried rather a lot in terms of this development.

If the development ever gets built to the plans that have been approved, then I think the worst of it, in terms of what it will look like, will be the view from the cliff top opposite Wellington Crescent. From what I have been able to put together, most of this will be about an acre of flat black corrugated rubber roof, roughly the same height of the cliff top and extending about 100 feet away from the cliff top. Looking across the rubber, which wont have access to it so rubbish and seagull droppings will stay on it, you should just about be able to see the horizon. Between the rubber roof at a height of about eight feet below the cliff top footpath will be the external patios for the flats, looking over the top of these you should just about be able to see the low tide mark.     

I don’t think the development will look too bad from the bottom looking up at it, it is a bit dated in terms of design, partly because the plans were drawn up in 2003 and partly because it was a bit dated then.

In terms of day-to-day functioning the worst aspect seems to be the road layout and parking, partly because there is only one space for each flat, hotel room and shop unit and partly because as the architect measured the height of the build wrongly to benign with very unfortunate compromises have had to be made with the road from one end to the other of the building.

When I first started, what? My outrage about the thing or perhaps it would be kinder to say interest in it, it was the height issue I concentrated on, this was because the plans showed it as mostly being much taller that the cliff top, meaning that if you stood on the cliff top you wouldn’t be able to see the sea over the top of it.

Now the council and the architect say that the height has been reduced so that you mostly will, probably, although I honestly don’t think anyone is exactly certain as to how it will stack up against the cliff.

One way or another while the height business was going on, perhaps the realisation that the architect wasn’t too handy at measuring had something to do with it, I looked into other aspects of the development. In the end I discounted all of the aspects of the development apart from the ones relating to safety and ongoing financial liability to the council.

      

These issues really boil down to; will the cliff fall on the development unless the council spends and continues to spend loads of money on the cliff wall and will the development’s foundations get washed away unless the council spends loads of money on a new sea defence?

The cliff behind the development is an unsupported chalk cliff which has what is called a weathering façade made out of concrete, breeze blocks stone and bricks – to you and me the cliff wall.

What this does is stop the rain, ice and heat from the sun from making the chalk go crumbly so that bits fall off, what it doesn’t do is prevent major cliff falls.

Over the last hundred years there have been several major (thousands of tons) cliff falls chalk, cliff wall and all along this part of the cliff. There is a considerable degree of uncertainty about what caused them, the last one in 1957, recently enough for fairy advanced civil engineering, collapsed again half way through the rebuild, see article above.

Building on or under an unsupported chalk cliff has its risks, but then life in general has its risks, the trick is to properly assess the risk.

The flood risk is a bit different because I got some degree of support from the Environment Agency who strongly recommended that the council assessed the risk.

Anyway enough of my preamble, back in December I wrote to the council to see if the had done anything to assess either of these risks, the sea washing the development away or the cliff falling on it, this is since I asked about eight years ago, just before Cardy Construction built the now abandoned foundations. At this time the cliff wall had just been painted and Cardys were about to start building, which is pretty roughly what they and the council say is the situation now. 

Here is my response from the council, my questions in italic type, their answers in bold type

Ref No: 84703/3211812

Subject:        Pleasurama

Dear Mr Child,

Thank you for your communication received on 15th December 2015 where you requested information about the Royal Sands Development and Wellington Crescent Cliff Facade Wall.

For ease of reference I have summarised your questions with a response in each case below:

Can you kindly give me an update on the Pleasurama aka Royal Sands development on Ramsgate seafront?

An update has been provided on the Council’s website but for ease of reference I have provided the text below:

Work to the cliff façade on the Royal Sands site has taken place as planned, however unfortunately weather has delayed the final paint finish.

Due to the weather conditions expected this winter a decision has been made to delay this work until the early spring. This final painting is estimated to only take a few weeks after which the Development can commence.

If there is an officer coordinating the project can you please provide contact details? If not, please consider putting someone in charge of coordinating the whole project.

The project to deliver the new Royal Sands development is the responsibility of Cardy Construction.  Chris Rolle the Interim Head of Economic Development & Asset Management at Thanet District Council is the appropriate officer to contact for any questions relating to the site itself prior to sale.

Last week various rumours which were apparently supported by some TDC councillors, appeared on the internet, saying that the wrong paint had been used to coat the façade.  This was followed by the council issuing a statement, saying that the paint job wasn’t finished when the scaffolding was up, and a further coat of paint still needs to be applied.  Does this mean that the scaffolding will need to be re-erected? Or does this mean that the council intends some other method of applying the paint and if it does what method will be used?

The paint used does meet the required specification however the coating to some of the blockwork panels will need to be repeated due to poor weather conditions at the time of the initial application at the end of the contract period.  It is better to leave this until the warmer weather in the spring. Arrangements have been made for the contractor to return to complete the work.  The method of access is still to be confirmed but it is possible that this will be via a hydraulic platform which will avoid the need to re-erect scaffolding.

Since the initial planning application was approved in 2003, the Environment Agency have designated the site a “Flood Zone 3a (High Probability)”

Have the council either conducted a flood risk assessment or produced any report detailing why one isn’t necessary?

You have previously requested information on the subject of a flood risk assessment for the site.  This was responded to in an email from Doug Brown on 18th November 2009.

Does the whole liability of maintaining flood protection for the new development rest with the council or has any of it been mitigated either to the developer or the EA?

Flood defences are provided and maintained by Local Authorities under permissive powers, they are not duties.  However the existing sea wall at Ramsgate is likely to continue to be maintained by the Council in accordance with the ‘Hold the Line’ policy indicated in the Isle of Grain to South Foreland Shoreline Management Plan.

In 2005 the council commissioned Jacobs Baptie to examine the cliff façade, the conclusion of their report states that the structure has a short serviceable life. Since the report the council have had the façade pointed and recoated twice.

Do the council envisage this happening every five years for the life of the development and do the council envisage funding this?

The structure is the subject of regular inspection and the observations from these inspections inform the maintenance regime.  The 2005 inspection report predates the maintenance work undertaken in 2008 and 2015 which has improved the condition of the structure and extended its service life.  It is not possible to confirm the frequency of future maintenance work but the cliff facade will remain a TDC owned and maintained structure.

To facilitate the ongoing cliff maintenance do the council have any report stating the distance required between the development and the cliff façade, needed to maintain it economically?  With the structure having a short serviceable life, do the council have any plan for replacing the cliff façade with the new development in place?

The Council has not commissioned a report which identifies the most appropriate distance between the building and the façade to facilitate economic inspection and maintenance.  There are no plans to replace the façade with a new structure.

Do the council hold any engineers report stating that it is safe to build a residential development in front of the cliff façade?

The Council has not commissioned and does not hold a report on this specific subject.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: Information Request Assessor, Thanet District Council, PO Box 9, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent CT9 1XZ, or email to foi@thanet.gov.uk

Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

***** ****

Technical Services Manager

A bit of a postamble here about collapsing chalk cliffs, in their natural sate they mostly collapse due to the sea at the bottom undermining them. With this one I think the reasons for the various collapses has been a mixture of things:-

Bad surface maintenance meaning that acid rainwater has been concentrated along the surface cracks cutting down thought he chalk like a cheese slicer.

Leaking pipes behind the cliff face.  

Cracks caused by the ships guns mounted on the cliff during both world wars.

The tunnelling for HMS Fervent. 

Pleasurama update, TDC draft accounts and more progress with the painting of Ramsgate

First the pen and watercolour sketch of Ramsgate, which is coming along and is probably nearing completion.

The problem now is where next. I need to be able to sit on a comfortable chair with a coffee, from about 6am to about 9am, with a view in front of me, not too much likelihood of a van or lorry getting in the way, and the sun not in my eyes. This is actually much more difficult than you would imagine and I considering buying a clapped out campervan, so I can park make coffee and see over parked cars.

The Pleasurama development is mentioned in the newly published TDC draft accounts, (thanks Dave) here is the link to them http://thanet.gov.uk/media/2601234/Draft-Statement-of-Accounts-14-15-30-June-2015.pdf

This is what it says about the development:

"Royal Sands

The development agreement dated 2006 (and amended 2009) between the Council and developer SFP Ventures(UK) Ltd became the subject of legal dispute and as such the parties entered into a dispute resolution situation supported by independent legal advisors. This process led to the parties agreeing a new agreement for sale of the site, with the company SFP Ventures (UK) Ltd being bought out by Cardy Construction, but with the Council retaining performance monitoring and an Option agreement to purchase the site back should the owner trigger an event of default. The contracts for sale exchanged in March 2015, with completion to happen once the Council has undertaken some works which will commence in July 2015, completion is expected in early October 2015, after which the receipt achieved will be reported."  

Pleasurama, Royal Sands back on. Manston more from Cllr David Green. Trouble at blog a ramble.

 Trying to stay with the old pictures of Ramsgate Harbour theme, please let me know if I make any repetitions.

At last nights cabinet meeting “Cabinet authorise officers to seek to negotiate a new agreement with Cardy Construction Ltd for the Royal Sands Development in Ramsgate.” That’s a quote from the council’s communication team on Twitter see https://twitter.com/ThanetCouncil

The meeting’s on the tube

 The Friends of Ramsgate Seafront facebook group are now really the main place for discussions about Pleasurama, see https://www.facebook.com/groups/516220578418850/ there is also The Truth About Pleasurama blog see http://pleasurama.blogspot.co.uk/

My stance on Pleasurama long ago moved from the political implications, whether locals want the development, how awful the development will look when viewed from the cliff top, whether it will block out the view, eclipse the sunlight and so on. 

In recent years my stance has been based around the two questions. 1 If it ever gets built will it be safe for the people living in it? 2 If it ever gets built will maintaining the surrounding infrastructure to the level where people can live in it cripple the council?

 All the stuff about who owns which company and what one or another previous councillor should or shouldn’t have done five, ten or fifteen years ago pales into insignificance next to those two questions.

This doesn’t exactly resolve itself into, will the cliff fall on the development and will the sea wash the development away as it is unlikely that this would be allowed to happen, closer I guess is will the cost of ensuring it doesn’t happen over the life of the development be prohibitive.

This is particularly concerning if you are a TDC council taxpayer as TDC seem to have set themselves up to cover all of these costs. 

  Of interest to me at the moment is the part of the cliff façade up near the lift, the bit Cardy reported on in 2010 http://thanetonline.com/cliff/ basically saying that the only concrete support pillar the looked under didn’t have any foundations and later in 2012 the council seem to have said, at http://thanetonline.com/cliff/id14.htm that none of the support pillars for the portals have foundations, i.e. the whole of the concrete cliff façade there is hanging on the front of the chalk cliff face. It does look as though the top of the lift has moved about 5mm away from the cliff during this year.

 To my mind this moves this part of the cliff out of the don’t sit under the cliff bracket and into the keep well away bracket.

 On to Dave Green and the airport. Cllr David Green has been posting about the airport on facebook, some questions and summaries of the answers he has received:

“David Green

I return to the questions I asked:

1. What are the owner’s plans and how do they compare in terms of sustainable job creation as compared to any feasible airport model?

You don't have the answer to this, and couldn't be expected to have, nevertheless, our legal advice says that we have to show that we have given the owner opportunity to share their plans with us if a CPO is considered. I have asked officers to be sure we are engaging properly. How much time they should be given is debatable.

2. After 20 years of failure is there a sustainable airport model and what initial capital investment would it require?

Some of the information you give about the lack of imagination y the previous owners leading to poor performance is convincing. However the Council's advice is that considerable investment is needed along with a parkway station and government backing. You say £100M over 20 years. We have not yet seen anyone able to convincingly promise that.

3. What would the likely environmental impact of such a model be?

You don't have any answer to this and couldn't be expected to have without the business plan. However the Council will need a professional assessment of the impact of any plan to inform the CPO and Local Plan.

4. Given 1 to 3 above what would be the likelihood of success of a CPO?

Two points are crucial, the first is that we can show that loss of of the airport would severely damage Thanet's economic prospects. The second is that we have negotiated with the current owner.

5. Is there a potential operator that would truly indemnify the Council of all legal and financial risk of a CPO process whether it succeeds or fails?

Of your answers, this seems most promising judging from Riveroak's public statements. However we will soon have the answers to the Council's questionaire from all three respondents.”

So Dave if you read this, shouldn’t the council be holding some sort of online consultation about the airport cpo like the did about the night flights?  

 I have been having all sorts of problems with comments on this blog, the main one being the huge amount of commercial spam and the associated emails blocking up my email account.

My options are very limited I can either allow comments from anyone or only allow comments from people with some sort of internet id and after this I can apply moderation so I read the comments before allowing them.

I am taking on the information about the historic buildings in Ramsgate open with free entrance this weekend.

Ramsgate’s historic buildings are opening this weekend as part of Heritage Open Days (11-14 September). Our events celebrate and open eyes to the stories of architect AWN Pugin, banker and philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore and Thanet’s oldest church St Laurence.

AWN Pugin, designer of the interior of the Houses of Parliament and of St.Stephen’s Tower (Big Ben) is one of our most illustrious past residents. He lived in Ramsgate for the last 10 years of his life, at the period when he ‘reconfigured’ the concept of the perfect family house. He built his home The Grange and church St Augustine’s next door, which were for him the most important of all that he built in his short but dramatic and impactful life (1812-1852).

The Grange is open Friday 12 to Monday 15 September (10am – 4pm) and Tuesday 16 September (10am – 1pm)  http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/our-landmarks/properties/grange-3253/      

St Augustine’s Church is open each day (11-14 September) from 10am – 4pm.

There’s also a ‘PUGIN WEEK’ with events including:

Concert with The Victoria Consort on Saturday 13 September (7.30pm)

Midday Sung Mass on Sunday 14 September, the 162^nd anniversary of Pugin’s death at the age of only 40. He is buried in the church.

http://augustinefriends.co.uk/  OR  http://pugin.com/pugchur.htm                

Sir Moses Montefiore arrived in Ramsgate 1831 when he purchased a country estate with 24 acres on the East Cliff of town; the property had previously been a country house of Queen Caroline when she was still Princess of Wales. He lived in Ramsgate until his death in 1885.

Ramsgate Montefiore Synagogue & Mausoleum is open on Sunday 14 September (10am – 3pm)

Sir Moses’ resting place and his family’s private synagogue are open courtesy of the Montefiore Endowment as part of the European Days of Jewish Culture & Heritage.

http://www.ramsgatemontefioreheritage.org.uk

St. Lawrence Church and its Tower is open on Saturday 13 September (10.00 am - 6.00pm). 

During the day there will be:

Tower Tours to view Ramsgate and beyond at 11.00 am, 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm.

Tour of the Grade 1 listed church (12 noon) and open choir practise (3.30 pm)

http://www.achurchnearyou.com/st-laurence-in-thanet-st-laurence/

If you want a day or a weekend out, there’s lots to discover in the town, and special events which show the character of this friendly, busy seaside town. Over the same weekend, one of the most historic streets, which was the town’s shopping centre in the Victorian era, becomes a mass of stalls, entertainment and family fun with the Addington Street Fair on Sunday 14 September from 10am onwards.

For news of what’s on and how to find out more, visit www.ramsgatetown.org or www.visitthanet.co.uk and the town’s facebook page at Ramsgatetown.