Huge Corrugated Iron Shed appears in front of the Ramsgate Mayor's Parlour, Roger Gale sings a strange song over Manston and a ramble.

I assume that most readers are familiar with the new plans for the new Hornby Visitor Centre on the slipways at Ramsgate, which we were told would all be a very tasteful building in the late Victorian or Any Edwardian style.

Much of this came about because members of the previous Labour town council members didn't like the view of the working slipways from their rather palatial accommodation upstairs in The Custom House.

I think the thing that they liked the least were the corrugated sheds, which have just been demolished, so you can imagine my surprise at seeing a huge corrugated shed being built right in front of the windows of The Mayor’s Parlour.

Here is the view from the mayor’s window

and here are the mockups on the mayor’s table of the attractive buildings he or she, depending on when expected to see being built there.

I asked the chaps building the shed if it was a temporary building while the new one is being built and they said no it’s a permanent structure.

I tried to speak to the planning officer at TDC who is dealing with this application but he was in a meeting and will call me back.

I think the alternatives are.

1 This is a temporary structure.

2 That the council has made a mistake and passed plans for something totally unsuitable for the site.

3 It is being built illegally.

On to the Manston, TDC cpo meltdown, I was going to write a blog post about this yesterday and what with the council considering taking legal action against MP Sir Roger Gale and having received some fairly stiff legal letters from the council over Pleasurama, I thought I ought to speak to a council officer first. So I phoned the council and asked to speak to an officer about the Manston cpo issue, the answer I got I have to admit astonished me. The officer on the council switchboard said they are no longer allowed to pass on calls about Manston to officers. I then asked to be put through to the council’s legal department and was told firmly no. After being moderately firm I was told they would arrange for someone to call me back, which hasn’t happened yet.  

I tried again today and the situation seems to advanced to the point where the council now put you through to an officer specially delegated to tell you that the council won’t talk about Manston.

Well the local media and social media are overflowing with the Manston issue, so I have selected what I think is the most unusual comment from the most experienced local politician, it’s in the form of an email thread and I have redacted Sir Roger’s constituent’s name.

“From: ***

Sent: 05 October 2015 11:32

To: GALE, Roger

Subject: Tony Freudmann

Dear Sir Roger,

I understand that you have known Mr Freudmann for some years.

I understand that in October 1993, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ordered that he be "struck from the roll" for misappropriating client funds.

When were you first aware that Mr Freudmann had been struck off the solicitor's roll?

Best regards,

***

***,

Herne Bay

________________________________________

On 5 Oct 2015 9:03 pm, "GALE, Roger" wrote:

Yes

.I am also aware of the facts behind this case.

You, clearly, are not.

RG

________________________________________

From:****

Sent: 06 October 2015 08:35

To: GALE, Roger

Subject: RE: Tony Freudmann

Dear Sir Roger,

I am grateful for your swift reply, but it does not address my original question: when were you first aware that Mr Freudmann had been struck off the solicitor's roll?

Best regards,

*****

________________________________________

On 6 October 2015 at 19:53, GALE, Roger wrote:

Mr ****,

Mr Freudmann`s record was considered at the time of his earlier involvement with Manston and was public knowledge. I am surprised that you appear to be unaware of this.

Sir Roger Gale MP

________________________________________

From: ****

Sent: 07 October 2015 09:29

To: GALE, Roger

Subject: Re: Tony Freudmann

Dear Sir Roger,

Once again I am grateful for your reply, but once again it does not answer my question. To repeat and clarify:

When were *you* first aware that Mr Freudmann had been struck off the solicitor's roll?

Best regards,

*****

________________________________________

GALE, Roger

10:23 (1 hour ago)

Reply

to me

Mr. ****

As I have already told you – and in concluding this futile correspondence – at the time when Mr. Freudmann was first involved in Manston: I cannot put a date on it but it was years ago.

For the record – as you clearly have the time to chase up blind alleys – Mr. Freudmann is not a Director of RiverOak and the project is being managed by one of their senior Directors.

Sir Roger Gale MP”

So Sir Roger who also seems to represent or be related in some way, to RiverOak, the American hedge fund trying to acquire the Manston site seems to be saying That the man who appears on both RiverOak’s websites http://www.riveroakic.com/about.html as the Managing Director isn’t actually a director.

This is Thanet and when it comes to our local politics where UKIP have just lost overall control of TDC, you couldn't make it up, if it was fiction it wouldn’t be... Oh I’m lost for words.

28 UKIP councillors and 28 others, and as the chairman has a casting vote on some issues perhaps lost control is an overstatement

On my bookshop blog http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/ you can see the books going out on the shelves everyday in Ramsgate, which is an indicator of what local peole are reading, I have been looking at this blog trying to work out if it has something to do with our bizarre tastes in litrature, that throws up such perculiarites in our local politics.

I should stress here that his is what they are building and not knocking down.

Update, I think everyone will be pleased to know that the developer has just popped into my bookshop and has assured me that this corrugated shed is just a temporary structure to keep the slipways running while the development is built.

He said he will send me the drawings of the new slipways workshop tomorrow, when he sees the architect.

Nearly forgot, letter of the week.

And the reply

From: GALE, Roger Sent: 13 October 2015 07:30 To: 'madeline.homer@thanet.gov.uk' Cc: 'victoria.williama@thanet.gov.uk'; 'cllr-Chris.Wells@thanet.gov.uk' Subject: FW: Letter from Madeline Homer, Chief Executive - Thanet District Council
Madam, I acknowledge receipt of your attached communication and have noted your comments. I stand by my observations which are neither defamatory nor libellous.
You appear to need to be reminded that I have been elected to represent, promote and protect the interests of my constituents and I shall continue to do so without fear or favour at every level of government.
Noting that you have chosen to release your own e-mail publicly and that comment indicates that I have not responded I am making this communication, also, publicly available.
Yours, etc. Sir Roger Gale MP


I have just taken the picture below from the council's planning website

Manston Airport closure issues.

I am posting about this again partly because I have just received an email from Roger Gale’s office saying there will be an adjournment debate about the issue tonight. Partly because there is an online poll about night flights and partly to give my opinion on the subject.

So first here is email from Suzy.

“Please note that Roger has asked me to let you know that he has secured the Adjournment Debate in the House this evening.

The subject is Manston Airport and the debate will START at the end of business in the House - probably any time from 10.00 p.m. this evening if you would like to see it or record it?

The Freeview Channel for Parliament is No. 81 - I am not entirely sure where you find the Parliament Channel on SKY TV.

I hope this is helpful.

With all good wishes.     SUZY
 
SUZY GALE
Office of Sir Roger Gale MP
01843 84858)
galerj@parliament.uk
suzy@galemail.com
www.rogergale.co.uk
www.animalsworldwide.org  ”

Next the night flights poll, here is the link http://savemanstonairport.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/to-night-flight-or-not-to-night-flight/

I have checked it and it is fairly difficult to vote more than once.

So what are my thoughts on saving Manston airport? Well the short answer is that it depends what you are saving.

I am all for a small regional airport that I can fly to useful places from and that employees a reasonable amount of people which enhances the local economy, I would also would have liked to have seen the historic airport side of Manston expanded.

On the night time flying front and particularly as night flights over Ramsgate, or the potential for night flights over Ramsgate have a negative affect on the local economy, my feelings are that any allowance has to be linked to real economic benefits in terms of increased daytime activity. Frankly a few people doing a limited amount of overtime to take a bit of nuisance business that that other airports don’t want is not enough. 

Looking at the issue of Manston becoming a freight air hub, the economic and technical negatives are:

The runway isn’t long enough for some freight aircraft to get of fully loaded. For a fully loaded 747 it would need around another 1,000 feet of runway.

It doesn’t have a fuel pipeline to one of the refineries, so sticking with the 747 analogy it takes over six fuel tankers to fill the tanks of a 747.  

The main thing however is that the freight would mostly be heading for the M25 and it would have to do this in lorries from Manston.

On to the economics that caused the closure threat in the first place. At the moment the airport is losing £10,000 per day and added to this it is subsidised by the UK government to the tune of about £8,000 per day.

Recently the most successful operation there was the KLM flights, the main purpose of these flights was to take people to a foreign airport in order to avoid UK airport tax.

So however you look at the problem, there are two pertinent questions:

One is, how many flights per day would it take to make the airport pay?

And the other is how many extra flights per day before the airport benefited the UK economy? 

My own reckoning with freight only flights and just the airport going into the black with the UK government still subsidising it to the tune of around £8,000 per day is around 22,000 flights per year or around 60 flights per day. 

With the freight only option the key question is do the economic and social benefits to Thanet outweigh the economic and social disadvantages? 

A major issue here is to save the existing jobs and a question that does need asking is does the freight hub option save the existing jobs?

I guess another issue here would be air to rail freight, were Manston to be freight only it would be much more likely to need a rail freight terminal than a parkway station. 

Next come the videos from the Save Manston Airport meeting, good on Duncan for his efforts.










   
I am adding to this post in a fairly random way as I think of things.

One aspect of freight activity at Manston is air pollution, as the wind direction here blows predominantly towards a bit north of east, Broadstairs is most affected by the planes and lorries operating on and in the immediate vicinity of the airport.

Thanet as I guess we all know has the highest death by air pollution statistics for southern England, presumably because the predominant wind direction means the air here has been travelling furthest across the southern England landmass.

But an interesting question, to which I don’t know the answer is; which is more polluting for us here in Thanet, flying the freight to Manston, having the plane movements there and then using road transport to move the freight out of Thanet and the fuel into Thanet or having the plane movements further to the west of us?  

References, the comment is getting a bit complex so I am adding some reference links

Report that says Thanet has the highest air particle mortality rate.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317141074607

News paper article showing the American Airforce tried to introduce racial apartheid due to aircraft noise pollution http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/blogpicts2/id71.htm  

Roger Gale Gags Gazette at Thanet College

Don’t quite know what this is all about, click on the link to read http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=195196673841254&id=130587156970738#!/pages/Isle-of-Thanet-Gazette/130587156970738 or click on the picture to enlarge.

I don’t really understand Facebook so I didn’t know how to link to this so it won’t vanish, hence the pageshot.

I think this may be about “Education Maintenance Allowance” EMA this is a payment made to students to help them stay in education that the government is abolishing.

£30 per week for those whose household income is under £20,817 p.a.;
£20 per week for those whose household income is between £20,818 and £25,521 p.a.;
£10 per week for those whose household income is between £25,522 and £30,810 p.a.

Understandably students are pretty annoyed about this.

Along the lines of you budget your life to do some sort of educational course and then the government remove all of your independent income, before the course is finished.

It just wasn’t a fair decision, if the government had cut their money in proportion with all the other cuts I don’t think this would have been unreasonable, but to take the group in society aged from 16 to 19 and remove their entire benefit seems just crass.

I can fully understand why Roger doesn’t want the press there when he tries to tackle the students questions about this.

One does wonder though about freedom of the press and democracy in Thanet it seems that Ken Gregory thinks that Hosni Mubarak has suffered some sort of injustice, that has caused him to resign.

Well what he actually says is “it seems that somewhat less than 7% of the made a fuss and the President was forced into exile.” See http://villagevoices.blogspot.com/2011/02/egyptian-democracy.html

After the rigging of the leadership consultation I suppose we should expect some of our local politicians to be concerned about press freedom and democracy. It’s certainly good to see Roger and Ken taking an interest.

Thanet General Election in Thanet internet update.

With the general election looming I thought I would check our candidates web presence. If anyone spots anything I missed please let me know.

With the internet supposedly a major factor in this election some of the candidates failure to grapple with it at all is pretty incredible.

Thanet North

Roger Gale Conservative, last MP.

Website http://www.rogergale.com/

Ability to comment; none.

Michael Britton Labour

Website; none.

Presence on party site; none.

Laura Murphy, Liberal Democrat

Website; none.

Presence on party site http://www.libdems.org.uk/people_detail.aspx?name=Laura_Murphy&pPK=849cebcc-6334-431d-b9a7-65c8a0bff0a0

Rosamund Parker UKIP

Website but without any content about candidate; http://www.rosamundparker.co.uk/

Ability to comment http://www.rosamundparker.co.uk/?page_id=2

Jim Dent English Democrats

Website; none.

Presence on party site; none.

Thanet South

Stephen Ladyman Labour, last MP

Website http://www.stephenladyman.info/

Ability to comment http://www.stephenladyman.info/ft_have_your_say_f10d7a59-ba0e-2054-e1a5-a819cdee611a (Only members of The Labour Party can comment here, so no one has for about a year.)

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=390010120438

Laura Sandys Conservative

Website http://www.voteforlaura.org.uk/

Ability to comment; none.

Tim Garbutt Independent (I am not sure he is a registered candidate yet)

Website and ability to comment http://lovekentloveramsgate.blogspot.com/

Trevor Shonk UKIP

Website; none.

Presence on party site; none.

Peter Bucklitsch Liberal Democrat

Website; none.

Presence on party site http://www.libdems.org.uk/parliamentary_candidates_detail.aspx?name=Peter_Bucklitsch&pPK=5f985397-2dd8-44d7-aec8-9e5189577fb6

The polls are swinging about a bit, but have been predicting a hung parliament for some time see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8609989.stm



Oh I also meant to mention that both Laura and Steve have feeds on their sites and both have got them slightly wrongly organised so only some of their new information actually feeds.

As a floating voter my estimation of the different parties goes up and down like a yoyo, the following from today is an example not a final judgment.

Labour up as Brown admits mistake.

Conservatives down as I am pretty sure they would have been leaning on Labour at the time for more deregulation of the banks, not less, so a silly one to lay into Brown about.

Lib Dems down for stupid mistake over tax threshold in manifesto.

Sunday Ramble politics and procrastination

Due to a peculiarity of internet statistics I am trying to get this blog to be perceived as a political blog, so rather a political ramble today.

With the general election looming and many pundits suggesting that the internet is going to very influential in this election I have just been having a look at the way Thanet’s political influencers are grappling with the internet.

Like it or not the main Thanet internet forum is blogger something for the most part our MPs and hopeful candidates seem to give a fairly wide berth, fairly unrestricted public internet forums present various problems for politicians.

There are considerable restrictions on what the various candidates in the forthcoming elections can and can’t say in a public forum and still remain candidates, partly because of electoral rules and partly because of the political parties they represent.

One way an astute and politically knowledgeable blogger can exploit this situation is by asking why candidates haven’t commented on something that they know full well they can’t, something that makes for some amusement.

Oddly enough most of the candidates seem to be somewhat aloof of this situation, I believe that they assume the ordinary voter is much more clued up than they really are.

At the moment the general consensus seems to be that here in Thanet the election is a bit of a three horse race, with Roger Gale odds on for Thanet North, and Steve Ladyman and Laura Sandys battling it out in Thanet South.

The two main Thanet Politicaly slanted blogs Thanet Life run by Conservative councillor and From One End of Kent run by Labour councillor Mark Nottingham have had a fair amount to say about national politics lately.

Most of the people I talk to who are likely to vote seem to be most worried about the economic situation after the election, the concerns mostly seem to revolve around what the financial cuts will be and how this will effect them, both in terms of personal allowances and benefits and in terms of how either the business they run or work for will be effected.

The whole thing seems to be much more about who will lose the election than who will win it, with people trying to work out which will be the least bad option for the personally.

I think that the expenses scandal has damaged what trust existed between the electorate and our MPs much more that our MPs seem to realise, in fact trust is very much the key word in this election.

Back before the banking crisis the trust that was being talked about was mostly about Tony Blair taking us to war under false pretences and the trust that was damaged by doing so meant many who would have voted Labour, intended not to for this reason.

I don’t think the economic crisis in itself is seen as being the government’s fault, in fact many have a perception that a Conservative government wouldn’t have handled it any better.

There is also a sense that within a democracy a change of government occasionally is something healthy and that when one party remains in power for too long, they become too comfortable.

Some feel that a hung parliament wouldn’t be such a bad thing, not because they would make a good government but because they would be more likely to implement electoral and parliamentary reforms, something often promised but seldom achieved.

It would however locally seem that as Thanet South is a marginal the few floating voters in that constituency will have a disproportionate effect on who forms the next government.

As far as the two major candidates go both are personable and responsive individuals and I am aware that both do a lot to help local people, regardless of their political affiliations.

Mainly because of this I get a sense that any mud slinging is likely to be counter productive and I suppose that those who are voting by making a choice between Steve and Laura have two things to weigh up.

One is how influential either of them would be in any new government and even this is a bit of a double edged sword as an MP with greater responsibility in parliament is likely both to have less time for their constituents but more influence to achieve things for them.

The other is which is most likely to pursue their concerns and try hardest to resolve their problems.

The other group of floating voters will be making a choice between the national parties or their leaders, trying to cut through the spin, hype and twaddle and work out which will make the best government, or as I have already stated the worst.

I also get the impression that some of the floating voters that vote Labour will be both ashamed of doing so because of the trust that was broken by Tony Blair and scared of voting for change, in case some cut finishes off their livelihood.

Because of this I think it possible that Labour are doing rather better than the polls suggest, as I think quite a few people would be a bit reluctant to say that they intended to do something that they new in their hearts to be based on their shame or fear.

One thing that is of great concern is the way the Conservatives are talking austerity in the one hand and yet our Conservative run county council is behaving, funding silly walks isn’t likely to be perceived as sensible even by the most conservative of the Conservatives.

I may ramble on as the day continues.

Roger Gale’s expenses appear in the Daily Telegraph

“Roger Gale claimed £624.98 for a television and stand and £250.30 for a TV aerial. Also claimed £1,700 for redecoration, plumbing and electrical works at his second home in London”

Ed. I waited to add my thoughts on this one until my ire cooled a little, as I didn’t want to seem unreasonably critical of Roger and as he ranks 446th out of 645 this puts him in the top 200 in terms of MPs that have fleeced us the least.

£875 just to watch TV, the trouble is that our MPs have lost touch with the real world, it doesn’t seem to matter much that some of them are saying sorry and paying the money back.

Rogers total expenses last year were £137,337 click here for some more detail, the problem for me is once one realises that part of there expenses look unreasonable one starts to wonder about the rest.

Now for me being in business if I got caught having made an unjustifiable expense it would trigger a tax inspection, by that I mean that the taxman would have a very close look at my books and if there was much wrong with them I would be looking at fines, prison and bankruptcy.

It is no excuse saying MPs wages are too low as MPs know what their wages will be when they stand for election.

Roger Gale on Manston airport expansion.

You either believe in the development of Manston as a regional airport or you do not. I have been absolutely consistent in my own view during my entire time as the Member of Parliament for North Thanet. I do.

I believe that Manston has a significant role to play in maintaining the United Kingdom's competitive place in the aviation industry and I believe in the capacity of Manston to contribute significantly through job creation to the local and national economies.

I do not share the opinions of the present Member of Parliament for Thanet South over very many issues but on this we have been, and so far as I am aware remain, united.

Where we part company is over our attitude to the proposal to build a Thanet Parkway rail station to carry passengers using the fast link and to serve the airport. Dr. Ladyman believes that our existing local stations and particularly Ramsgate are sufficient to serve the need. I believe that only the upgrading of the track and signalling between Ashford and Thanet, coupled with a new Parkway halt will adequately serve the needs of both commuters seeking to take advantage of genuinely (1-hour) high speed trains between Thanet and London and travellers from further airfield taking flights from Manston. That is a perfectly respectable and honourable difference of opinion.

What those who preach green travel and want to see rail used instead of road have to recognise, I think, is that without the development of the airport there will be little or no economic case for the extension of the fast rail link and that without that economic case the investment is unlikely to be made in the foreseeable future. We may be between a rock and a hard place but I made my decision long ago and I stand by it.

I have been slightly pedantically accused of inaccuracy in stating in the Commons that flights approaching and leaving Manston do so over the sea. Very largely, they do. Compared with the approaches to Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and so far as I am aware every other significant airfield in the UK (including locations such as Bournemouth and Southampton) the amount of overflying of land and property before landing and after takeoff is small.

That does not mean that I have no concern for the environmental effects of the development of the airport upon residents` lives. Again, I do. Those living in South Thanet and my own constituents living in the Thanet villages and Herne Bay on the flight paths have a right to due consideration and to the greatest achievable protection from noise and disturbance that is achievable and compatible with the lawful use of the airfield. That is why, for instance, I have again consistently opposed any extension of night flying at Manston and that is why I meet regularly with the Environment Agency and have, within only the last week, discussed with them the potential effects of airport development upon water supplies and sewage disposal.

I also recognise the wishes of those of my constituents living in Thanet and Herne Bay who have in the past enjoyed the ease and convenience (in some cases dating back to Silver City days) of flights to and from Manston. They were delighted with the service provided by EUJet, deeply saddened when that venture collapsed and are keen to see a restoration of package holiday travel from their local airport.

We have, now, as I said in the Commons, an opportunity. Given investment in the fast rail link and in perimeter security Manston is better placed that any other airfield to become "London's Olympic Airport" for the duration of the 2012 Games. We have the potential to provide a one-stop shop for the reception, processing and accreditation of worldwide athletes, officials and visitors and I believe that we should seize that opportunity in the interests of our local economy and of the UK. The legacy value of such investment, particularly in terms of the high speed rail link, would, of course, be dramatic.


Let me be clear before I am mischievously mis-represented: Heathrow is the World's number one hub airport. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not hub airports and never will be and neither will Manston. The development of Manston has the capability, however, to take some of the pressure off Gatwick and, in turn, release capacity at Heathrow and, taken with my party's plans to build high-speed rail throughout the Midlands and Northern England, help to obviate the need for a third runway at Heathrow.

I do not believe that `Boris Island` is either desirable or politically achievable but unless we want to see UK jobs lost to Schiphol and Charles de Gaulle, with a cost to our economy and no benefit to the global environment, then to do nothing is not an option . Properly handled, the promotion of Manston as a regional airport is entirely compatible with a "Green Isle of Thanet" policy and it deserves support.

Ed. the picture is Manston, aerial view, pre WWII

Roger Gale’s Christmas Visits

Continuing with my policy of publishing the press releases that come my way click here to view Roger Gale’s Christmas visiting timetable.

I published this list in my own website as I can’t find it on Roger’s to link to click here to go to his website.

I don’t have to put Steve Ladyman’s up as his website has feeds so they automatically appear on the sidebar with the other blog posts.

While on the subject of local politicians does anyone know the email address or website address for the Thanet North Labour candidate.