A few Ramsgate and Medway Queen photos and a bit of a ramble.

Photos first

 It’s been a busy week in my bookshop and very nice to have the bank holiday break now. News wise we did get woken up by the earthquake which seems to have been caused by seismic activity ten miles under Pegwell Bay. Having checked the vibration wasn’t caused by drunks breaking the shop window downstairs I went back to sleep and dreamt of the legendry island of Lomea vaguely wondering if it was a earthquake that did for it.

The flack is starting to fly on the new UKIP councillors front and their ill advised use of social media.

Apart from Cllr Bertie Braidwood http://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/ukip-councillor-investigated-over-offensive-37485/ a quick look at facebook and twitter suggests there are at least another five who have like some dubious site or another.  

I may ramble on here

The application for 785 dwellings at Manston and the appointments of senior council officers come before Thanet Council committees next week.

I guess we all know that the government have told councils that more houses have to be built and obviously people need places to live. I think it pretty fair to say that over the next few years several thousand new homes will be built in Thanet.

Of course there is the sort out the empty and derelict properties first augment, the snag here is that they are all owned by different people and many of them would be very expensive to sort out if they could be bought by a developer.

There are also a few large plots in towns, like Pleasurama which has got as far as the foundations on sand stage and the Boundary Road gasworks site which has serious industrial contamination issues.

We then have the building out across open land solution, we have prime farmland and probably need to conserve as much as this as we can, the Manston Airport site where soil is thin on top of the chalk and probably wouldn’t be viable as farmland but it looks like the two property developers RiverOak and Discovery Parks will be thrashing this one out.

The one that comes before the planning committee next week is a development on prime farmland, see http://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/documents/s46423/D04.pdf

The other committee meeting next week is General Purposes and they will probably ok the appointment of the council’s new top financial and legal officers, see http://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/documents/s46526/Appointment%20of%20Interim%20Section%20151%20Officer%20and%20Interim%20Monitoring%20Officer.pdf

I guess there is a sense with both of these committees (reading both documents) that they needn’t be there at all and that they are just there to rubber stamp what has already been decided. But I am mindful that with most of the new committee members lacking experience the council’s radar, while not being completely turned off may be running high enough for something fairly large to pass under it.  

Glen Cheeseman at The York Street Gallery in Ramsgate

The current Exhibition  is an Exhibition by Glen Cheeseman. A collection of depicting many local views, Nudes, Still Life and Figure studies in various media. The exhibition runs - 20th May - 27th May Exhibitions change weekly on Wednesdays.

New Council Appointments

UKIP Councillor Chris Wells has been elected as Leader of Thanet District Council at last night’s (Thursday 21 May) Annual Council meeting.

This was the first council meeting following the 2015 elections held on Thursday 7 May which saw UKIP win 33 seats taking overall control of the council. The Conservatives secured 18, Labour four and one seat went to an Independent Councillor.

The annual meeting saw elections and appointments of all of the key council positions with Cllr. Lin Fairbrass elected as the Deputy Leader.

The Leader of the Opposition is Conservative’s Cllr. Bob Bayford and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is Cllr Jason Savage.

Chairmanship of the Council is now held by UKIP’s Cllr Rev. Stuart Piper, with party colleague Cllr Alan Howes as the Vice-Chairman.

Formal appointments for 2015:

Leader of the Council	Cllr. Chris Wells	UKIP
Deputy Leader of the Council	Cllr. Lin Fairbrass	UKIP
Leader of the Opposition	Cllr. Bob Bayford	Conservative
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Cllr. Jason Savage	Conservative
Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairman	Cllr. David Saunders	Conservative
Overview and Scrutiny Vice-Chairmen	Cllr. Glenn Coleman-Cooke	UKIP
Planning Committee Chairman	Cllr. Peter Evans	UKIP
Planning Committee Vice-Chairman	Cllr. Edward Jaye-Jones	UKIP
Licensing Board Chairman	Cllr. Linda Potts	UKIP
Licensing Board Vice-Chairman	Cllr. Bertie Braidwood	UKIP
Governance and Audit Committee Chairman	Cllr. Vince Munday	UKIP
Governance and Audit Committee Vice-Chairman	Cllr. John Buckley	UKIP
Joint Transportation Board Chairman	Cllr. Gary Taylor	UKIP

Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet appointments:

Portfolio	Cabinet Member (UKIP)	Shadow Cabinet Member (Conservative)
Leader of the Council	Cllr. Chris Wells	Cllr. Bob Bayford
Community Services Includes: Community Safety, Margate Task Force, Events, Community Development, Indoor and Outdoor Leisure, Safeguarding Children, Sport, Youth, Your Leisure Kent Ltd, Land Charges, Licensing, Environmental Health including integrated Pollution Control, Street Nameplates, Statutory Nuisance, Food Safety and External Health and Safety, Health and Wellbeing Board, Housing Intervention, Private Sector Housing, Housing Needs/Homelessness, Housing Strategy, Client-side East Kent Housing, Building Control, Strategic Planning, Planning Applications, Planning Enforcement, Conservation.	Cllr. Lin Fairbrass Also Deputy Leader of the Council	Cllr. Lesley Game
Corporate Governance Services Includes: Business Information and Improvement, Information and Communications (including Public Relations, Marketing, Press relations, Internal Communications, film locations and Records and Data Management), Business Support and Compliance (including Corporate Governance and Business Continuity), Policy and Business Planning (including Performance Management), Business Transformation and Options, Procurements and Contracts, Risk Management. Customer Services, Customer Access, Human Resources (including internal Health and Safety), It. Democratic Services including Electoral Management, Member Services and Legal Services.	Cllr. Helen Smith	Cllr. Rosanna Taylor-Smith
Financial Services and Estates Includes: Budget Setting, Monitoring and Final Accounts, Treasury Management (Revenue, Capital and HRA), Insurance, Income Payments, Systems Control and Improvement, Commercial Property, East Kent Audit Partnership, Property Management (including asset disposal, acquisition and asset management), Housing and Council Tax Benefits, Revenues (including Debt Recovery).	Cllr. John Townend	Cllr. Ian Gregory
Operational Services Includes: Cemeteries and Crematorium, Emergency Planning, Coastal Engineering, Grounds Maintenance, Parks and Open Spaces Management, Playgrounds, Public Toilets, Street Cleaning, Recycling and Waste, Off Street Parking, On Street Parking, Street Scene Enforcement, Temporary Road Closure Orders, Thanet Coast Project, Water Safety and Beach Services, Foreshore, Allotments, CCTV.	Cllr. Suzanne Brimm	Cllr. Ken Gregory
Regeneration and Enterprise Services Includes: Economic Development and Regeneration Policy, East Kent Opportunities Ltd, Tourism, Business Engagement, Town Teams, Strategic Conservation Policy, Media Centre, Kent Innovation Centre, East Kent Regeneration Board, Invest Thanet, Business Engagement, Kent and Medway Economic Partnership, Port of Ramsgate, Ramsgate Royal Harbour Marina, Broadstairs and Margate Harbours.	Cllr. Hunter Stummer-Schmertzing	Cllr. Jason Savage Also Shadow Deputy Leader of the Council

More information about your new Thanet Councillors

Chris Wells is crowned king of TDC, live council meeting updates, Little Ships, retro book covers and a ramble

I am putting this blog post together while doing other things so first the Tweets from the council, if I can make them work.

Here is the video of the Manston Council Meeting



Tweets about thanet council

Tweets by @ThanetCouncil

Not really many Little Ships pictures this year as there are so many on the internet and timing didn’t work well for me this year due to family commitments.

Earlier today Cllr Latchford put a question about Manston to KCC here is the question and answer. 

COUNTY COUNCIL Thursday 21 May 2015 Question by Roger Latchford to Paul Carter,

 Leader of the Council Now that the Conservative Party have Nationally secured a commanding Majority and have clearly stated their support of Manston remaining as an Airport and both Thanet newly Elected Conservative Members of Parliament have publicly stated their support, together with UKIP who have always been totally supportive, it must be clear that the current situation is that all Groups now support Manston as an Airport. Will the Leader please tell this Council who at the historic vote here also supported Manston, whether TDC can now rely on the support of KCC for a CPO. Answer I am pleased that Mr Latchford has acknowledged the commanding majority given to the Conservative Government in the House of Commons. As Mr Latchford will know, the airport at Manston has now been closed for almost exactly 12 months, and in that time I have seen no credible plan which would restore to Manston a viable airport. Nor, I believe, has the new Conservative Government. 

Mr Latchford’s question asks “whether Thanet District Council can rely on the support of KCC for a CPO”. Neither the Government in Westminster nor Kent County Council can support the compulsory purchase of the Manston site on the information we currently have available. It is the absence of the relevant information which matters here. Let me quote from the legal advice addressed to Thanet District Council which Mr Latchford will have seen: “The Council need to be satisfied in promoting the CPO that it is able to meet the tests of Circular 06/2004 on the likelihood of the project going ahead. The Secretary of State will not confirm a CPO unless he is satisfied that there is a real likelihood of the project going ahead. If the Council take the decision to pursue a CPO, members would want to have assurance that a partner would take this forward. The Secretary of State will need to be satisfied that the scheme is likely to go ahead based on a realistic assessment.” The only plans which I have seen for the future of the site are those published by the new owners of Manston, Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner. I still, despite requesting this, have not been shown any business plan from RiverOak. Let me quote again from the legal advice: “The new ownership of the site since previous legal advice will be a major factor when the Council is deciding to make the CPO and when the Secretary of State is deciding whether or not to confirm a CPO. The overarching public interest test is whether there is a compelling case in the public interest. As the Circular advises (17), an authority should be sure that the purposes for which it is making the CPO sufficiently justify interfering with the human rights of those with an interest in the land affected.” The Secretary of State should therefore look closely at both business plans, carry out extensive due diligence before supporting any CPO process and decide which is best able to provide the best employment opportunities and grow the economy of East Kent. Until the Secretary of State completes his due diligence on both plans, it is premature to ask for an open-ended commitment to support Thanet and their CPO process. deciding whether or not to confirm a CPO. The overarching public interest test is whether there is a compelling case in the public interest. As the Circular advises (17), an authority should be sure that the purposes for which it is making the CPO sufficiently justify interfering with the human rights of those with an interest in the land affected.” The Secretary of State should therefore look closely at both business plans, carry out extensive due diligence before supporting any CPO process and decide which is best able to provide the best employment opportunities and grow the economy of East Kent. Until the Secretary of State completes his due diligence on both plans, it is premature to ask for an open-ended commitment to support Thanet and their CPO process.  

Here is a summery of the new appointments, just posted by Dave Green on facebook

TDC Appointments

Chair Rev Stuart Piper

Vice Char Alan Howes

Leader Chris Wells

Deputy Leader & Community Services Lin Fairbrass

Cabinet Corporate Governance Helen Smith

Cabinet Financial Services & Estates John Townsend

Cabinet Operational Services Suanne Brimm

Cabinet Regeneration ad Enterprise Hunter Stummer-Schmertzing

Cabinet Planning and Housing ?

Chair of Planning Committee Peter Evans

Vice Chair Edward Jaye-Jones

Chair of Licensing Linda Potts

Overview & Scrutiny Chair Conservative David Saunders

Vice Chair Glen Coleman-Cooke

Chair of Governance and Audit Vince Munday

Vice Chair John Buckley

Chair of Joint Transport Board Gary Taylor

I bought about 150 books for my bookshop today so I won’t bore you with pictures of them all.

This one seemed the most unlikely to find today.

On the retro book front I think this batch of 1950s military fiction and non fiction is interesting from a cover design point of view. 

This batch of books, also bought today, dating from around the beginning of WW1 shows a change in design.

Lunch at The Dog and Duck at Plucks Gutter today this is the pen sketch of The Dog and Duck, very difficult to get mock Tudor not to look like Tudor in  sketch.  

Followed by the inevitable walk by the river and copious photos

Next congratulations to Trevor Shonk who has become the new mayor of Ramsgate.

UKIP Councillor Chris Wells has been elected as Leader of Thanet District Council at last night’s (Thursday 21 May) Annual Council meeting.

This was the first council meeting following the 2015 elections held on Thursday 7 May which saw UKIP win 33 seats taking overall control of the council. The Conservatives secured 18, Labour four and one seat went to an Independent Councillor.

The annual meeting saw elections and appointments of all of the key council positions with Cllr. Lin Fairbrass elected as the Deputy Leader.

The Leader of the Opposition is Conservative’s Cllr. Bob Bayford and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is Cllr Jason Savage.

Chairmanship of the Council is now held by UKIP’s Cllr Rev. Stuart Piper, with party colleague Cllr Alan Howes as the Vice-Chairman.

Formal appointments for 2015:

Leader of the Council	Cllr. Chris Wells	UKIP
Deputy Leader of the Council	Cllr. Lin Fairbrass	UKIP
Leader of the Opposition	Cllr. Bob Bayford	Conservative
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Cllr. Jason Savage	Conservative
Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairman	Cllr. David Saunders	Conservative
Overview and Scrutiny Vice-Chairmen	Cllr. Glenn Coleman-Cooke	UKIP
Planning Committee Chairman	Cllr. Peter Evans	UKIP
Planning Committee Vice-Chairman	Cllr. Edward Jaye-Jones	UKIP
Licensing Board Chairman	Cllr. Linda Potts	UKIP
Licensing Board Vice-Chairman	Cllr. Bertie Braidwood	UKIP
Governance and Audit Committee Chairman	Cllr. Vince Munday	UKIP
Governance and Audit Committee Vice-Chairman	Cllr. John Buckley	UKIP
Joint Transportation Board Chairman	Cllr. Gary Taylor	UKIP

Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet appointments:

Portfolio	Cabinet Member (UKIP)	Shadow Cabinet Member (Conservative)
Leader of the Council	Cllr. Chris Wells	Cllr. Bob Bayford
Community Services Includes: Community Safety, Margate Task Force, Events, Community Development, Indoor and Outdoor Leisure, Safeguarding Children, Sport, Youth, Your Leisure Kent Ltd, Land Charges, Licensing, Environmental Health including integrated Pollution Control, Street Nameplates, Statutory Nuisance, Food Safety and External Health and Safety, Health and Wellbeing Board, Housing Intervention, Private Sector Housing, Housing Needs/Homelessness, Housing Strategy, Client-side East Kent Housing, Building Control, Strategic Planning, Planning Applications, Planning Enforcement, Conservation.	Cllr. Lin Fairbrass Also Deputy Leader of the Council	Cllr. Lesley Game
Corporate Governance Services Includes: Business Information and Improvement, Information and Communications (including Public Relations, Marketing, Press relations, Internal Communications, film locations and Records and Data Management), Business Support and Compliance (including Corporate Governance and Business Continuity), Policy and Business Planning (including Performance Management), Business Transformation and Options, Procurements and Contracts, Risk Management. Customer Services, Customer Access, Human Resources (including internal Health and Safety), It. Democratic Services including Electoral Management, Member Services and Legal Services.	Cllr. Helen Smith	Cllr. Rosanna Taylor-Smith
Financial Services and Estates Includes: Budget Setting, Monitoring and Final Accounts, Treasury Management (Revenue, Capital and HRA), Insurance, Income Payments, Systems Control and Improvement, Commercial Property, East Kent Audit Partnership, Property Management (including asset disposal, acquisition and asset management), Housing and Council Tax Benefits, Revenues (including Debt Recovery).	Cllr. John Townend	Cllr. Ian Gregory
Operational Services Includes: Cemeteries and Crematorium, Emergency Planning, Coastal Engineering, Grounds Maintenance, Parks and Open Spaces Management, Playgrounds, Public Toilets, Street Cleaning, Recycling and Waste, Off Street Parking, On Street Parking, Street Scene Enforcement, Temporary Road Closure Orders, Thanet Coast Project, Water Safety and Beach Services, Foreshore, Allotments, CCTV.	Cllr. Suzanne Brimm	Cllr. Ken Gregory
Regeneration and Enterprise Services Includes: Economic Development and Regeneration Policy, East Kent Opportunities Ltd, Tourism, Business Engagement, Town Teams, Strategic Conservation Policy, Media Centre, Kent Innovation Centre, East Kent Regeneration Board, Invest Thanet, Business Engagement, Kent and Medway Economic Partnership, Port of Ramsgate, Ramsgate Royal Harbour Marina, Broadstairs and Margate Harbours.	Cllr. Hunter Stummer-Schmertzing	Cllr. Jason Savage Also Shadow Deputy Leader of the Council

More information about your new Thanet Councillors