Letters to the Times
Posted: 08 Aug 2008, 08:02
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 459818.ece
Responses (click link) include:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 473040.ece
Victorian piers
Our seaside heritage needs investment
Sir, I agree with your report, “Victorian triumphs that turn to scrap metal by the sea” (July 29).
I am a recent migrant to Ramsgate, lured by the fine Victorian housing, sunny seaside weather and sandy blue-flagged beaches (of which ther are eight in the district). What I did not account for was the total disregard for the town’s heritage by its rulers, Thanet District Council (TDC, which encompasses Margate and Broadstairs among others).
The pier in Ramsgate is long gone, because of financial problems, a First Word War mine strike and a boat accident in 1930, but other elements of this picturesque seaside town are lost or on the road to ruin. Amusements such as Pleasurama have burnt down; the marina restaurant, with a Grade II listing, was pulled down; the pavilion, leased as a casino for 40 years but now empty, has been left to rot from the outside in; the lido has been converted into a car park with an EU grant. Take a look across the Isle of Thanet to Margate and you see equal measures of abandonment: Dreamland empty, its Grade II listed rollercoaster partly burnt down; the rest of the town obviously suffering from the void created by two million visitors not visiting Margate anymore.
Unfortunate as Weston-super-Mare’s fire is, I look on enviously at the fact that the owners have just overseen a multimillion-pound refit of the pier, and have vowed to do the same again. Compare that with Ramsgate and Margate’s missing or disappearing treasures, where little or no effort is being made by owners past or present to restore our seaside heritage to its past splendour.
Steve Higgins
Ramsgate, Kent
Have your say
As a local councillor and Margate Charter Trustee, I can assure readers that every effort is being made to preserve local heritage and local history.
The council can encourage development and new projects but it can't dictate what should take place on what is often privately owned property
Simon Moores, Margate, Kent
Responses (click link) include:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 473040.ece
From The TimesAugust 6, 2008
Sunnier prospects for Britain’s seaside towns?
Improvements are being made to Kent's coastal resorts
Sir, Contrary to Steve Higgins’s letter (August 5), there is a lot going on to improve Kent’s coastal towns — you only need to look at Whitstable as a successful example.
Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs have received heritage lottery funds to restore Victorian buildings to their former glory and Pugin’s Grange on the cliff top at Ramsgate has been renovated recently. We will soon be starting work on the building for Turner Contemporary, designed by the Stirling Prize-winner David Chipperfield. We have run a scheme with Thanet District Council to bring 85 empty homes back into use and we are now seeing migration from London into Thanet where purchasers are seizing the opportunity to buy elegant Victorian buildings at affordable prices.
We have no doubt that with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link domestic services coming to Folkestone, Dover and Margate the migration of wealth and prosperity into East Kent will gain momentum.
Sandy Ezekiel
Leader, Thanet Borough Council
Paul Carter
Leader, Kent County Council