Joyland Books

we havent heard a thing from bob recently ? where is he at this very exiting time ?

Unfortunately, Bob stood too close to an open flame and F****d. He now resides on the moon.

The writing is on the wall. People want Dreamland.
Any more attempts will fail. I think the pendulum as finally swung in our favor for good.

First order of business is to get some security in the place.


...and this little tidbit for our favorite non-supporter:

They have had more than a fair court case to retain the site if you ask me.

Any further appeals are clearly just a waste of everyone's time and money. I truly hope this marks the end of all these legal wrangles.
The public support for this project is truly overwhelming and further delays will do nobody and good.
Also hope this "Court of Appeal" has the right to reject any potential appeals MTCRC may (or may not) make in the coming weeks. Enough is enough!

Jim - do you think you could hold off on the huge, gaudy victory notices until the CPO has gone through and we have the keys to the site? When you see what actually happened to the Dreamland Cinema, you'll see familiar names coming back into the fray with a new potential challenge to the CPO. We aren't there yet.

So can we have an idea of what is happening now?

I am guessing that TDC are working through the procedure and wheels are in motion? Is that where we are?
Does this happen now even if the current owners want to complain about it?

Does the change of owner of the cinema make any difference?

Vince.

The Council is now working through the process of acquiring the site. This will take a few weeks.

The Cinema forms part of the CPO and the change in ownership should not affect that.

Thanks for the update Nick

Does the cinema being part of the CPO mean that it will be bought off the Godden brothers?

Rob

Burby,
I've been at this quite a while. Ownership doesn't change the reasons for a CPO. They're exactly the same as they were 2 weeks ago.
They're likely trying to minimize financial losses by doing this. There must be a tax break or something in it for them by transferring it. They may be able to claim a loss twice or something.
They sell it to themselves at a loss, write it off, then the second entity gets to write it off when the CPO goes through.
...something of that nature.

Oh, to answer your question. No I can't hold off. We've been waiting for years for this.

Rob, no, the CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) is so that the Council/District can purchase it, usually at or below market value.
They will then oversee it's use, possibly issuing a long term lease, or creating a board to manage and operate it.

The Godden boys, if I may, can take a flying leap.

You are wasting your time venting at Bob, he's not logged in since June last year. So he's hardly interested.

Vince.

Neither should we be, let's forget about mocking those people who didn't share our vision, and focus on the VERY positive future.
Nick and the team I can't congratulate/thank you enough for your brilliant work over the last decade.

Jim Douglas Jr. wrote:Burby,
I've been at this quite a while. Ownership doesn't change the reasons for a CPO. They're exactly the same as they were 2 weeks ago.
They're likely trying to minimize financial losses by doing this. There must be a tax break or something in it for them by transferring it. They may be able to claim a loss twice or something.
They sell it to themselves at a loss, write it off, then the second entity gets to write it off when the CPO goes through.
...something of that nature.

Oh, to answer your question. No I can't hold off. We've been waiting for years for this.

Hey Jimbo! We've both been at this for far too long

Thanks for the explanation of the tax benefits of the transfer - there has to be some reason why they'd bother selling the cinema while it is still part of the CPO, but it seems to me that it is yet another ploy to delay things.

As for the celebrations - I still think it is prudent to wait until everything is done and dusted before getting triumphant. This is a public forum, so photographs of morbidly obese naked people and "we win, you lose" posters are like red rags - and I have no doubt that the opposition are keeping tabs on this forum.

That's why I said what I said before - it isn't over yet. The end is in sight, but I've been watching for years and seen every possible obstacle thrown in our way. After seeing what happened to the Rotunda at Folkestone, I have no doubt that every possible trick in the book will be pulled before we are finally able to get started. Once it's all sorted, we have the title deeds and access to the site - perhaps we should have a competition and see who can create the best celebratory poster.

I really hope you'll be able to come over when the Heritage Amusement Park opens - you have been one of our most vocal and active supporters and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person!

Rob

All well raised points. I too would like to thank everyone who has been working tirelessly to get Dreamland reopened for us. I know that as soon as the deed transfers and access to the site is granted, the champagne will be coming straight out.

I may not have been following the campaign as early as some of you but I for one am honored to be a part of it and hope the vision we all share can soon come to light.

Come Hell or high water, I'll be there. I would not miss this for anything.
I've already got miles saved and I figure with everyone fighting to host me for a night or two, it shouldn't be too pricey!

Well, I did what you can't get most of the locals to do, write paper letters to the council people, the BBC, and the Prince Charles Foundation.
I had a hunch someone(s) on the council at the time was(were) going to benefit from the destruction of Dreamland directly or indirectly. They did a 180 on the zoning after they all got copies of that mildly threatening letter.
The PCF and BBC were also CC'd on that particular letter, or at least made aware of the situation. I can't recall which it was.
The cat was out of the bag, their bluff called publicly.

It's a drop in the bucket compared to the legwork Nick, Sarah, and the others have put in, but that was also a definite turning point. I really do think I called someone's bluff on the council and you can bet your bottom dollar it was one who switched votes on that issue, and talked the others into it. Killing the zoning change was really the first battle won in the war.

After they replied to me with a Rush Air Mail letter, I again wrote and reminded them that I'd be monitoring the situation and anything less than the will of the people of Thanet would result in the termination of political careers.

I'm a bitch that way.