View from the Med(way)
Posted: 25 Jan 2006, 12:44This is probably not a hugely popular view but I think we should offer Bob some respect for at least taking the time to contribute to this website & offer some opinions, however detrimental; general barracking is not really going to encourage a healthy debate….!
My point Bob is this, I do think the council is very insular in it's research, particulary when considering visitors travelling to the area. Medway is at the core of non-Thanet tourism and people have consistently travelled to and from the area for many years. It's very sad indeed that locals have very little say or general voice as to the future of one of it's most frequented coastal areas.
The key is that through the years there have been significant improvements to other coastal towns and Margate as a whole has fallen behind - the point was raised at Thursday's meeting that the town has fallen some way behind Ramsgate and Broadstairs which no-one would dispute but Whitstable has seen a major influx of capital with significant and sympathetic regeneration. Herne Bay has had major development work carried out to its seafront which has preserved and restored key areas which have proved so popular to visitors in the past. Both have seen significant improvement in visitors to the area.
We are organising a petition not as a strongarm campaign but for the council to take into consideration the fact that so many people locally care a great deal about the future of the site. The sad fact of the matter being is that many people now make the very lengthy and cumbersome journey to Southend-on-Sea, purely because it has a very successful, clean and well-kept seafront Theme Park. As a necessary statement of fact - the British Isles is surrounded by water and hence we have many, many alternatives. Margate was so successful for such a long period of time because Dreamland offered visitors something different from other coastal resorts.
Now, not only has the mass of visitors spreadeagled themselves over other areas, Margate has become a national laughing stock - do you remember the tabloids when Ronnie Biggs said he wanted to have one last drink on Margate seafront? He would have found a downtrodden and decrepid Theme Park, hoardes of boarded up local businesses which have largely gone under because of exodus of tourists, key buildings destroyed by fire and the most nauseating, overpowering, run-down slum of a Block of Flats that not only dominates the skyline, it is the first thing people see when they arrive into the area either by car or train, hanging over the town like the Grim Reaper. How many people see that and then keep driving onto Broadstairs or Ramsgate?
I visited the Council meeting in person last Thursday and, although I was very pleased with the overall level of support behind the necessary retention of Dreamland, I was disappointed by comments such as "Margate has the finest sand in the country and better than some continental countries". I'm sure it has but the majority of modern-day visitors want more off-beach entertainment - the council mentioned many times about how we "don't want to go back to knotted hankies and kiss me quick hats" - absolutely right - the days of Donkey Derbys and nodding off in a string vest on a deckchair have long gone, which is why Southend On Sea is doing so very well with it’s seafront theme park. The retention of Dreamland as an amusement park is Margate's very last throw of the dice. If it fails, we will see it fall from the public and national eye altogether and end up just like Sheerness which has seen their tourist industry flatline & the overall fortunes of the area spiral downwards at a rate that not even the most optimistic of people could imagine. Can anybody tell me what is on the site of their Seafront Fun Fair? That's right Ladies and Gentleman, Tescos.
David Dunmall
My point Bob is this, I do think the council is very insular in it's research, particulary when considering visitors travelling to the area. Medway is at the core of non-Thanet tourism and people have consistently travelled to and from the area for many years. It's very sad indeed that locals have very little say or general voice as to the future of one of it's most frequented coastal areas.
The key is that through the years there have been significant improvements to other coastal towns and Margate as a whole has fallen behind - the point was raised at Thursday's meeting that the town has fallen some way behind Ramsgate and Broadstairs which no-one would dispute but Whitstable has seen a major influx of capital with significant and sympathetic regeneration. Herne Bay has had major development work carried out to its seafront which has preserved and restored key areas which have proved so popular to visitors in the past. Both have seen significant improvement in visitors to the area.
We are organising a petition not as a strongarm campaign but for the council to take into consideration the fact that so many people locally care a great deal about the future of the site. The sad fact of the matter being is that many people now make the very lengthy and cumbersome journey to Southend-on-Sea, purely because it has a very successful, clean and well-kept seafront Theme Park. As a necessary statement of fact - the British Isles is surrounded by water and hence we have many, many alternatives. Margate was so successful for such a long period of time because Dreamland offered visitors something different from other coastal resorts.
Now, not only has the mass of visitors spreadeagled themselves over other areas, Margate has become a national laughing stock - do you remember the tabloids when Ronnie Biggs said he wanted to have one last drink on Margate seafront? He would have found a downtrodden and decrepid Theme Park, hoardes of boarded up local businesses which have largely gone under because of exodus of tourists, key buildings destroyed by fire and the most nauseating, overpowering, run-down slum of a Block of Flats that not only dominates the skyline, it is the first thing people see when they arrive into the area either by car or train, hanging over the town like the Grim Reaper. How many people see that and then keep driving onto Broadstairs or Ramsgate?
I visited the Council meeting in person last Thursday and, although I was very pleased with the overall level of support behind the necessary retention of Dreamland, I was disappointed by comments such as "Margate has the finest sand in the country and better than some continental countries". I'm sure it has but the majority of modern-day visitors want more off-beach entertainment - the council mentioned many times about how we "don't want to go back to knotted hankies and kiss me quick hats" - absolutely right - the days of Donkey Derbys and nodding off in a string vest on a deckchair have long gone, which is why Southend On Sea is doing so very well with it’s seafront theme park. The retention of Dreamland as an amusement park is Margate's very last throw of the dice. If it fails, we will see it fall from the public and national eye altogether and end up just like Sheerness which has seen their tourist industry flatline & the overall fortunes of the area spiral downwards at a rate that not even the most optimistic of people could imagine. Can anybody tell me what is on the site of their Seafront Fun Fair? That's right Ladies and Gentleman, Tescos.
David Dunmall