The Front Page. - Copy 265 ( Rough Seas, RNLI Barge Rescue,Tim Waggot DHB, Laura Sandys MP on Children, Red Sky at morning...)

18 June 2012


Very rough out on the ol' briny yesterday, you have just got to feel sorry for the humble traveller on board all those struggling ferries. Heaving weather for sure..on the upside the self service restaurant wont be too busy! Here we see the scene at 11.40am friday morning. I believe it to be the Pride of Kent and it is getting some serious hammering. Can anyone ever remember weather like this before in June? PB.

NEW BOARD DIRECTOR APPOINTED FOR DOVER HARBOUR BOARD

Dover Harbour Board is pleased to announce that it has appointed Tim Waggott to the Board following the retirement of Board Director Mike Krayenbrink earlier in the year.

Mr Waggott, who joined DHB in 2007 as Director of Finance and Commercial, is currently the Director of Business and Support Services which is responsible for the finance team, infrastructure development and technical services, as well as the supervision of business management for property and estates, freight and cargo. His previous roles include an executive Board Member with the Port of Shoreham in his dual capacity of Finance Director and Deputy Chief Executive. He has held senior positions with the Leaders Group Ltd (the largest independent letting agent in the South East of England) as Finance Director, and as a Divisional Financial Controller with Rentokil Initial plc.

Commenting on his appointment, Bob Goldfield, Chief Executive of DHB, said: “Tim’s appointment is well-deserved as, throughout his five years at DHB, he has become a valued member of the organisation, using his expertise and vision to help guide the business towards a successful future.”

In return, Mr Waggott said: “I am looking forward to supporting the Port of Dover business realise its clear potential to grow, to add value and to further increase economic activity and employment opportunities in support of the Dover community, and the local and national economy.”

Mr Waggott is also a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and sits as a member of Council and Chair of the Finance Committee at Dover College.

Dover lifeboat assists Dutch barge in difficulties.

A MAYDAY call from a Dutch barge making a channel crossing led to the Dover Lifeboat and volunteer crew being called out on Tuesday morning (12th) .

At approximately 09:40am Dover Coastguard received the distress call from the 20m long vessel which had two people onboard. At this point it was nine miles from Dover and struggling with the conditions.

City of London II launched, under the command of Deputy Coxswain Jon Miell, headed for the troubled vessel. The P&O ferry Pride of Calais was close to the scene and went to stand by the barge and provide a lee from the wind. When the lifeboat arrived it was decided the best option was to take the barge under tow and assist it into Dover Harbour.

Just before 1:00pm the barge was brought into the Marina where it was safely moored to wait until the weather improved so it could continue to its destination.

This call out was the first for the crew for a month although the station has been busy with visits, training and preparations for carrying the Olympic torch in July.

Deputy Coxswain Jon Miell said:
“This was unfortunate for the barge’s owners. They had confirmed the forecast was suitable for the crossing but the weather changed unexpectedly and the effect of such a change will always be more dramatic for shallow drafted vessels such as barges.”

Story by Martin Collins.
Picture showing the barge being towed by Jack Gimber.

Laura Sandys MP Calls for Action against Local Authorities who place Children out of area

You may have seen our thread on this issue in the forum. Here we have near local MP Laura Sandys dealing with the same topic.....

Laura Sandys, the MP for South Thanet, continued her campaign against the out of area placement of looked-after children and raised the issue with the Minister for Children, Tim Loughton MP, in a House of Commons debate recently. The issue was also covered on a Newsnight special feature highlighting the additional vulnerability faced by the children when placed hundreds of miles away from their home areas and in extremely deprived neighbourhoods.

Laura Sandys MP said, “This issue has gone on for too long and desperately needs to be resolved. In Thanet we now have a situation where 243 vulnerable children from outside the area have been placed hundreds of miles away from their original homes.”

“Recognising my ongoing commitment to this issue, the Minister said “[Laura Sandys MP] has become something of expert in this matter because it is an issue in her constituency, as it is in mine. As a result of her approaches and events in Rochdale and other alarming cases, we will announce shortly... the results of the additional work done by the Deputy Children’s Commissioner on how we ensure that children are placed out of area only when appropriate, and when they can be safely and appropriately looked after. That should happen at the moment, but it does not in practice.”

BBCTV's Newsnight also looked at this issue in a very recent night’s episode. Laura Sandys, speaking on the programme, said that it is “staggering” that other Councils would be so irresponsible as to send their most vulnerable children from difficult families to an area that is clearly not a suitable environment.

“There are three key issues that needs to be fully addressed to ensure greater safety for vulnerable looked after children:

· SAFETY BEYOND THE HOME: There needs to be a thorough assessment of the environment into which the children are being placed. OFSTED only currently assess the home not the neighbourhood. [on Newsnight the head of OFSTED said that he does believe that they should look at the environment not just the immediate location in assessing suitability of children homes]

· INFORMING THE LOCAL AUTHORITY AND POLICE: The placing Local Authority must inform the local authority and the police BEFORE they locate new children in an area with full case notes and relevant information. OFSTED should also inform the police of the location of any children’s homes.

· GREATER ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES OF EXISTING 20 MILE RULE: There needs to be much greater enforcement of the 20 mile limit on the placement of children and methods of penalising local authorities who do not make adequate provision for children within their area. Mr Loughton agrees that this final issue has not been correctly enforced for many years.

You can view the Newsnight piece on looked-after children here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jxx2d/Newsnight_13_06_2012/


Hansard, Wednesday 13th June, 2012.

Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that moving looked-after children from one local authority to another creates greater difficulty, namely ensuring that case notes are transferred and that the conversation between the different agencies is sustained? When children are moved, their longer-term safety is eroded because of the distance and lack of contact between the source local authority and the receiving one.

Tim Loughton: My hon. Friend knows exactly what I think about that—we have discussed it at length. She has become something of expert in this matter because it is an issue in her constituency, as it is in mine. As a result of her approaches and events in Rochdale and other alarming cases, we will announce shortly, as I told the Committee yesterday, the results of the additional work done by the Deputy Children’s Commissioner on how we ensure that children are placed out of area only when appropriate, and when they can be safely and appropriately looked after. That should happen at the moment, but it does not in practice. The sufficiency principle, which we have overhauled once, needs more work. I will be happy to make those announcements in detail within the next few weeks, because this is a serious matter.

See also the thread in our Forum..http://www.doverforum.com/letters/viewtopic.php?id=10575

Daybreak:

We are most definitely not having much of a summer..and so it goes on. But the turbulent conditions are at least presenting us with a few dynamic photo opportunities. This was the sky over our famous White Cliffs of Dover just a couple of days ago. For a brief few moments very very early in the morning, the earth turned red..or almost. For those few minutes all the world had a rosy hue, a rosy glow..and then almost as quick as it arrived it was gone. A few fleeting minutes of gorgeous colour, then all returned to slate grey! These kinds of pictures are strictly for the early birds amongst us.


Hit the f11 key to see the pictures at their best, then hit it again to return to normal mode.

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