Guest 2595- Registered: 4 May 2018
- Posts: 1
I noticed yesterday that the area around the Boathouse near East Cliff has been cleared and the building demolished.
Does anyone know if the boathouse will also be cleared and the rubbish piles removed.
I also noticed that a fence has been built around the land on the other side of the boathouse. Any idea what's happening with this area as well?
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
There has been no planning application or change of use application that I can find - so for now I don't know but am trying to find out
Guest 2598 likes this
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
Yesterday I spoke to one of the three men clearing the site. He told me the fenced in area is used by a car dealer / auctioneer for storing vehicles. This is a part of a business so should have acquired change of use permission and registered for business tax - neither has been done.
The man I spoke to was - to put it mildly - unconvincing in his account of what they are up to. He did say the police and council approve of the work they're doing. My guess is that they're travellers who have rented the site from an unsuspecting landowner and plan to set up an encampment.
howard mcsweeney1 likes this
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
The site being cleared is within an area of outstanding natural beauty in which development is supposed to be very strictly controlled. Yet again the Council planners are failing in their duty - see for example the hideous architecture of the newly built shopping mall just up the road. Another eyesore which is a disgrace to Dover.
ray hutstone likes this
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
AONB status is of no interest to the Tory councillors who have previously held seats on the Planning Committee. Hitherto the DDC planning department has gone some way to moderating their approach but I doubt that permission has been sought here, given that Ross has already checked. Perhaps whatever is happening has just been given a tacit nod of approval?
Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,062
(Not my real name.)
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
The map is wrong - the publishers say it's an approximation - the AONB extends into the sea. See
http://www.kentdowns.org.uk/about-the-aonb. Or try the map on the Dover Council website - it's more accurate - you get there from the council tax page.
Permission hasn't been applied for or given - tacitly or otherwise. Looks like we're about to get an unauthorised travellers' site right next to our marvellous new shopping complex.
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
And it's not up to councilors to deal with sort of thing. The enforcement section of the Planning department have powers to be proactive on such matters and they are also obliged to respond to complaints by members of the public. Why don't we have a Dover Amenity / Conservation Society to chase things like this? Presumably because the people of Dover have very little civic pride and leave built-environment issues to the council and elected officers but are only too happy to winge when things go wrong.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
The Dover Society have been and still are very proactive on planning matters and have long been critical of rabbit hutches being passed as flats.
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,062
Couldn't find it on the DDC site (would you provide the link please?) But the KCC version appears to concur with the Kentdowns one:
http://webapps.kent.gov.uk/KCC.KLIS.Web.Sites.Public/ViewMap.aspx(Not my real name.)
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
Enlarge the map up and look again. The area which has just been enclosed for a car dealership is within the AONB as is most of the building to its left and the most (but not all) of the land which is being cleared. The buildings which were demolished and part of the cleared land are not within the AONB but "The Boathouse" is. So far as I know flats (rabbit hutches or otherwise) are not to be built on the site - so perhaps the Dover Society was not interested? In the same way that this "proactive" society made no effort to influence the ghastly design of the new shopping complex? But the good citizens of Dover will be out in force winging when the travellers' caravans and semi-permanent dwellings arrive.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
"So far as I know flats (rabbit hutches or otherwise) are not to be built on the site - so perhaps the Dover Society was not interested? In the same way that this "proactive" society made no effort to influence the ghastly design of the new shopping complex? But the good citizens of Dover will be out in force winging when the travellers' caravans and semi-permanent dwellings arrive."
Slagging off the local citizens and the Dover Society whilst hiding behind a pseudonym does you little credit and you might like to check a few facts before proceeding.
Guest 2478 likes this
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,062
(Not my real name.)
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
And btw demolition requires planning consent (which was neither applied for nor granted).
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
The KCC map is not consistent with the Kent downs satellite view. But both show - as I said - the area recently fenced in to form a parking lot for an auto sales business to be within the AONB. A change of use permission was not made nor is the enclosed area registered for business rates. And btw demolition requires planning consent (which was neither applied for nor granted).
Guest 2598- Registered: 5 May 2018
- Posts: 8
The Dover Society objected to the hideous architecture of the new shopping centre which defaces the sea front? And the Dover citizenry are not notorious whingers? "Button" is not a pseudonym? I' m looking forward to the deluge of whinging which will follow when the first travellers set up shop. Everybody but the winging people of Dover will be held to blame . Whereas an informed civic minded citizenry and a serious amenity society (which exist in most places having Dover's history and natural beauty) would have stopped this before it started.
Andy B
- Location: dover
- Registered: 10 Nov 2012
- Posts: 1,818
Those that currently are in the old boathouse with the second hand furniture etc used to have the second hand shop which was next to the charlton centre and moved around to various shops in town,they never seemed to stay in one place for long,dont think they are travellers.
Ross Miller- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
They moved because they usually defaulted on the rent
I intend to raise this with DDC directly with officers and via Councillors on Tuesday
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
And they have a dreadful reputation in terms of customer service if you put any credence on social media reports.
Judith Roberts- Registered: 15 May 2012
- Posts: 637
On a walk today we noticed two cars parked outside the 'car lot'. Several men went in through the gates. One man was removing the fence panels.
Later all the fence panels are gone the gates remain and are landlocked. One damaged car remains and lots of old luggage. It is a terrible eyesore.
(Not my real name.)