howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
good to hear that roger.
just spotted the bit in ross's report about improving transport links in the town.
a bus that gets people to the sea front would go down well during the summer months.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
A bus that takes people round to all the tourist attractions - including Crabble Corn Mill and the Transport Museum, would be even better.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i thought the tour bus in summer covered those attractions?
the corn mill is on a bus route as it is, i believe it is hourly.
getting back to the seafront many local people tell me that the only time they venture there is for regatta weekend or another major event there, it is a wasted resource.
Guest 736- Registered: 5 Jan 2012
- Posts: 118
Sort of agree with Philip on this #14.
No one has really given two hoots about Dover and its residents since the second world war when it was obliterated and nothing was ever invested back into the town since really.
This message could go out to any residents of an age of playing in bombed out houses and shops and you tell me that Dover has be looked after since then and its residents. Residents who have watched this town just get left behind whilst others seemed to have face lifts all the time and money invested into them.
Please don't think that I wouldn't love to see a town that is all nice with shops open not boarded over, pubs full again on a weekend and the hussle and bussle of business coming into the town.
I hate things being covered over to make things look all nicey, nicey. Pretending that all is roses when behind this is the same as before. Then as it all fades away it just goes back to how things looked before.
Lets see what the queen thinks of Dover as it stands and the Olympics on a normal day . I want to be positive about this I really do but it is always taken away from Dover. To many false promises to many times.
We will do our bit stand there with our false smiles or even true ones till it gets taken away again.
I don't confess to know a great deal on politics but no doubt that there will be money quote invested into these arrivals an occasions ,money that the town could have done with on previous years gone past.
If money had been used properly then any visit or ocassion shouldn't matter. It shouldn't have to cost anything as everything would be in place already. Places of interest should be already 90 percent of the year. General maintenance around the town would be completed. My list could go on .
Don't mean to offend here in anyway but it does niggle me a tad!!
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
The bus operated by Dave at the Motor Museum picks up cruise passengers, brings them to the Market Square, then those who want to, get taken up to the Castle, then back to the cruise terminal, Market Square and Castle and so on. I believe the cost last year, was £3.00, but maybe I'm out of touch on that one.
Richard Mahony of the White Cliffs Boat and Bus Tours, runs a much smaller bus - about 12 or 14 people and will take people where they want to go - they have to book it of course and pay for it.
I agree Mark that Dover should already be the Town we want it to be, but it isn't and whether we have a torch here this year or never, the efforts of people who care and the pulling together of the necessary bodies and stakeholders should be encouraged.
I would emphasise though that I do not believe it can all be done by volunteers; Dover deserves better.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
have to agree roger we have a first class voluntary sector here but paid professionals need to be overeeing things.
the white cliffs countryside partnership is a good example.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
I have been pushing the district councillors I know to start threatening s215 notices on owners of derelict properties but have been told it's too expensive to issue them. However the threat is usually enough to get owners to comply and that only costs a standard letter and a first class stamp.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
with a 90% success rate in other areas.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Indeed. Hastings for example.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Hastings is a good example of the success that 215s can bring, but my understanding is that they had substantial government grants to be able to follow through if necessary - as you say, 90% succes rate is pretty compelling, but LPAs must do things properly.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i have been banging on about hastings for the best part of the last decade, the results speak for themselves.
i seem to remember pat sherrat having an audience with jeremy birch a short time ago.
i don't think governments grants are an issue if there is a great success rate with the initial letter.
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
Mark Mason, brilliantly put! Absolutely bang on. I particularly agree with your point about letting the Queen see Dover for what it really is.
This could be an ideal opportunity to make a stand and expose this long-standing situation which has gone on and on since after the last war.
It could be Dover's own "occupy" moment. A slap in the face to the idea of papering over the cracks till the bandwagon moves on and forgets us. It's an ideal opportunity to say "Stuff this, this is all wrong and we want no part of this circus".
If and when the cameras come to the town expecting the residents to spout platitudes about the wonderful Olympics and the sporting dream and isn't it great that dear old Queenie (who I have the utmost respect for by the way) this particular resident will gladly tell them to point their cameras away from the director's approved screenshots and take them for a walk to the places we have to look at every day. Buildings falling apart, derelict properties and gaps between buildings left for the past 25 years close to the town square.
Maybe then someone will sit up and take notice.
Oh! I nearly forgot it's an ideal opportunity to show people how the powers that be consider the installation of a giant telly in the middle of town is their idea of improvement and regeneration.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Not sure why people think Dover is a special case, you don't need to travel far from Buck House to see dereliction and squallor.....
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 736- Registered: 5 Jan 2012
- Posts: 118
Aren't they making new diversions around the inner-city parts and redirecting around to nicer looking areas. Not sure on that but I'm sure that it was on the telly a while ago.???
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,707
All I can do is reiterate my view that this years events are being used as a catalyst to energise not only DDC, DTC, DHB or whoever takes it over, but also local businesses, landlords and residents to start to make a difference to the town.
You can blather on about neglect over blah blah blah years by blah blah blah blah politicians etc and frankly be part of the bloody problem or you can get off your backside and be part of the solution - your call I know where I stand...
"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 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
When the Queen came to Dover a few years ago (I think it was to see the Bronze Age Boat in the Museum) the Town didn't have a lick of paint then and no buildings were refurbished so she knows what Dover is like.
This, as Ross has said, is to help move Dover forward, not just for an Olympic torch, nor for the Queen, but for US, the people of Dover.
Don't you think Phillip and Mark, that Dover - for its own sake, deserves to be up there where it should be ? I'm not from Dover, but I want the Town I have chosen to live my life in, to be as good as it can.
I still maintain - blah blah blah etc.
Roger
Guest 736- Registered: 5 Jan 2012
- Posts: 118
I am the partner of Mark Mason and have lived in Dover all my life. I am one of many generations that come from here. Dover has got worse over the years and nobody seems to want to do anything about it. It is ok to say "get off your backsides and do something about it" but in my opinion the powers that be don't seem to care about Dover and it seems they are the ones that need to get off their backsides and do something. We pay our council taxes, for what?? To have the public toilets taken away!!! We hear about lots of plans for Dover, but most of these ideas take business out of the center of Dover and put them on industrial estates out of Dover. This is ok if you have a car!!!! New business's don't seem to be able to last 2 minutes in the town! This is because there is hardly anyone in town to use these shops and the people with the money have taken it to Folkestone or Canterbury to spend it!!! How come money is spent on these towns?? Maybe those town councils don't want to run their towns into the ground!! The smaller shops should be given more support from the council to help them survive.
Public events seem to be kept a secret!!! No wonder there are poor turnouts. You seem to have to trawl the internet to find out any information!!
As for the "image" of Dover. I agree that the image needs to attract people, but what does the town center have to offer when they actually get here???
Now I have had a rant on only a very small part of what I think I would also like to say that Dover has some amazing things to offer, eg, the castle, the museum, the Roman painted house, the beautiful parks, the white cliffs and the Western Heights. Luckily lots of other organisations look after most of these places, including volunteers (lots of respect to the volunteers!!). I love Dover and would not like to live anywhere else, but it does make me feel very sad to see Dover becoming a ghost town!!!
So, all of you wanting to visit - welcome.
All the above is true, and many people have been saying it - including me!! - since well before I moved here 14ish years ago. Ross is right too - it is clear that the paid and elected reps are - mostly - not up to the job, so we have to do stuff. Ross and many others including Roger, Jeanette, JHG, the Dover Garden group and so many more are very busy on our behalf and I think them for that. I cannot commit because my time can be unpredictable and I work long hours, many of which are at a distance. So I am grateful to the local people who go the extra mile. And I am outraged by the local reps who miss many opportunities to do what is expected of them and have an enormous pool of local talent on which to draw if they wanted to.
Dover is fab.Dover has an extraordinary amount of natural and native assets and a buttload of history and beauty. Let's make the most of what we have!!
Guest 736- Registered: 5 Jan 2012
- Posts: 118
(Marks Partner) I agree Bern, but its the town center that needs the help that volunteers can't provide. Dover has so much to offer, thats what makes me sad.
I agree, entirely.
