Latest on the port
- 28 November 2013 22:04254078As I said it was just talk to to keep all the ones at the meeting happy but when the meeting is over and they gone to the house in London they will keep the port the way it is.And good thing to.
- 29 November 2013 16:02254139THE PORT of DOVER.
The following from Charlie Elphicke MP earlier today....
Dear Mr Boland
The future of the Port of Dover is once again in the spotlight. The Ports Minister is pondering the future of the port. So he visited Dover this week to hear views.
We have come a long way since our port was stuffed into Gordon Brown's car boot sale. We fought hard against the port being sold off to the French or whoever. It was a struggle just about everyone thought we would lose. Yet we won that war. Now, as the saying goes, we must win the peace.
My policy on the port has been consistent. First that it must remain Forever England. So much of the heart and soul of our nation is bound up in our White Cliffs and the port that nestles beneath them. During the dark days of the Second World War this became in so many ways the symbol of all that it means to be English. When I travel abroad on official visits for the Foreign Office everyone knows where Dover is. Our community is World famous, so you'd no more sell off the port than you would Stonehenge.
Yet this is about so much more than patriotism and Forever England. It is and always was about the kind of Dover we can build. We need a port that can raise investment for the future. It cannot do that as a public organisation. Yet we don't want it sold off. So I founded the People's Port. A private sector entity of we the people. This would enable funds to be raised without restriction. Whatever now happens, I feel it is essential that Dover becomes a form of community port.
We need to raise funds for investment. We need it in the Eastern Docks to make the port first rate. Calais are investing heavily. We should follow suit. Yet we also need investment in the West. The area around the old Harbour Station is a disgrace. With investment we could transform Dover back into a jewel in the crown of the nation. Like Gunwharf Quays, Southampton Ocean Village, Frejus or Porto Banus. Yet we have so much more than all of those places. We have the White Cliffs with the timelessness and sense of history that goes with them.
If we dare to reach for this new future we must all be part of it. Many people don't think anything will happen. Others think that the Harbour Board are being nice for now and will soon revert to type. Some are bored by the whole thing, it has gone on so long. So I am clear whatever happens it must a future we decide together - for us, our children and grandchildren. If a concrete proposal is put forward it must be put to a referendum. So all of us make the decision on our future together - a future we can all be part of.
Best wishes
Charlie
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Charlie Elphicke MPemail: dover7@msn.com - 29 November 2013 16:07254140All he is after are votes again,he knows he is behind and is trying find away to get in front again sorry but it will not work he has as many U-turns as his leader.The port is as safe as it can be in the hands of the DHB within the make up of the royal charter.
- 29 November 2013 19:30254165this referendum issue could prove costly, i seem to remember the town one costing approx 20 grand which would surely mean something approaching 100 grand as a guess.
normally referendums have a yes/no on one question but this would be different, dhb would have a community port proposal and the person's port another. additionally would there be an option for people who want things to stay as things are now? - 29 November 2013 21:53254180Howard, it will not be complicated like that. The Minister will put forward the structure, governance and ownership model that he wants to see and we will vote yea or nay on that.
- 29 November 2013 23:16254181fair point neil, do you have a prediction as to what model the ports minister has in mind?
in fairness the poor bloke must have had an ear bashing on monday in addition to the many representations he has been party to since last december. - 30 November 2013 08:39254195It was a very polite and gentlemanly ear-bashing, Howard.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson - 30 November 2013 09:13254202The blues have a very week leadership and they will not come out with what is realy behind their thinking because of the election but having seen how they work ,I am telling you there will be no Dover p/p buy out of the port.It will for the last time staying a Royal Port run by a D,H.B.
- 30 November 2013 09:16254204if that is the case why has the ports minister and the department for transport spent so much time over it?
- 30 November 2013 09:20254206Because it is election time ,they have aready said the port will not be sold off a year go
- 30 November 2013 09:47254211Mr Vic, the DHB private equity sale proposal was rejected a year ago.
I have heard it said quite plainly in London and elsewhere that, as a Trust Port, Dover could be retained as a Trust port for now ready to be sold under the Ports Act in a few years time when all the fuss has died down. DPPT have been continuing to work hard to ensure that this eventuality does not transpire and that the port is transferred to the ownership of its community.
If you want the port sold to remote private equity Mr Vic, then keep banging on about "Royal Port" and "Charter" and DHB, because so long as the port remains a Public Corporation, constituted, owned, structured and governed in the way that it currently is, it can (and will) be sold.
The Blues are not the only party that talk about implementing the DPPT model, senior politicians from all parties are keen to see our ownership, governance and structural model for Dover implemented. The Blues have the power to do it now and that is precisely what the Minister is looking into now.
We wait and see what comes forward from the Minister for us to vote on. - Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
30 November 2013 23:27254284mr prediction remainsALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - 28 December 2013 11:10256368bit of an unseemly spat going on with party politics taking precedence.
http://www.dover-express.co.uk/Wiggins-8216-People-8217-s-Port-concerns-cops/story-20372158-detail/story.html - 10 January 2014 14:26257473surprised to read this i thought gordon was still a board member.
http://www.dover-express.co.uk/People-s-Port-don-t-necessary-experience/story-20421878-detail/story.html - 11 January 2014 07:19257480"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Another fine example of politicians putting party before town for electoral purposes. What a shame Gordon and Clair haven't put forward any kind of alternative vision.
And this coming from a member of a council that couldn't even get a public lavatory up and running.
I'm afraid the Labour party have misjudged if they think that knocking DPPT will win them votes.I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson - 11 January 2014 07:35257482You keep kicking this dead horse the port will stay as it is in safe hands of the Charter ,get over it and get your tenner back and put it on a horse in the book makers.
- 11 January 2014 08:00257483Then the town will remain moribund for ever more, Vic.I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
- 11 January 2014 08:25257484Quite right Peter - I wonder why Vic hates Dover so much he wants to stop the one thing that may turn its prospects around just to keep Dover Port ready and able to be sold to the French.
- Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
11 January 2014 09:52257495and why not,all so the arabs have an intrest to. - 11 January 2014 09:57257497The Market will decide .............
