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We've discussed this at length on many occasions; there is a bus, in fact four buses owned by Dave Atkins, that brings cruise pasengers into the Town - to Market Square, then up to the Castle, back to the Cruise terminal and MS and so on all morning and early afternoon
Dave offers tickets to Dover Castle; people can stay at Dover Castle all day, especially with the fantastic new tower; by buying a ticket on Dave's bus (great for Dave as he gets a commission, plus his bus fare), means that very few actually come in to Town, so the Town benefits much less than it could do.
Horace Holyer is in the Market Square with his barrow of information and head full of history and a number of European languages etc. so if any do make it into Dover, he will and does let them know what's going on.
Cruise day-excursions are big business for the cruise companies and they make a fortune out of them, but there is a growing number of independant passengers who want to find out what is in the local area.
The area around Townwall Street and Bench Street, is having a development application worked on, so that is being looked after, but like all things here, takes for ever.
I have pushed section 215 as hard as I can, but cannot get agreement to follow it up because when this is started, DDC have to be prepared to follow it through to the end, which can cost many thousands of pounds, even if the money is paid, it needs to be up front first and that's what DDC don't have - money to pay for it.
Maybe the rates should have gone up to pay for this - would you be happy to pay a few extra pounds on your council tax if it was ring-fenced for doing up these buildings ?
We have more historic sites and attractions in our Town and District than any other coastal town, from say Southend to Southampton (and probably further afield too), so we have lots to offer, but we/I need to work on smartening up the Town first.
As DBS Manager, I am working on ways to do this and have been charged with developing an Action Plan that can then apply for some funding. I can't do this alone, that's why I also need to recruit businesses to DBS.
Roger