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I have just read with interest both Mick Tedder's and Jordan Bluer's articles in the Dover Express related to DHB and the closure of the Prince of Wales Pier, unfortunately these articles only seem to compound what I and many other Dovorians have been feeling for some time that DHB and its board have chosen to ignore their responsibilities to the people of Dover and their requirement in the Modernising Trust Ports Document to be open and transparent, something which to date seems to have passed DHB by.
As for the new and better access to Admiralty Pier, have you tried to get there as a pedestrian, it is by no means the most easy or aesthetic walk in Kent... I will be so proud to be able suggest to tourists "Please come and walk through our lorry park to get to our newly more accessible pier, its an experience you won't forget".
As things stand I don't believe an out-of-towner could even find a way to walk from the Prince of Wales Pier to the Admiralty Pier easily.
All this and Tim Waggott's new statement that "When the end of Prince Of Wales Pier is not used by Cargo and Freight ships we can facilitate escorted access to the rest of the pier"
Please, Mr Waggott, in reality how would this work???
I want to go for a walk on the POWP, I have to wait for a day when it is convenient for DHB to let me have access to a part of Dover that has had free access for its people for the better part of a hundred years, and once I find out a day that I can have access, I have to have my hand held by a DHB employee in a high vis jacket. Is this new employment post one of the supposed new 600 good quality jobs that DHB promised the people of Dover? I for one would like to walk on our community port pier when I chose, as we and visitors can do now. I'm sorry, Mr Waggott, your platitudes on this matter are not going to blind the good people of Dover to the folly you and DHB are embarking on with your plans for the Western Docks; this site with the £120 million you are about to spend on, spent on it in other ways could truly regenerate Dover and boost employment, rather than create a new albatross to hang around the necks of the local population.
With new and cheaper forms of cargo transport on the close horizon, where and how cargo and freight will be transported will change radically by the year 2025, side-lining places such as the new Western docks cargo facility.
What everyone has to consider is that if the cargo port fails, it could place the whole port of Dover in the hands of its creditors, for them to sell off to who they wish. This is the wrong project, on the wrong site, at the wrong time, with no future proofing and without adequate funds to deliver all phases of the proposed plan 100%. Just one more white elephant eyesore for the next generation of Dovorians to have to deal with.