Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
I thought I would give a liittle insight into my visit to the town council's AGM tonight
which I attended like quite a number of members of the public.
Cllrs and others who also attended i'm sure can add there bit.
(nice to say hello terry lol)
Once the formalities were gone through
it did go to question time from members of the public.
I asked 2 questions;
1; What was the update on the Dover summer bus, and was the time scale
for tenders to short, and now the plan for a summer bus no longer going to
happen
THE REPLY;
SUE JONES; The tender was the legal adequate time of 28 days as laid down
only one bid came in that did not reach the criteria and therefore
could not be accepted. this is not the end, and talks are still
going on(didnt identify who with) taxi companies were also being
consulted(about?)_
CHRIS PRECIOUS;
The bus was only one part of the scheme, the town council
activiy also supported the move on the T.I.C. centre as well as
financing the welcome hosts at the docks.
SECOND QUESTION;
How does the council encourage the town centre to be better with other agencies
when it has announced it is to make cuts across all budgets.
REPLY BY GORDON COWAN;
He stated the council had a budget of approx £670,000 but in its budgets was to spend £800,000 so the town council had to look to reduce all budgets to the £670,000, with this gordon did say it was one of the few councils that consults,
unlike the issue on the toilets closures.
and that this is now down to the priorities of the general public, and the town council welcomes any views on what they feel should be a priority for Dover.
So there you have it;
there were a couple of other questions;
WAS IT CORRECT £24,000 HAD BEEN SPENT ON A CAR FOR A STAFF MEMBER?
This was totally denied by the officer.
FUTURE OF XMAS LIGHTS
There was concerns over the £15,000 a year not being enough or being in danger of being cut.
gordon did reply that like all town council projects they like to give a kick start to projects and any community wanting to take on the running of the xmas lights with financial support would be advised and helped.
a community group did come forward and talks will now take place.
All in all the meeting was short, but hopefully iv covered most of what went on
keith
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
thanks for that report keith, much appreciated.
firstly 28 days maybe the legal requirement for a tender but is totally impractical to any company to prepare in that time.
good to see that funding has gone towards the information centre and greeters.
we were told a while back that a whole series of events were planned for this summer necessitating the closure of the fountain yet it was operating up until today.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
we were also told that the fountain would be replaced by a water feature along the lines of the one in folkestone, all gone silent on that one.
gordon states that finances were short so things like christmas lights would be cut but surely this has been known for some time?
we were told that the money saved would be spent on other ways of brightening up the town, hopefully it will.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
HOWARD;
I think the town council suffers from not getting its message across.
threre are a large number of community projects that do go on
and there are still grants from the town council.
i think as the town council is lookin at priorities where to spend your money
then we should all send in our list of priorties to the town council
dont delay, do it today
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i did about 3 years ago keith, you are right about getting messages across.
we are still awaiting to know the future of the public conveniences if there is one.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
i will try to get an update
unless of course our town council posters could tell us?
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Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
The DTC share of the funding for the fountain has been approved and we are hoping to see progress before the olympics.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
Excellent report Keith, I am impressed.
Not sure where the £24k car rumour came from, I've not heard it but then I don't get out much.
There was an item that I could have spoken about but as my minder was with me I thought it better to hold my peace.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Yes will second what Terry says there..excellent stuff from young Keef..cub reporter !!lol
Give him a notebook and a pencil and away he goes.
Yes I would agree they need to improve in getting their message across..what they do is a mysetery to most people out there. But again..we have been saying that for years. Although we did get one press release through from them recently.
A voice calling in the wind...I would still like to see the current fountain kept as is. I cant see any reason to change it whatsoever.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
My voice too, Paul. I would prefer the current fountain to stay and funding found for its on-going maintenance.
Roger
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
I stand to be corrected but the new Fountain has been designed so when events are held the water can be turned off and there will be no need for a hoarding to be placed round it as happens currently .
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
when you say new fountain i take it that you are referring to the proposed water feature.
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
Yes Howard the New water feature
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
sue,dover has allready got a new water feature,it's called puddles.
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
The new "water feature" should make Market Square more user friendly, for events and markets, while still providing an attractive feature that should still look good in photos with Castle Street and the castle in the background. With the Visitor Information Centre moving into the museum and Dover Town Greeters milling about the square it should all add up to a more welcoming prospect for visitors. The Town Team also have a lot of good ideas which we hope they can move forward with so there are a lot of positives in prospect for the town.
It was good to see so many at the meeting and hopefully next year we will get more questions from them.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
PAULB;/terry
I do try, and was the meeting as i saw it
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Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
Keith a very accurate account of lastnights meeting, everyone is right though there does seem to be this barrier about getting the Town Council message across to the public.
There are positive things going on but there is a lack of PR.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,897
Maybe the Town Councillors should address this lack of PR and communication more vigorously than they have in the past.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
jan;
i know 2 of the 4 town cllrs for priory
the other 2 i had to get gordon to point them out to me
one lives in the next road to me, but i never knew he was on the council
the town council suffers badly from lack of p r.
the cllrs need to instruct the officers of there needs
whilst re conecting with the electorate
we had the unfortunate position of having 2 cllrs elected in priory without election
because not enough candidates, we do need new blood, more people putting there names forward.
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Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
I would also like to see the current fountain kept, it is such a beauty. I guess this new fountain thingy will be easier to turn off as and when required, so therefore from this I deduce that our current beautiful fountain is not. This must be the case otherwise why switch at all.
Its good to hear that positive things are going on within council chambers but without good PR through effective communication all positives can disolve into negatives rather abrubtly and fizzle out leaving an empty vacuum in its wake. So come on councillors, address this once and for all and lets keep the positives rolling on to a satisfactory conclusion.