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Jan;
As i said above I dont realy care who does/does not belong to a party
and like many that say they dont have interest in politics, you do certainly post on most of the popular threads(which are the political ones) and of course thats your right.
Reg;
to show we don't always agree, i think we have an issue in the UK of what to do next, living in and around the priory area I have seen first hand the problems,
from as far back as when the problems worsened through very much an open door policy, there has to be some change,
I have before today highlighted issues on this forum from the priory area, and affects on the locals.
In years gone by priory residents had the govts flagship channel tunnel being built(I won't go into the rights or wrongs of that decision)
workers came from all over the UK to help build it, with many taking up houses along the Folkestone Road area, Of course it was good for the economy, but once it was built, they all moved out(many trashing the houses) and the residents had to try to then get back to normal life.
Following this bootleggers came on the scene, coming from all over the UK but this time with more serious affects, rival gangs from up North, were clearly operating in and around Dover, and threatening shop keepers in Newcastle/Liverpool to sell there goods.
Some of you may remember we did in this time end up with a shooting in Manor Road when 2 gangs fell foul of each other
something that no one expected to see in such a nice place as Manor Road.
At the time Hoverspeed didn't help as they encouraged bootleggers by encourging them to do even more bootlegging
without considering the affects on the local population.
intimidating on the ships by bootleggers wanting passengers allowances, threats in the street, gangland warfare,
Eventually it came to a end, and many of the bootleggers returned to there home towns.
Then came the Immigration Issue, an unthinking Labour Govt following on from other poor govts, decided to do little when the issue of immigration raised its head.
At the time, Immigrants outnumbered the local population, which wasn't a healthy way to try to deal with the issue.
Also agencies were not working together, many of those that came over from other countries at war, we saw them put in the same hotel, and once the Social services went home at 5pm, they were at each other with baseball bats all night.
It did make me form the Priory forum, set up to help the deprived ward.
Many meetings took place getting all the agencies together to try to iron out the issues as seen by people living in the Priory ward
Attendee's included, councils, Migrant helpline, MP;s office, local people,
At one meeting I got asylum seeker at the time to come along and tell his story of how he was shot, purely for having a different political belief, and he would be killed if he returned to his country, he was made that promise.
But tensions were rising, and it was recognised that something had to be done, as Folkestone Road because of how long it was with all those houses, being used at the time to house many asylum seekers.
I got hold of the MP;s office, and Govt, explaining this just cannot continue, and there is a risk of fights/stabbings etc if something isn't done.
Sadly soon after at one the annual Dover fairground days, a stabbing did take place.
Following this the Home secretary of the time (Jack Straw) said he would come to Dover to meet the priory forum,
of course the security for this had to be tight, and it was with surprize that everyone on the forum kept quiet about the visit
but it appeared a police personell had let out mr straws visit
and of course the national press was outside the venue as everyone left.
Although promises were made, many didnt materialise, but one that took pressure off the priory ward
and probably after our meeting with mr Straw, was the Govts Dispersal operation.
Following this with tensions still high, I spoke with KCC/DDC/DTC/POLICE/MP/MIGRANT HELPLINE/SOCIALSERVICES ETC
To have a public meeting at the clarendon and westbury hall.
Every agency agreed to turn up apart from migrant helpline.
where each agency explained there role, and listened to, and answered questions from local residents in a packed hall.
Unfortunatly one of the 2 local papers attempted to hype up tension, whilst the other local paper gave an informed unbiased
report on the meeting.
Prior to the meeting all the agencies warned me off holding such a meeting, of course that wasn';t going to happen.
99% of those present went away more informed of the situation(whether or not they agreed with it) and were able to have there say.
We are now facing very similar issues around the priory area, and the cllrs and agencies will probably need to be seen to a lot more active in trying to resolve it.
To do nothing could go back to the dark days of those years gone by.
Seeing children from other countries coming over purely for a better life, not attending school, so out on the streets
many adults coming over, not working, also hanging around the streets, taking from society, but giving nothing back
Priory residents I believe have been very tolerant over the years where there lives have been torn apart many times, and come out the other end.
Well, no can say this was a one line wonder,,,,,,,,lol