If you care about the Pavilion please contact Councillor Hart
His e-mail is Cllr-clive.hart@thanet.gov.uk
Dear Councillor Hart
I am writing to express my concern about future plans for the Ramsgate Royal Victoria Pavilion. Personally I do think that leasing the building to Wetherspoons is the right way forward. I believe that there are many more attractive solutions which the Council should consider.My suggestion is that rather than grant a lease to Weatherspoon’s the Council takes back the building from Rank and uses some, or all, of the £2.7 million designated to repay the spine road loan to begin work on restoring the building. The council could supplement this money by applying to the Lottery Heritage Fund and other grant making organisations for additional finance to renovate and improve the building. Securing such funding should be relatively straightforward as influential heritage organisations such as the Victorian Society are supportive of the need to improve the building and restore it to something approaching its former glory.
If this approach is followed the Council will have at its disposable an incredibly valuable asset which could be used for both commercial income generating purposes and for community events and uses including perhaps the relocation of the Ramsgate Town Council offices to the Pavilion. Other local authorities across the country have done similar things with their heritage buildings including Canterbury Council and the Beaney and Bexhill and the De La War Pavilion. This is a fantastic and unique opportunity for the Council to help to restore one of the most iconic seafront buildings in south east England which has the Victorian Society has said “should be heart of Ramsgate Life”. It would be shame to lose this opportunity
I would be happy to meet with you to talk through my ideas.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Ian Driver
Too late.Its a done deal with Wetherspoons.
ReplyDeleteIan a bit of a double negative there “I am not convinced” “is not the right thing to do”
ReplyDeleteWell said Ian: Everitt seems to be coming out with some porkies (or been told porkies by the civil servants) on how the sale has been handled in the Gazette today too. Same lies and fraud as with FerryGate and no doubt EKO too. Are the EKO invoices etc available?
ReplyDeleteLooks like Michael Child has sought refuge on Driver's blog from the constant stream of drivel from the gang of four over on his own blog.
ReplyDeleteOMG. Has TDC learned nothing from the appalling mistakes they have made in recent years? You don't give a developer a 100 year lease under any circumstances. You give him a ten year lease (maximum) with a conditional option to extend at the end of that period. If he puts in the investment needed he will earn the right to extend the contract for a further ten years. If the developer doesn't agree to these terms he isn't really interested in doing anything for the long-term.
ReplyDeletePoor old Clive. I sincerely feel for him having to make sense of such an illiterate letter. Your somewhat tedious efforts to gain media attention might be more successful if you learn the basics of grammar, punctuation and, above all, brevity.
ReplyDeleteIf a buyer cannot be found when the lease offered is 30 years, why do you suggest they would take up a 10 plus 10 year lease?
ReplyDeleteThere's the rub, 12:33, logic is not poor old anons strong point.
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