Pleasurama P*ss Take

On Friday March 13th Thanet Council announced that it had signed an agreement with builders Cardy to complete work at the Ramsgate Pleasurama seafront development. According to the Council’s press release “the agreement will see the scheme built out in accordance with the existing planning consent including a 60 bed hotel, 107 residential apartments, leisure facilities, cafes, shops and even a playground within the Ramsgate seafront site” Like any diligent councillor I asked to see a copy of the agreement so that I could report back to local residents about how much money the council was going to receive from Cardy, what the time frame for completion of the development was and any other matters related to the works. Here is the e-mail I sent to on 17 March Dear Mr Bolye I am writing to you as the Council's Monitoring Officer to set up a meeting to inspect the new Pleasurama/ Royal Sands development agreement with Cardy which  was signed last week. I look forward to hearing from you on this matter. Yours sincerely. Councillor Ian Driver   

Despite a follow up e-mail my request was not answered. I called the council last Friday afternoon and this morning stressing how important my request was because I am having a meeting tomorrow night at which I hoped  to update residents about the Cardy deal. Following these phone calls I was sent this Dear Councillor Driver
I understand that you have made a request to inspect the above contract.Mr Boyle advises that the document cannot be inspected at this time. Whilst it has been signed, it has not been completed and is therefore still commercially sensitive. Please let me know if you have any further queries.Kind regards,Ciara Feeney Senior Litigation Lawyer & Deputy Monitoring Officer Thanet District Council

So despite issuing a press release and shouting from the rooftops that the agreement with Cardy has been signed, the Council is now using weasel words to suggest that, although signed,  the deal has not really been completed and that it remains confidential.  Seriously you could not make this rubbish up. This is public land (at least for a couple of  days longer). Residents have a right to know exactly how much money has been raised by the deal with Cardy, what the terms of the agreement are  and how long it will take for the project to be completed. But no! Once again TDC  in its high handed arrogant  manner are dismissing the concerns of residents and treating them like fools.  What has Thanet Council got to hide? What secrets are they keeping from you? Why can’t the terms of an agreement they triumphantly heralded 2 weeks ago be made public. Like North Korea, Thanet Council is fixated with secrecy and making deals behind closed doors. Like North Korea Thanet Council is not fit for purpose. To put end to this secrecy and lack of accountability vote Green on May 7^th. We promise to end the culture of secrecy at TDC  and make the Council accountable to local taxpayers. We promise to reform the council and end this arrogant disdain for residents.   Its time for open, honest and accountable government. Its time to Vote Green.