Hard to know which was the biggest failure of 2009:
#The on-off, never-seen Ferry
#Manston and on-off BAWC cargo night flights
#Manston: removing the air monitors prior to the on-off, never seen night flights consultation of August, September, October, March maybe May
#Manston: the missing noise monitors
#Tax haven Pleasurama on-off, never seen whatever the plans were – only until 4th Jan to register tax haven duties and income with Customs
#ChinaGate on-off, never seen warehouses or something after 12 months
#The on-off, never seen reconstruction of the Granville Folly
#Ramsgate Town Council established but grinding to a halt in ceremony, protocol and inaction
#The missing EKO and ChinaGate expenses and timesheets, TDC £2M office refit from disabled grants
#Dreamland: another year derelict
The only certainly is the 0% pay rise fraud that were £30,000 increases and delays on providing the TDC payroll costs.
Do councillors not review these at Cabinet or Council meetings? – obviously not or where are the minutes? And if they’re not reviewing the £2M civil servant wage bill nor the above points what are they doing?
Maybe it’s tired pensioner politics: somewhere out of the rain, a cup of tea and do what the civil servants tell them.
Maybe it’s an acceptance of bungs, fiddles and maladministration: harder to jail elected councillors but certainly easier to do so for civil servant involved in these kinds of maladministration and grease.
Not good enough for some of the worst deprivation in Kent, the highest cancer rate and a 17 year health gap between the rest of Kent and one of the worst UK councils.
Time to:
#Sack the Gang of Four: no good and failed.
#Close Manston and clean the water supply
#End ChinaGate
#Clean up Toxic Thanet and the contaminated land: Richboro, Thor, Manston and Gasworks
#Build Pleasurama: with green technology, an ice-rink and below the cliff
#Establish a “2nd Pfizer” for employment
#Cancel the New Road dual carriageway on farmland and improve the closed airport boundary road
#Review TDC and KCC and Quango payroll, expenses, cars, pensions
#Launch the Van Gogh Museum at the derelict former Cavallino building
#Publish all MP expenses monthly and establish recall for MP’s and councillors
And work out how many dead or their lives shortened through breathing unmonitored aviation fuel and mercury.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change in May 2010
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Thursday, 24 December 2009
It's Xmas. So time for a TDC consultation.
Offices closed. Public distracted. A good opportunity to “bury the bad news” or at least something unpalatable.
Here’s two:
#The Tourist office consultation
# Air quality in St Lawrence
http://www.thanet.gov.uk/news/latest_press_releases/air_quality_views_needed.aspx
Here’s an overview of some things for Santa for Thanet next year:
1. A tourism office closure programme described as “improvements”. Not dissimilar to “improving-air-monitoring-by-removing-air-monitors”. More “Little Margate-ism” again. The sooner each town directs its own c.£16M expenditure from the £60M District taxtake the better – or will it simply be wasted on admin and process? Fixing the plywood on the window of the tourism office would be an improvement – not really showing the town at its best for visitors
2. Thor mercury cleanup: what have the council been doing? 750 of them and 130,000 residents and there’s no cleanup schedule?
3. The Van Gogh Museum at the derelict Cavallino building in Harbour St to celebrate Van Gogh, Coleridge and local artists. Let’s hope the Regeneration Department is busy organising funding and grants
4. Richboro: time to blow up the derelict cancer towers
5. Asbestos in schools and computers in schools: where is the detail and cleanup schedules? Where is the ratio of computers to children?
6. Manston: a copy of the existing vision and a revised version is below
7. Cancel the New Dual Carriageway: more farmland destroyed for traffic jams as East Kent becomes the East Midlands - a land of car parks, business parks, retail parks and office parks - but not park parks
8. Good to see Vattenfall looking to fund improvements to Pegwell Bay and the Hoverport built on coal ash as part of the world's biggest windfarm
9. The “2nd Pfizer” programme for full employment: malaria vaccines and nets production
10. The Kent Film Office and Studios developments for Margate and Ramsgate
Dreamland of course will be derelict another year and the Turner will open - facing the derelict site.
And if you’re bored of turkey, in-laws and telly here’s a long document on the Thor pollution at Cato Ridge in South Africa with several mentions of the Margate factory closing in 1988.
Except it never closed. "Permits to pollute" from the Environment Agency and no checks at all by TDC. Not even a contaminated land survey.
Just the June EA presentation on "How not to Pollute your water supply".
What has been going on?
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/documents/davis.doc
And why no mention in Parliament? No mention at County Hall? No mention at Cecil Square?
Keep quiet? Keep your head down? Don’t tell the public? Don’t clean it up? A cosy club of incompetence?
It’s as if Thanet’s citizens deserve nothing better than to be lied to and poisoned by our politicians and civil servants.
And still the planes fly over the town.
Still the cancer rate soars.
And still the coffins pile up.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Current 2030 Vision: Manston park and Airport
Manston is the commercial centre of Thanet. Kent International Airport has established itself as a major cargo base for the UK receiving 300,000 tons of freight per year, particularly from nearby continental markets. Scheduled passenger services run daily to popular UK and European destinations.
Manston Park has drawn in businesses from around the world. The airport has been a catalyst for the businesses which have set up in the business park, and it is also developing significant airport-related activities for airlines that cannot find room at other London Airports.
Residents have taken advantage of the thousands of jobs created over the past 21 years.
New 2030 Vision: Manston Park and former airport
Manston is the green heart of Thanet. Kent International Airport collapsed as a major cargo base for the UK receiving 30,000 tons of freight per year, day and night, particularly from short-hop flights form Ostend, loaded onto trucks and then driven to Heathrow or around the M25.
Scheduled passenger services collapsed without taxpayer subsidy from an RAF base or council funds except for the Summer Holiday Coach Service to Gatwick and Heathrow.
Manston Park has drawn in businesses and visitors from around the world to the Blue Flag beaches and parks to see how brownfield sites and major water pollution can be cleaned up. The TDC and Infratil “MonitorGate” scandal of deliberately removing noise and air monitors and fudging health and safety data has been a catalyst for reform.
Infratil’s Board faced significant airport-related jail time for corporate manslaughter in Kent if the courts cannot find room at other London jails.
Residents have taken advantage of the thousands of lives being improved and created over the past 21 years without suffering from lung cancer or genetic birth defects.
A wider understanding of the “cancer cause” resulted in rapid clean up of Richboro, Thor, cargo ships off Margate, Pegwell bay and the Gasworks to reduce the 17 year early death rate in Thanet compared to the rest of Kent.
The council moved slowly and with full regard to due process so not many of the public died over the 20 years of planning.
Here’s two:
#The Tourist office consultation
# Air quality in St Lawrence
http://www.thanet.gov.uk/news/latest_press_releases/air_quality_views_needed.aspx
Here’s an overview of some things for Santa for Thanet next year:
1. A tourism office closure programme described as “improvements”. Not dissimilar to “improving-air-monitoring-by-removing-air-monitors”. More “Little Margate-ism” again. The sooner each town directs its own c.£16M expenditure from the £60M District taxtake the better – or will it simply be wasted on admin and process? Fixing the plywood on the window of the tourism office would be an improvement – not really showing the town at its best for visitors
2. Thor mercury cleanup: what have the council been doing? 750 of them and 130,000 residents and there’s no cleanup schedule?
3. The Van Gogh Museum at the derelict Cavallino building in Harbour St to celebrate Van Gogh, Coleridge and local artists. Let’s hope the Regeneration Department is busy organising funding and grants
4. Richboro: time to blow up the derelict cancer towers
5. Asbestos in schools and computers in schools: where is the detail and cleanup schedules? Where is the ratio of computers to children?
6. Manston: a copy of the existing vision and a revised version is below
7. Cancel the New Dual Carriageway: more farmland destroyed for traffic jams as East Kent becomes the East Midlands - a land of car parks, business parks, retail parks and office parks - but not park parks
8. Good to see Vattenfall looking to fund improvements to Pegwell Bay and the Hoverport built on coal ash as part of the world's biggest windfarm
9. The “2nd Pfizer” programme for full employment: malaria vaccines and nets production
10. The Kent Film Office and Studios developments for Margate and Ramsgate
Dreamland of course will be derelict another year and the Turner will open - facing the derelict site.
And if you’re bored of turkey, in-laws and telly here’s a long document on the Thor pollution at Cato Ridge in South Africa with several mentions of the Margate factory closing in 1988.
Except it never closed. "Permits to pollute" from the Environment Agency and no checks at all by TDC. Not even a contaminated land survey.
Just the June EA presentation on "How not to Pollute your water supply".
What has been going on?
http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/documents/davis.doc
And why no mention in Parliament? No mention at County Hall? No mention at Cecil Square?
Keep quiet? Keep your head down? Don’t tell the public? Don’t clean it up? A cosy club of incompetence?
It’s as if Thanet’s citizens deserve nothing better than to be lied to and poisoned by our politicians and civil servants.
And still the planes fly over the town.
Still the cancer rate soars.
And still the coffins pile up.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Current 2030 Vision: Manston park and Airport
Manston is the commercial centre of Thanet. Kent International Airport has established itself as a major cargo base for the UK receiving 300,000 tons of freight per year, particularly from nearby continental markets. Scheduled passenger services run daily to popular UK and European destinations.
Manston Park has drawn in businesses from around the world. The airport has been a catalyst for the businesses which have set up in the business park, and it is also developing significant airport-related activities for airlines that cannot find room at other London Airports.
Residents have taken advantage of the thousands of jobs created over the past 21 years.
New 2030 Vision: Manston Park and former airport
Manston is the green heart of Thanet. Kent International Airport collapsed as a major cargo base for the UK receiving 30,000 tons of freight per year, day and night, particularly from short-hop flights form Ostend, loaded onto trucks and then driven to Heathrow or around the M25.
Scheduled passenger services collapsed without taxpayer subsidy from an RAF base or council funds except for the Summer Holiday Coach Service to Gatwick and Heathrow.
Manston Park has drawn in businesses and visitors from around the world to the Blue Flag beaches and parks to see how brownfield sites and major water pollution can be cleaned up. The TDC and Infratil “MonitorGate” scandal of deliberately removing noise and air monitors and fudging health and safety data has been a catalyst for reform.
Infratil’s Board faced significant airport-related jail time for corporate manslaughter in Kent if the courts cannot find room at other London jails.
Residents have taken advantage of the thousands of lives being improved and created over the past 21 years without suffering from lung cancer or genetic birth defects.
A wider understanding of the “cancer cause” resulted in rapid clean up of Richboro, Thor, cargo ships off Margate, Pegwell bay and the Gasworks to reduce the 17 year early death rate in Thanet compared to the rest of Kent.
The council moved slowly and with full regard to due process so not many of the public died over the 20 years of planning.
Monday, 21 December 2009
Thor mercury explosion and discharge
An extract from the latest report on Thor mercury near Nash Road estate and BandQ:
Incident occurred on 19th December 2007. Synthetic route (from Germany) was being scaled-up (by the persons interviewed) and ***********from the Wincham site). Uncontrolled events lead to reactor overpressure, separating the reactor lid and breaking a glass vessel containing toluene (about 50 Kg). Explosion and fire destroyed the plant. Nobody was hurt.
Date(s) of Investigation
dd/mm/yyyy
20/2/2008
Persons Interviewed
Include their job title or role (e.g. Safety Adviser, MD, or TU Rep)
**********Wincham Cheshire).
***********Margate)
Decision for David Gregory (Inspector).
Description of the Incident
Explosion of pilot scale chemical reactor. No injuries or fatalities.
Agents Involved
Stage 1.
Pentaerythritol
Phosphorus trichloride
Toluene (solvent)
HCL gas (evolved)
Intermediate Bicyclic phosphate (CAS: 873-93-8)
Stage 2
Intermediate Bicyclic phosphate (CAS: 873-93-8)
Dimethylmethyl phosphonate (DMMP)
Iodine (catalyst)
TL1171 CAS: 3001-98-7 (product)
Underlying Causes
E.g. lack of management systems, safe systems of work.
Failure to adequately assess and characterize the chemical reaction hazards and engineer the pilot plant.
Action required by Client
To cease pilot scale operations before the site is decommissioned.
What has been going on?
A chemical explosion on a factory site next to a housing estate.
When the site was meant to have been closed in 1988 after poisoning several workers and the soil and water.
And the relocating to Cato Ridge in South Africa to do the same there.
Nothing from our MP's or councillors. Or even the police other than stay inside and close the windows. And earlier this year maintaining that all is proper and correct at Thor and Infratil.
Clearly it's not.
TDC removing air and noise monitors at Manston with Infratil. And now a notorious polluter continuing to merrily cook up chemical explosions on the polluted site.
20 years after it was meant to close.
Heads down at TDC. Deny. Pretend everything's fine. Lie. Not our problem.
Where are the Cabinet and Council minutes on cleaning up these toxic sites?
Where are the cleanup schedules?
Where are the soil and water sdamples?
Where are the injury and death forecasts?
Nothing.
What a mess.
Time for Change.
Incident occurred on 19th December 2007. Synthetic route (from Germany) was being scaled-up (by the persons interviewed) and ***********from the Wincham site). Uncontrolled events lead to reactor overpressure, separating the reactor lid and breaking a glass vessel containing toluene (about 50 Kg). Explosion and fire destroyed the plant. Nobody was hurt.
Date(s) of Investigation
dd/mm/yyyy
20/2/2008
Persons Interviewed
Include their job title or role (e.g. Safety Adviser, MD, or TU Rep)
**********Wincham Cheshire).
***********Margate)
Decision for David Gregory (Inspector).
Description of the Incident
Explosion of pilot scale chemical reactor. No injuries or fatalities.
Agents Involved
Stage 1.
Pentaerythritol
Phosphorus trichloride
Toluene (solvent)
HCL gas (evolved)
Intermediate Bicyclic phosphate (CAS: 873-93-8)
Stage 2
Intermediate Bicyclic phosphate (CAS: 873-93-8)
Dimethylmethyl phosphonate (DMMP)
Iodine (catalyst)
TL1171 CAS: 3001-98-7 (product)
Underlying Causes
E.g. lack of management systems, safe systems of work.
Failure to adequately assess and characterize the chemical reaction hazards and engineer the pilot plant.
Action required by Client
To cease pilot scale operations before the site is decommissioned.
What has been going on?
A chemical explosion on a factory site next to a housing estate.
When the site was meant to have been closed in 1988 after poisoning several workers and the soil and water.
And the relocating to Cato Ridge in South Africa to do the same there.
Nothing from our MP's or councillors. Or even the police other than stay inside and close the windows. And earlier this year maintaining that all is proper and correct at Thor and Infratil.
Clearly it's not.
TDC removing air and noise monitors at Manston with Infratil. And now a notorious polluter continuing to merrily cook up chemical explosions on the polluted site.
20 years after it was meant to close.
Heads down at TDC. Deny. Pretend everything's fine. Lie. Not our problem.
Where are the Cabinet and Council minutes on cleaning up these toxic sites?
Where are the cleanup schedules?
Where are the soil and water sdamples?
Where are the injury and death forecasts?
Nothing.
What a mess.
Time for Change.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Death by Council in Toxic Thanet
Why exactly are the Gang of Four still clinging to their roles and pay cheques for failure?
Where are the noise and air monitors that were “improved” at each consultation for expansion by being removed?
Why exactly will the councillors not discuss the cleanup at Thor, the Gasworks and Richboro and the cleanup schedules?
Are the civil servants running rings round them or is it keep quiet in the cosy club of incompetence that passes for Thanet governance?
The MP's and councillors and civil servants can't claim they didn't know of the problems. Where are the Cabinet and Board minutes on fixing the problems?
Are they sat in Margate twiddling their thumbs while the towns are contaminated and collapse?
Of course.
The worst council in Britain - rated by the Government itself
The highest mortality rate in Kent with an 11 year and even 17 year death rate gap.
The mysterious 1,750 casualty rate.
The most polluted water supply under the airport.
Time for Roger Latchford and Sandy to resign: who is competent enough to replace them?
Time for Brian and Richard to be sacked: for £250k plus expenses can we afford to have them letting the towns crash and burn?
Time for a review of the performance of Ramsgate Town Council: an effective town council as before 1974 or a ceremonial and minor duplicate of TDC as after 1974.
For £60M of tax take and 0% fake payrises and £25k Chinagate funds for Ramsgate Labour it can't be the money that's causing the collapse of the towns and closure of museums.
They're simply no good or just haven't a clue.
Except selling off land to cover their salaries and costs and waste.
And silence from Ladyman and Gale and Sandys.
Except their expenses.
As MP I will:
1. Close Manston - and estimate the death rate
2. End ChinaGate
3. Sack without pension or payoff any civil servants who are unable to clean up Toxic Thanet
4. Recall and refund the 0% and ChinaGate frauds and expenses
5. Publish the tax haven contracts - and all council (and KCC and quango) contracts and costs
6. Publish all MP costs each month - to the penny
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change in May 2010
Where are the noise and air monitors that were “improved” at each consultation for expansion by being removed?
Why exactly will the councillors not discuss the cleanup at Thor, the Gasworks and Richboro and the cleanup schedules?
Are the civil servants running rings round them or is it keep quiet in the cosy club of incompetence that passes for Thanet governance?
The MP's and councillors and civil servants can't claim they didn't know of the problems. Where are the Cabinet and Board minutes on fixing the problems?
Are they sat in Margate twiddling their thumbs while the towns are contaminated and collapse?
Of course.
The worst council in Britain - rated by the Government itself
The highest mortality rate in Kent with an 11 year and even 17 year death rate gap.
The mysterious 1,750 casualty rate.
The most polluted water supply under the airport.
Time for Roger Latchford and Sandy to resign: who is competent enough to replace them?
Time for Brian and Richard to be sacked: for £250k plus expenses can we afford to have them letting the towns crash and burn?
Time for a review of the performance of Ramsgate Town Council: an effective town council as before 1974 or a ceremonial and minor duplicate of TDC as after 1974.
For £60M of tax take and 0% fake payrises and £25k Chinagate funds for Ramsgate Labour it can't be the money that's causing the collapse of the towns and closure of museums.
They're simply no good or just haven't a clue.
Except selling off land to cover their salaries and costs and waste.
And silence from Ladyman and Gale and Sandys.
Except their expenses.
As MP I will:
1. Close Manston - and estimate the death rate
2. End ChinaGate
3. Sack without pension or payoff any civil servants who are unable to clean up Toxic Thanet
4. Recall and refund the 0% and ChinaGate frauds and expenses
5. Publish the tax haven contracts - and all council (and KCC and quango) contracts and costs
6. Publish all MP costs each month - to the penny
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change in May 2010
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
The missing Thanet receipts and cleanup
Still no news on:
# TDC payroll and cars and expenses
# ChinaGate receipts and timesheets
# EKO £500k receipts and invoices
# Infratil and TDC noise and air monitoring records and flight log
# Thor and Richboro site visits and cleanup schedules
# The Pleasurama tax haven contracts and payments
# 0% salary increases payslips: before and after
Impossible.
Can’t be done.
Must be delayed.
And then it’s still impossible.
“Commercial confidentiality” doesn’t apply: all costs etc are disclosed. If you don’t want them disclosed then don’t do business with the public sector.
“Data protection” doesn’t apply: that’s for data on the public held by civil servants not civil servants costs.
If you don’t want civil servant costs disclosed then work for the private sector and fund the public sector.
“Crown copyright” doesn’t apply: that’s copyright funded from public funds for the public.
It’s very simple. All public costs and information is available for disclosure. FOI and EIR means every piece of local government and national government information is available: as soon as possible and no later than 20 days.
You might make an exception for certain pieces of military or MI5 information at certain times.
But while we’re awaiting Thanet’s state secrets here’s the credit card receipts from the son of the Congo President who’s accused of siphoning off public funds from the oil wells in Congo into shopping for clothes.
Global Witness Director Patrick Alley said: “The High Court ruling is a spectacular victory for the right of Congo’s citizens to know about how public officials are managing their country’s wealth and for freedom of speech in general. Public officials like Sassou-Nguesso should explain their financial affairs, not try to use the courts to block public debate.”
The documents can be viewed at:
http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/556/en/congo_is_presidents_son_paying_for_designer_shoppi
The difference between this and MP’s claiming for moats or bell towers or civil servants funded by developers I’m not sure that there is a difference.
I do know though that all costs, documents, reports, emails, notes by government are funded by the pubic and ultimately approved by the public.
And they are now required by law to be made public.
So will our MP’s and civil servants publish all their costs each month?
So where are the EKO receipts?
Where are the Thor cleanup schedules?
And where are the Cabinet and Council meetings where these have been discussed and approved?
And which councillor and civil servants knew when the monitors were removed?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
# TDC payroll and cars and expenses
# ChinaGate receipts and timesheets
# EKO £500k receipts and invoices
# Infratil and TDC noise and air monitoring records and flight log
# Thor and Richboro site visits and cleanup schedules
# The Pleasurama tax haven contracts and payments
# 0% salary increases payslips: before and after
Impossible.
Can’t be done.
Must be delayed.
And then it’s still impossible.
“Commercial confidentiality” doesn’t apply: all costs etc are disclosed. If you don’t want them disclosed then don’t do business with the public sector.
“Data protection” doesn’t apply: that’s for data on the public held by civil servants not civil servants costs.
If you don’t want civil servant costs disclosed then work for the private sector and fund the public sector.
“Crown copyright” doesn’t apply: that’s copyright funded from public funds for the public.
It’s very simple. All public costs and information is available for disclosure. FOI and EIR means every piece of local government and national government information is available: as soon as possible and no later than 20 days.
You might make an exception for certain pieces of military or MI5 information at certain times.
But while we’re awaiting Thanet’s state secrets here’s the credit card receipts from the son of the Congo President who’s accused of siphoning off public funds from the oil wells in Congo into shopping for clothes.
Global Witness Director Patrick Alley said: “The High Court ruling is a spectacular victory for the right of Congo’s citizens to know about how public officials are managing their country’s wealth and for freedom of speech in general. Public officials like Sassou-Nguesso should explain their financial affairs, not try to use the courts to block public debate.”
The documents can be viewed at:
http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/556/en/congo_is_presidents_son_paying_for_designer_shoppi
The difference between this and MP’s claiming for moats or bell towers or civil servants funded by developers I’m not sure that there is a difference.
I do know though that all costs, documents, reports, emails, notes by government are funded by the pubic and ultimately approved by the public.
And they are now required by law to be made public.
So will our MP’s and civil servants publish all their costs each month?
So where are the EKO receipts?
Where are the Thor cleanup schedules?
And where are the Cabinet and Council meetings where these have been discussed and approved?
And which councillor and civil servants knew when the monitors were removed?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Pegwell Bay and windfarm construction
This is an article on the £27M cabling contract for the Vattenfall windfarm
http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/subocean-wins-23m-windfarm-contract/1867639.article
That’s a big contract: £27M just for part of the cabling.
I noticed yesterday by the Jet petrol station on the Pegwell/Richboro foreshore that Carillion were digging concrete-lined trenches.
How does the cabling get from those trenches out to the windfarm of the North Foreland without digging up the seabed of Pegwell Bay a RAMSAR and UNESCO site?
A Planning error as foolish as building a petrol station on the floodline and draining the airport’s aviation fuel into the Bay.
Or building the airport on the underground water reservoir.
And is the cabling contract is £27M and the windfarm is the world’s biggest windfarm – which presumably costs a lot more than £27M - why has Brian White accepted only £175,000 for a developer contribution? That will hardly cover the 0% pay rise fraud.
And which councillors approved this?
It looks to me like Thanet’s natural assets are being sold off on the cheap and the civil servants are running rings round the councillors to boost payrises out of the £60M council taxtake.
And the Sunday Times yesterday described the decibel levels of windfamrs were downgraded to 33 decibels (still a lot less than the c.120 decibels for jet engine noise). How is TDC monitoring the noise.
Especially given Infratil and TDC removed the noise monitors and never replaced them. And removed the air monitor just 4 months ago - at the time of the fake night flight consultation.
We can guess can’t we.
Time for a consultation on the performance of our civil servants and councillors. Especially as Thanet is rated one of Britian's sworst councils. By the Government itself.
Time for resignations and P45's for failuire from the Gang of Four. No payoffs. No pensions. No public sector jobs.
And we have "death by council" with toxic sites such as Thor and Richboro. And now a 17 year health gap between Thanet and the rest of Kent.
Our civil servants and councillors make Thanet the laughing stock of governance. And mere fraud and waste of what assets we do have.
What have they been doing?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change
http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/subocean-wins-23m-windfarm-contract/1867639.article
That’s a big contract: £27M just for part of the cabling.
I noticed yesterday by the Jet petrol station on the Pegwell/Richboro foreshore that Carillion were digging concrete-lined trenches.
How does the cabling get from those trenches out to the windfarm of the North Foreland without digging up the seabed of Pegwell Bay a RAMSAR and UNESCO site?
A Planning error as foolish as building a petrol station on the floodline and draining the airport’s aviation fuel into the Bay.
Or building the airport on the underground water reservoir.
And is the cabling contract is £27M and the windfarm is the world’s biggest windfarm – which presumably costs a lot more than £27M - why has Brian White accepted only £175,000 for a developer contribution? That will hardly cover the 0% pay rise fraud.
And which councillors approved this?
It looks to me like Thanet’s natural assets are being sold off on the cheap and the civil servants are running rings round the councillors to boost payrises out of the £60M council taxtake.
And the Sunday Times yesterday described the decibel levels of windfamrs were downgraded to 33 decibels (still a lot less than the c.120 decibels for jet engine noise). How is TDC monitoring the noise.
Especially given Infratil and TDC removed the noise monitors and never replaced them. And removed the air monitor just 4 months ago - at the time of the fake night flight consultation.
We can guess can’t we.
Time for a consultation on the performance of our civil servants and councillors. Especially as Thanet is rated one of Britian's sworst councils. By the Government itself.
Time for resignations and P45's for failuire from the Gang of Four. No payoffs. No pensions. No public sector jobs.
And we have "death by council" with toxic sites such as Thor and Richboro. And now a 17 year health gap between Thanet and the rest of Kent.
Our civil servants and councillors make Thanet the laughing stock of governance. And mere fraud and waste of what assets we do have.
What have they been doing?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change
Friday, 11 December 2009
Time for Resignations and P45's
TDC rated again as one of the UK's worst councils.
Meeting "minimum standards".
We seem to have a service of crooks, cretins and liars.
And death by council.
Double the cancer rate.
Poisoned water.
Noise and air monitors removed.
Fake 0% pay rises for failure.
Fake £500k EKO quangos
Still no ChinaGate expenses.
Tax haven developers.
What has been going on?
Silence from councillors.
Silence from Civil servnats.
Silence from MP's
When will we have credible explanations and how these problems will be resolved.
Resignations.
P45's.
No payoffs.
No pensions.
No public sector jobs.
All seem viable to me.
The Gang of Four of Samuel, White, Latchford and Ezekiel couldn't run a bath let alone 3 small towns.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change
Meeting "minimum standards".
We seem to have a service of crooks, cretins and liars.
And death by council.
Double the cancer rate.
Poisoned water.
Noise and air monitors removed.
Fake 0% pay rises for failure.
Fake £500k EKO quangos
Still no ChinaGate expenses.
Tax haven developers.
What has been going on?
Silence from councillors.
Silence from Civil servnats.
Silence from MP's
When will we have credible explanations and how these problems will be resolved.
Resignations.
P45's.
No payoffs.
No pensions.
No public sector jobs.
All seem viable to me.
The Gang of Four of Samuel, White, Latchford and Ezekiel couldn't run a bath let alone 3 small towns.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Airport crashes and burns
Coventry airport closed.
Kemble airfield expands as a breaers yard for derelict aircraft.
With Heathrow or Gatwick or Stansted slated for expansion – if any – then regional airports make little sense.
Ever tighter environmental restrictions, noise control, air pollution.
Unless you’re Manston of course.
Built on the water supply? No problem.
No effective radar? No problem.
Removal of noise monitors? No problem.
Removal of air monitors? No problem.
Council to fudge consultations? No problem.
County council happy for an airport far away from them? No problem.
Council to pay for the airport’s consultation? No problem.
Council to pay for an extra council quango of councillors? No problem.
Dumping jumbo jets on the water supply? No problem.
A Masterplan of 2M passengers. Up from zero. And more than double the whole population of Kent? No problem.
And a cancer rate in Thanet double the UK average. Either 11 years or 17 years early death rate compared to the rest of Kent. Even the official figures aren’t sure exactly how bad it is.
The only question now is which councillors and civil servants decided to remove the monitors.
And when will Manston close.
Will it be this week? Will it be next week? Will it be over Xmas? Will it last to the next February night flight farce consultation?
Will the councillors and civil servants wait for a crash?
When exactly will the Gang of Four of Latchford, White, Samuel and Ezekiel explain what has been going on at ManstonGate and ChinaGate and Thor mercury to the 130,000 people that elect them and fund their salaries.
For 0% salary fraud and no regeneration at all we seem to be paying for criminal incompetence at worst and mere bumf at best.
Will they be hanging on for 2011 election? Will they be hanging on for the May 2009 election?
They won’t need a payoff or pension for poisoning the public will they?
What exactly is the point of the Gang of Four now?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Kemble airfield expands as a breaers yard for derelict aircraft.
With Heathrow or Gatwick or Stansted slated for expansion – if any – then regional airports make little sense.
Ever tighter environmental restrictions, noise control, air pollution.
Unless you’re Manston of course.
Built on the water supply? No problem.
No effective radar? No problem.
Removal of noise monitors? No problem.
Removal of air monitors? No problem.
Council to fudge consultations? No problem.
County council happy for an airport far away from them? No problem.
Council to pay for the airport’s consultation? No problem.
Council to pay for an extra council quango of councillors? No problem.
Dumping jumbo jets on the water supply? No problem.
A Masterplan of 2M passengers. Up from zero. And more than double the whole population of Kent? No problem.
And a cancer rate in Thanet double the UK average. Either 11 years or 17 years early death rate compared to the rest of Kent. Even the official figures aren’t sure exactly how bad it is.
The only question now is which councillors and civil servants decided to remove the monitors.
And when will Manston close.
Will it be this week? Will it be next week? Will it be over Xmas? Will it last to the next February night flight farce consultation?
Will the councillors and civil servants wait for a crash?
When exactly will the Gang of Four of Latchford, White, Samuel and Ezekiel explain what has been going on at ManstonGate and ChinaGate and Thor mercury to the 130,000 people that elect them and fund their salaries.
For 0% salary fraud and no regeneration at all we seem to be paying for criminal incompetence at worst and mere bumf at best.
Will they be hanging on for 2011 election? Will they be hanging on for the May 2009 election?
They won’t need a payoff or pension for poisoning the public will they?
What exactly is the point of the Gang of Four now?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Cancer East Kent
Another front page article on cancer in East Kent.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=7Yk1y0D26Ga0&PBID=d7d2b9a4-64e8-44e3-9e11-33b67854552c&skip=
Clearly smoking would affect cancer figures a little. But most people don’t smoke.
So why would there be over double the national average of lung cancer.
And a specialist cancer ward.
A mortality rate dying at age 69 rather than 81 like the rest of Kent?
Certainly an airport – especially if you remove and don’t replace the air monitoring.
What were the civil servants and politicians thinking?
No-one would know?
No-one would mind?
They could “lose” the paperwork?
They’d keep their jobs and pensions anyway?
Hustle through fake consultations?
Even fake 0% payrises?
Polluted water wouldn’t help. Nor contaminated land like Thor and Richboro and the Gasworks – all that dust blowing around.
Here’s the estuary airport protest site funded by KCC with suggestions that Manston should be used instead.
Looks like dumping all the toxic waste far away from Maidstone.
Which councillors and civil servants thought it would be a good idea to build a cargo airport next to the towns and on the water supply.
And remove the noise and air monitors.
Let’s hope the “cleaner, greener, safer” Thanet strategy isn’t just mere lip-service.
Although it certainly looks that way as still the planes fly over the towns.
And none of our politicians or civil servants seem able to enforce public safety.
If it doesn't reach 2M passengers or can only do so by removing the safety checks what are the plans?
Building on the runway? But the water's already polluted.
Extra safety checks? But that was promised. The water's polluted.
And none of the other contaminated land sites are even being discussed by our politicians and civil servants.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=7Yk1y0D26Ga0&PBID=d7d2b9a4-64e8-44e3-9e11-33b67854552c&skip=
Clearly smoking would affect cancer figures a little. But most people don’t smoke.
So why would there be over double the national average of lung cancer.
And a specialist cancer ward.
A mortality rate dying at age 69 rather than 81 like the rest of Kent?
Certainly an airport – especially if you remove and don’t replace the air monitoring.
What were the civil servants and politicians thinking?
No-one would know?
No-one would mind?
They could “lose” the paperwork?
They’d keep their jobs and pensions anyway?
Hustle through fake consultations?
Even fake 0% payrises?
Polluted water wouldn’t help. Nor contaminated land like Thor and Richboro and the Gasworks – all that dust blowing around.
Here’s the estuary airport protest site funded by KCC with suggestions that Manston should be used instead.
Looks like dumping all the toxic waste far away from Maidstone.
Which councillors and civil servants thought it would be a good idea to build a cargo airport next to the towns and on the water supply.
And remove the noise and air monitors.
Let’s hope the “cleaner, greener, safer” Thanet strategy isn’t just mere lip-service.
Although it certainly looks that way as still the planes fly over the towns.
And none of our politicians or civil servants seem able to enforce public safety.
If it doesn't reach 2M passengers or can only do so by removing the safety checks what are the plans?
Building on the runway? But the water's already polluted.
Extra safety checks? But that was promised. The water's polluted.
And none of the other contaminated land sites are even being discussed by our politicians and civil servants.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Lung cancer double in Thanet
Front page of the Thanet Gazette.
As you'd expect in Toxic Thanet:
* air and noise monitors removed from 24/7 cargo airport by TDC and Infratil
* ChinaGate cargo warehouses plan on the Manston water supply
* 6 dumped jumbo jets on Manston water supply left by KCC and TDC
* RAF base without monitoring or similar deceit
* Thor mercury near Nash Road housing estate, B&Q and Hornby: closed-but-not-closed for 25 years
* permits to pollute and discharge into Pegwel Bay
* Pegwell and Stour most polluted river in UK after Medway
* Richboro cancer towers derelict
* The mystery of toxic Tivoli Brook
* Ramsgate and Margate gasworks derelict for 10 years
* The fake EUJet and Night Flights rubber-stamp consultations
* The EA report on "not polluting your water supply" to TDC in July
* Old Sericol site pumps switched off
No mention from councillors. No mention from civil servants. No toxin and cleanup schedules.
No Cabinet minutes. No Chief Executive and Board minutes. No Forward Plan details.
No Leader report details. No Chief Executive report details.
Removing air and noise monitors twice isn't an accident. Nor is not replacing them.
It can't be money. There's £60M in tax take at TDC and £22M in salaries. Plus £2Bn in tax at KCC.
Both MP's state from the EA seminar in June that the airprot and Thor are "well-run and there is no safety or pollution risk".
Shush.
It's not for you to know. Pay your tax. Shut up.
A report on Bhopal: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8388355.stm
The highest lung cancer rate.
Dying at 69 years old not 81 years old.
The most polluted water supply.
Thanet not Bhopal.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
As you'd expect in Toxic Thanet:
* air and noise monitors removed from 24/7 cargo airport by TDC and Infratil
* ChinaGate cargo warehouses plan on the Manston water supply
* 6 dumped jumbo jets on Manston water supply left by KCC and TDC
* RAF base without monitoring or similar deceit
* Thor mercury near Nash Road housing estate, B&Q and Hornby: closed-but-not-closed for 25 years
* permits to pollute and discharge into Pegwel Bay
* Pegwell and Stour most polluted river in UK after Medway
* Richboro cancer towers derelict
* The mystery of toxic Tivoli Brook
* Ramsgate and Margate gasworks derelict for 10 years
* The fake EUJet and Night Flights rubber-stamp consultations
* The EA report on "not polluting your water supply" to TDC in July
* Old Sericol site pumps switched off
No mention from councillors. No mention from civil servants. No toxin and cleanup schedules.
No Cabinet minutes. No Chief Executive and Board minutes. No Forward Plan details.
No Leader report details. No Chief Executive report details.
Removing air and noise monitors twice isn't an accident. Nor is not replacing them.
It can't be money. There's £60M in tax take at TDC and £22M in salaries. Plus £2Bn in tax at KCC.
Both MP's state from the EA seminar in June that the airprot and Thor are "well-run and there is no safety or pollution risk".
Shush.
It's not for you to know. Pay your tax. Shut up.
A report on Bhopal: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8388355.stm
The highest lung cancer rate.
Dying at 69 years old not 81 years old.
The most polluted water supply.
Thanet not Bhopal.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Aviation fuel monitoring at Manston
A further update on the Kentmere Avenue at Manston airport.
The largest monitor covering the airport: here’s the picture off the Kent air quality website:
http://www.kentair.org.uk/monitoringnetwork.php?view=sitephotos&site=ZH3&bulletindate=03/12/2009#details
Like a rather large telephone box or a shipping container: this is the monitor that’s now switched off.
The diffusion tubes are literally test tubes with a dab of cotton wool and tied to lanp-posts – usually used in their dozens and hundreds to monitor traffic pollution.
Here’s the Medway newspaper front page on serious traffic pollution in Medway which is monitored by diffusion tubes – for cars not jumbo jets.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=fG1705Po2c0Q&PBID=95f0fcf6-68e7-4ec6-a688-2d9be9749147&skip=
As you can imagine airport monitoring – especially an airport slated for expansion and built on the water supply and near an urban population of over 100,000 needs to be tightly monitored.
All the more bizarre to switch the Kentmere monitor off in August – at the time of the night flights announcement.
And here’s the data reading for the diffusion tubes at Manston:
http://www.kentair.org.uk/pollutionlevels.php?view=graph&site=ZH3&bulletindate=03/12/2009#details
As you’d expect fairly easy for them to go off the scale with the pollution levels.
Imagine if the 30 flights a day were happening: the pollution levels – but the monitoring switched off or removed.
And even as late as August and the night flights charade the main monitor switched off.
It would still be easy to work out the aviation fuel yield on the towns from the flight logs, the plane fuel tanks and height and wind speed.
Now you don’t need to be a genius to work out that the civil servants and politicians have decided to switch off monitors, removed the noise monitors, never provide the mobile monitor – and never replace any of the monitors in the last 3 years.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I thought they all worked for the public rather than Infratil?
I thought the greatest good for the greatest number was the point of public service?
I thought cancer jobs weren't a good idea. Hence monitoring.
I thought regeration was a fgood idea - so as not to rely on one industry or one employer.
Or relying on quick-fix ideas: "we're 2,000 jobs down let's expand the airprot to create 2,000 jobs".
"And do nothing else".
I thought noise and air and water monitoring was done to protect the public? That's why we elect politicians and pay for civil servants isn't it?
Obviously not.
What jiggerypokery will be going on with the monitors at Heathrow and Gatwick and Lydd?
And not one public statement from any politician or civil servant on the missing monitors.
So we can guess.
Jeopardising their own public. Their own families. Their friends. Their neighbours.
And still no news on the bathing water data, Thor, Richboro, the gasworks – are the toxin results available? Has the cleanup begun? When will it be completed?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
The largest monitor covering the airport: here’s the picture off the Kent air quality website:
http://www.kentair.org.uk/monitoringnetwork.php?view=sitephotos&site=ZH3&bulletindate=03/12/2009#details
Like a rather large telephone box or a shipping container: this is the monitor that’s now switched off.
The diffusion tubes are literally test tubes with a dab of cotton wool and tied to lanp-posts – usually used in their dozens and hundreds to monitor traffic pollution.
Here’s the Medway newspaper front page on serious traffic pollution in Medway which is monitored by diffusion tubes – for cars not jumbo jets.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=fG1705Po2c0Q&PBID=95f0fcf6-68e7-4ec6-a688-2d9be9749147&skip=
As you can imagine airport monitoring – especially an airport slated for expansion and built on the water supply and near an urban population of over 100,000 needs to be tightly monitored.
All the more bizarre to switch the Kentmere monitor off in August – at the time of the night flights announcement.
And here’s the data reading for the diffusion tubes at Manston:
http://www.kentair.org.uk/pollutionlevels.php?view=graph&site=ZH3&bulletindate=03/12/2009#details
As you’d expect fairly easy for them to go off the scale with the pollution levels.
Imagine if the 30 flights a day were happening: the pollution levels – but the monitoring switched off or removed.
And even as late as August and the night flights charade the main monitor switched off.
It would still be easy to work out the aviation fuel yield on the towns from the flight logs, the plane fuel tanks and height and wind speed.
Now you don’t need to be a genius to work out that the civil servants and politicians have decided to switch off monitors, removed the noise monitors, never provide the mobile monitor – and never replace any of the monitors in the last 3 years.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I thought they all worked for the public rather than Infratil?
I thought the greatest good for the greatest number was the point of public service?
I thought cancer jobs weren't a good idea. Hence monitoring.
I thought regeration was a fgood idea - so as not to rely on one industry or one employer.
Or relying on quick-fix ideas: "we're 2,000 jobs down let's expand the airprot to create 2,000 jobs".
"And do nothing else".
I thought noise and air and water monitoring was done to protect the public? That's why we elect politicians and pay for civil servants isn't it?
Obviously not.
What jiggerypokery will be going on with the monitors at Heathrow and Gatwick and Lydd?
And not one public statement from any politician or civil servant on the missing monitors.
So we can guess.
Jeopardising their own public. Their own families. Their friends. Their neighbours.
And still no news on the bathing water data, Thor, Richboro, the gasworks – are the toxin results available? Has the cleanup begun? When will it be completed?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Improved air monitoring at Manston
Except it's not.
It's making air monitoring worse by....removing the most advanced monitor at Manston.
The Kentmere Avenue monitor right at the end of the runway.
It's strange that this release plops out from Cheryl and Penny the day after I'd asked Penny for clarification on the data from the Kentmwere monitor and the flight logs.
And bizarrely this release is from last week announcing the changes that were made...in August - at the time of the night flight announcements.
It's pretty clear we're expected to swallow this flannel and bullshot along with the failures in monitoring at an airport that was slated for expansion through a mix of council and Infratil collusion.
And rank incompetence in expanding it on the water supply and just down the road from Heathrow and Ostend.
But I'm picky about being poisoned. Maybe you are too. Maybe even TDC's own staff and councillors are too.
Aviation fuel doesn't fall like stair rods under the plane does it - it drifts over a wide area like smog.
Why are monitors being removed from an airport. You'd be increasing them surely? Why has the mobile monitor after many promises from Richard Samuel and Brian White never appeared?
It can't be money. The bizarre night flights consultation that's delayed until the public anger subsides has a vote of £80k for the consultation that isn't even in the budget. Even for racks of monitors.
Why have the removed noise monitors never being replaced?
If you're picky aboput being poisoned drop Cheryl a line and ask her why the sudden announcement and what were the benzene readings over the last 5 years.
If as the release says the monitor was faulty then why wasn't it replaced.
And the part about only diffusion tubes being used at Heathrow is cobblers: as you'd expect electronic 24/7 monitoring like the Kentmere monitor is also used.
We seem to have lies and aviation fuel on the rates.
Which is quite a dangerous game for Richard and Brian and Sandy and Roger and Cheryl and Penny - the highest lung cancer rate in Kent doesn't happen from Scotch mist. And the Police take a dim view of a rising death rate and air monitor data being compromised.
It's called manslaughter.
Tomorrow: Kent Air Quality monitoring for Kent by not monitoring air quality in Kent.
They're good our civil servants aren't they.
Thank goodness the councillors are on top of all this handing out P45's or calling in the Police.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
From: Cheryl Pendry [mailto:Cheryl.Pendry@thanet.gov.uk] Sent: 25 November 2009 15:36Subject: IMPROVEMENTS TO AIRPORT AIR QUALITY MONITORING
IMPROVEMENTS TO AIRPORT AIR QUALITY MONITORING
Improvements have been made to how air quality is monitored at Kent International Airport.
A new system is now being used to provide consistent, reliable and verifiable data, with which to monitor air quality throughout Thanet. Benzene diffusion tubes located in both Manston and Minster are being used to monitor levels. These tubes are checked monthly, with the results published on the Air Quality in Kent and Medway website at www.kentair.org.uk
The decision to use diffusion tubes was taken, following advice from Government air quality experts, as the system previously being used was a complex and sophisticated piece of equipment that was not appropriate for monitoring a small regional airport.
Advice was taken about how air quality is monitored at major airports, with Heathrow and Gatwick both using the diffusion tubes, rather than the continuous monitoring. The monthly diffusion tubes are also the accepted standard nationally for measuring the annual mean level of benzene, which is the measure that councils are obliged to record.
Nitrogen dioxide is still continuously measured from two sites in Manston and Ramsgate. Results from this monitoring shows that nitrogen dioxide was below the average mean objective between August 2008 and August 2009.
Benzene levels within Thanet, as measured through diffusion tubes, are well below the National Air Quality Objective, meaning that there is no issue regarding pollution with benzene.
Penny Button, Environmental Protection Manager, said: "We are confident that these changes will still provide a good level of air quality readings and certainly ones that are in line with the accepted standard nationally. When we looked into this and discovered that we were using a different way of monitoring air quality than Heathrow and Gatwick, which are major airports and have considerably more flights than we get here at Kent International Airport, it's clear that we needed to find a new way of monitoring in the future. Our investigations suggest that this way will be more reliable and I'm sure that's something that local people would welcome."
All air quality monitoring data from Thanet can be found at www.kentair.org.uk
ENDS
Cheryl PendryPress and Media ManagerThanet District Council www.thanet.gov.uk Tel: 01843 577 034Fax: 01843 295 343
It's making air monitoring worse by....removing the most advanced monitor at Manston.
The Kentmere Avenue monitor right at the end of the runway.
It's strange that this release plops out from Cheryl and Penny the day after I'd asked Penny for clarification on the data from the Kentmwere monitor and the flight logs.
And bizarrely this release is from last week announcing the changes that were made...in August - at the time of the night flight announcements.
It's pretty clear we're expected to swallow this flannel and bullshot along with the failures in monitoring at an airport that was slated for expansion through a mix of council and Infratil collusion.
And rank incompetence in expanding it on the water supply and just down the road from Heathrow and Ostend.
But I'm picky about being poisoned. Maybe you are too. Maybe even TDC's own staff and councillors are too.
Aviation fuel doesn't fall like stair rods under the plane does it - it drifts over a wide area like smog.
Why are monitors being removed from an airport. You'd be increasing them surely? Why has the mobile monitor after many promises from Richard Samuel and Brian White never appeared?
It can't be money. The bizarre night flights consultation that's delayed until the public anger subsides has a vote of £80k for the consultation that isn't even in the budget. Even for racks of monitors.
Why have the removed noise monitors never being replaced?
If you're picky aboput being poisoned drop Cheryl a line and ask her why the sudden announcement and what were the benzene readings over the last 5 years.
If as the release says the monitor was faulty then why wasn't it replaced.
And the part about only diffusion tubes being used at Heathrow is cobblers: as you'd expect electronic 24/7 monitoring like the Kentmere monitor is also used.
We seem to have lies and aviation fuel on the rates.
Which is quite a dangerous game for Richard and Brian and Sandy and Roger and Cheryl and Penny - the highest lung cancer rate in Kent doesn't happen from Scotch mist. And the Police take a dim view of a rising death rate and air monitor data being compromised.
It's called manslaughter.
Tomorrow: Kent Air Quality monitoring for Kent by not monitoring air quality in Kent.
They're good our civil servants aren't they.
Thank goodness the councillors are on top of all this handing out P45's or calling in the Police.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
From: Cheryl Pendry [mailto:Cheryl.Pendry@thanet.gov.uk] Sent: 25 November 2009 15:36Subject: IMPROVEMENTS TO AIRPORT AIR QUALITY MONITORING
IMPROVEMENTS TO AIRPORT AIR QUALITY MONITORING
Improvements have been made to how air quality is monitored at Kent International Airport.
A new system is now being used to provide consistent, reliable and verifiable data, with which to monitor air quality throughout Thanet. Benzene diffusion tubes located in both Manston and Minster are being used to monitor levels. These tubes are checked monthly, with the results published on the Air Quality in Kent and Medway website at www.kentair.org.uk
The decision to use diffusion tubes was taken, following advice from Government air quality experts, as the system previously being used was a complex and sophisticated piece of equipment that was not appropriate for monitoring a small regional airport.
Advice was taken about how air quality is monitored at major airports, with Heathrow and Gatwick both using the diffusion tubes, rather than the continuous monitoring. The monthly diffusion tubes are also the accepted standard nationally for measuring the annual mean level of benzene, which is the measure that councils are obliged to record.
Nitrogen dioxide is still continuously measured from two sites in Manston and Ramsgate. Results from this monitoring shows that nitrogen dioxide was below the average mean objective between August 2008 and August 2009.
Benzene levels within Thanet, as measured through diffusion tubes, are well below the National Air Quality Objective, meaning that there is no issue regarding pollution with benzene.
Penny Button, Environmental Protection Manager, said: "We are confident that these changes will still provide a good level of air quality readings and certainly ones that are in line with the accepted standard nationally. When we looked into this and discovered that we were using a different way of monitoring air quality than Heathrow and Gatwick, which are major airports and have considerably more flights than we get here at Kent International Airport, it's clear that we needed to find a new way of monitoring in the future. Our investigations suggest that this way will be more reliable and I'm sure that's something that local people would welcome."
All air quality monitoring data from Thanet can be found at www.kentair.org.uk
ENDS
Cheryl PendryPress and Media ManagerThanet District Council www.thanet.gov.uk Tel: 01843 577 034Fax: 01843 295 343
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The Kentmere Ave monitor at Manston
Strange that this monitor was removed on 1st August – wasn’t that around the time of the announcement of night flights by TDC and Infratil?
The Kentmere monitor is right at the end of the Manston runway next to the housing estate nearest the airport so quite important you’d think for public health and safety.
It’s by far the most advanced monitor at Manston: electronic readings, 24/7, benzene etc etc. All the other monitors now are dabs of cotton wool along the perimeter road.
Apparently the monitor was “constantly malfunctioning” which is strange after all these years.
And the removal of the noise monitors by Infratil and TDC from 2006.
So at the time of airport expansion, Infratil and TDC have repeatedly removed monitoring, never provided the mobile monitoring and never sought to improve monitoring.
Now you know and I know that if you want to expand the most polluting industries in an area it’s very difficult as the monitoring has to be robust to ensure the death rate doesn’t rise too high.
Local people get very picky when their relatives and friends and neighbours start dying off.
So why have the Gang of Four of Latchford, Samuel, White and Ezekiel repeatedly allowed the reduction of monitoring. No explanation. No clarification. Certainly nothing’s that’s believable beyond mere bullshot and bluster and deceit.
And why have all the councillors kept schtum on this?
Not a dicky bird now from Ladyman, Gale and Sandys.
And still the planes fly over the towns.
And land on the water supply.
What happens if there’s a crash now in the dying days of Infratil? Fine words from our MP’s and civil servants and councillors?
Still there are no toxin reports on Thor.
Still no cleanup schedules.
We seem to have councillors and civil servants that are deliberately jeopardising the public for their own careers.
Which councillor will propose a vote of no confidence in Messrs Samuel and White to begin the dismissal process?
Which councillors will begin the leadership and dismissal process for Messrs Ezekiel and Latchford?
Removing noise and air monitors is acceptable at an airport slated for expansion?
Councillors supporting night flights.
The Gang of Four, like the public, must be wondering if jail time isn’t required.
Coppers have children too. Lawyers have children. Magistrates have children. Shopkeepers have children. Office workers have children.
That’s a lot of people affected by air and noise and water pollution from Infratil, Pegwell, Thor and Richboro and the Gasworks sites.
All derelict. All polluted. For years.
It can't be money. 80 Finance staff on the rates. 14 lawyers on the rates. £2M investmentrs lost. £60M council tax raised. a £7M reserve each year. 0%-but-£30k-pay-rises
It can't be time. A 30% increase in staffing. Trips to China with the ChinaGate developer.
It can't be error. The problems could have been identified and fixed long ago. Replacement monitors. Cleanup of contaminated sites.
They just don't have a clue do they? Mere bumf and bluster to cover up failure and dereliction.
We seem stuck with fools and knaves in Thanet who are deliberately endangering the public.
And know nothing more than spending public funds on more civil servants and more dereliction.
Mere empty thrashing around for bureaucratic bloat, increased salaries and more failure.
But not noise monitors or air monitors.
And what ever happened to the Infratil Fund to compensate e the public for noise and air pollution? A DVD player and some village hall chairs last year? Nothing since then?
And what about the 6 dumped jumbo jets on the water supply?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
The Kentmere monitor is right at the end of the Manston runway next to the housing estate nearest the airport so quite important you’d think for public health and safety.
It’s by far the most advanced monitor at Manston: electronic readings, 24/7, benzene etc etc. All the other monitors now are dabs of cotton wool along the perimeter road.
Apparently the monitor was “constantly malfunctioning” which is strange after all these years.
And the removal of the noise monitors by Infratil and TDC from 2006.
So at the time of airport expansion, Infratil and TDC have repeatedly removed monitoring, never provided the mobile monitoring and never sought to improve monitoring.
Now you know and I know that if you want to expand the most polluting industries in an area it’s very difficult as the monitoring has to be robust to ensure the death rate doesn’t rise too high.
Local people get very picky when their relatives and friends and neighbours start dying off.
So why have the Gang of Four of Latchford, Samuel, White and Ezekiel repeatedly allowed the reduction of monitoring. No explanation. No clarification. Certainly nothing’s that’s believable beyond mere bullshot and bluster and deceit.
And why have all the councillors kept schtum on this?
Not a dicky bird now from Ladyman, Gale and Sandys.
And still the planes fly over the towns.
And land on the water supply.
What happens if there’s a crash now in the dying days of Infratil? Fine words from our MP’s and civil servants and councillors?
Still there are no toxin reports on Thor.
Still no cleanup schedules.
We seem to have councillors and civil servants that are deliberately jeopardising the public for their own careers.
Which councillor will propose a vote of no confidence in Messrs Samuel and White to begin the dismissal process?
Which councillors will begin the leadership and dismissal process for Messrs Ezekiel and Latchford?
Removing noise and air monitors is acceptable at an airport slated for expansion?
Councillors supporting night flights.
The Gang of Four, like the public, must be wondering if jail time isn’t required.
Coppers have children too. Lawyers have children. Magistrates have children. Shopkeepers have children. Office workers have children.
That’s a lot of people affected by air and noise and water pollution from Infratil, Pegwell, Thor and Richboro and the Gasworks sites.
All derelict. All polluted. For years.
It can't be money. 80 Finance staff on the rates. 14 lawyers on the rates. £2M investmentrs lost. £60M council tax raised. a £7M reserve each year. 0%-but-£30k-pay-rises
It can't be time. A 30% increase in staffing. Trips to China with the ChinaGate developer.
It can't be error. The problems could have been identified and fixed long ago. Replacement monitors. Cleanup of contaminated sites.
They just don't have a clue do they? Mere bumf and bluster to cover up failure and dereliction.
We seem stuck with fools and knaves in Thanet who are deliberately endangering the public.
And know nothing more than spending public funds on more civil servants and more dereliction.
Mere empty thrashing around for bureaucratic bloat, increased salaries and more failure.
But not noise monitors or air monitors.
And what ever happened to the Infratil Fund to compensate e the public for noise and air pollution? A DVD player and some village hall chairs last year? Nothing since then?
And what about the 6 dumped jumbo jets on the water supply?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
The TDC headcount in full
Dear Mr Garbutt
Thank you for your communication received on 14/10/2009.
I can respond to your queries as follows:
1. If you can email which companies/amounts TDC invests in each year - a summary is fine. Is the £2m investment a reduction or a fall in shares performance?
At 31 March 2008 the Council had the following investments:
- Glitner Bank £3.016m
- Irish Nationwide Building Society £4.041m
- Landsbanki Islands £1.001m
- Bank of Scotland £1.005m
At 31 March 2009 the Council had the following investments:
- Debt Management Office £5.9m
- Alliance and Leicester £1.036m
The level of investments depends entirely on cash flow requirements and therefore the level of investments at year end can vary significantly between years.
(Weren't we told by TDC that they hadn't invested in Icelandic Banks and it's hardly spectacualr investing in the "Debt Management Office" ie putting the funds back into the Treasury. But with a £2M loss).
2. Payroll: please provide with any censored info. Seems unecessary secrecy:
I note councillors names/costs are public. Also the headcount by dept.
This is a request for personal data which is exempt under S44 of the 2000 Freedom of Information Act. However, I can confirm that the headcount per department is as follows:
Chief Executive's Department 16
Community Services 105
Customer Services 142
Environmental Services 275
Finance and Corporate Services 80
Legal and Democratic Services 14
Regeneration and Economic Development 102
Total 734
(A 25% increase in staffing in 2 years. And why the secrecy on revealing civil servants expenses and salary and cars? It's all public funds).
3. Tram Shelter: no money was paid to TDC?
As explained in my previous response, we have been unable to trace whether we received any insurance monies for this site.
(Strange I understand insurancs money was collected but it seems to have been swallowed up on salaries and the like. Not effective administration if they can't even trace the funds.).
4. EKO is made up of TDC and KCC therefore is public but please forward Baker Tilly details also
I can confirm that Baker Tilly's details are as follows:
Baker Tilly UK Audit LLP
Chartered Accountants
Hanover House
18 Mount Ephraim Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 1ED
(Strange to set up a mini-quango of TDC and KCC - then incur extra costs setting it up as a "company" and a need for an audit when it's all public officials and public funds. Utter waste and lack of transparency).
5. A £7m reserve is held each year and then continually carried over?
As previously explained, the £7m balance relates to the investments held at the end of the 2008/09 financial year.
This money is drawn down when required to meet the Council's financial outgoings. The amount held will vary from year to year.
(A £7M reserve each year is excessive padding for muck-ups but at least shows there's plenty of fat in the TDC system.)
It's as if the civil servants don't have the foggiest on running towns well, and the councillors don't seem to be holding them to account.
How can councillors evaluate TDC's performance if they don't have the payroll and expenses etc?
The civil servants must be running rings round them.
Where has all the money gone? On more civil service jobs. Bowler hats on top of bowler hats until the towns fall down and burn down and then it's claimed that tax increases and cuts in services are required.
Nonsense.
Cuts in senior managment are required for failing to improve the towns or even TDC - one of Britain's worst councils - and the fraud of 0% pay rises and removal of air and noise monitors at an airport slated for expansion.
And the crony corruption of ChinaGate and tax havens of Pleasurama.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Thank you for your communication received on 14/10/2009.
I can respond to your queries as follows:
1. If you can email which companies/amounts TDC invests in each year - a summary is fine. Is the £2m investment a reduction or a fall in shares performance?
At 31 March 2008 the Council had the following investments:
- Glitner Bank £3.016m
- Irish Nationwide Building Society £4.041m
- Landsbanki Islands £1.001m
- Bank of Scotland £1.005m
At 31 March 2009 the Council had the following investments:
- Debt Management Office £5.9m
- Alliance and Leicester £1.036m
The level of investments depends entirely on cash flow requirements and therefore the level of investments at year end can vary significantly between years.
(Weren't we told by TDC that they hadn't invested in Icelandic Banks and it's hardly spectacualr investing in the "Debt Management Office" ie putting the funds back into the Treasury. But with a £2M loss).
2. Payroll: please provide with any censored info. Seems unecessary secrecy:
I note councillors names/costs are public. Also the headcount by dept.
This is a request for personal data which is exempt under S44 of the 2000 Freedom of Information Act. However, I can confirm that the headcount per department is as follows:
Chief Executive's Department 16
Community Services 105
Customer Services 142
Environmental Services 275
Finance and Corporate Services 80
Legal and Democratic Services 14
Regeneration and Economic Development 102
Total 734
(A 25% increase in staffing in 2 years. And why the secrecy on revealing civil servants expenses and salary and cars? It's all public funds).
3. Tram Shelter: no money was paid to TDC?
As explained in my previous response, we have been unable to trace whether we received any insurance monies for this site.
(Strange I understand insurancs money was collected but it seems to have been swallowed up on salaries and the like. Not effective administration if they can't even trace the funds.).
4. EKO is made up of TDC and KCC therefore is public but please forward Baker Tilly details also
I can confirm that Baker Tilly's details are as follows:
Baker Tilly UK Audit LLP
Chartered Accountants
Hanover House
18 Mount Ephraim Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 1ED
(Strange to set up a mini-quango of TDC and KCC - then incur extra costs setting it up as a "company" and a need for an audit when it's all public officials and public funds. Utter waste and lack of transparency).
5. A £7m reserve is held each year and then continually carried over?
As previously explained, the £7m balance relates to the investments held at the end of the 2008/09 financial year.
This money is drawn down when required to meet the Council's financial outgoings. The amount held will vary from year to year.
(A £7M reserve each year is excessive padding for muck-ups but at least shows there's plenty of fat in the TDC system.)
It's as if the civil servants don't have the foggiest on running towns well, and the councillors don't seem to be holding them to account.
How can councillors evaluate TDC's performance if they don't have the payroll and expenses etc?
The civil servants must be running rings round them.
Where has all the money gone? On more civil service jobs. Bowler hats on top of bowler hats until the towns fall down and burn down and then it's claimed that tax increases and cuts in services are required.
Nonsense.
Cuts in senior managment are required for failing to improve the towns or even TDC - one of Britain's worst councils - and the fraud of 0% pay rises and removal of air and noise monitors at an airport slated for expansion.
And the crony corruption of ChinaGate and tax havens of Pleasurama.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Lung cancer and Thanet
The South Coast NHS has released details of the lung cancer rates in the area.
East Kent: Thanet and parts of Dover have a rating of 70 dbl.
Areas around Heathrow such as Hounslow and Hillingdon have rating from 66 down to 54. Nearby Richmond near the flightpath has a rating of 45.
No specific ratings exist for each of the Thanet towns.
As you can see – and not unexpectedly – living near and under the flight path for 747 jumbo jets at very low level makes Manston one of the most unhealthy places in Kent.
The NHS didn’t even try the ”airports are good for you” approach.
And Thanet has the highest early death rate in Kent: dying at 69 years old in Thanet and 81 years old in the rest of Kent – again a massive statistical skew.
The 106 went some way to attempting to reduce these effects: flight paths away from the towns, air monitor etc – all of which have been ignored by Infratil, KCC and TDC.
And now our councillors and civil servants seem to be aware of the problem but simply standing around “debating” or just looking into the hole.
A shuffle of job titles, a rejig of departments and a spot of buck-passing and hey presto everything’s fine and nothing to do with us.
My view is very simple: close the airport and resite all the contaminants: fuel, petrol etc with a Water Protection Zone.
Infratil in Lubeck in Germany has already cloed last week.
Still, the election in May is a long way away.
I’ve never understood either why the new dual carriageway is to be built across farmland – improving the airport boundary road would be very straightforward and cheaper and would leave funding to improve roads and the promenade and potholes. Building a wider road simply causes it fill up with traffic. Then another road is required. Look at Westwood.
Here’s an article on Mount Isa in Australia: a town built next to the largest lead smelting works and some interesting points on the views of the council and heath officials to blood tests, environmental concerns etc
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/leadmining-the-ugly-truth-about-mount-isa-1813198.html
The NHS weren’t aware of the outfall pipe into Pegwell Bay from the airport, the overflow interceptors for fuel, the airport built on the runway, Thor, Richboro, Gasworks etc etc.
Still no specific site data and clean up schedule for these sites. With Thor supposed to be closed in 1988. Maybe we’ll get another council debate or report rather than cleanup experts like Ecologia or EdgeEnviro actually cleaning the sites.
If you’re worried about cancer etc go to your doctor for a free blood test – one of the benefits of an NHS. Why Infratil are still flying over the towns just shows how incompetent and foolish our council actually is doesn’t it?
Maybe it’s meant to be like this.
Separately I’m interested in tobacco and there’s some information on tobacco smoking (this would also affect lung cancer although no more so than most areas and certainly not with higher lung cancer exposure levels than Heathrow).
Thanet’s smoking rate is 27% and the rest of Kent and England is c.23%.
The forecasts for smoking in England over the next 10 years are down to 15% and there’s various straightforward ways to reduce smoking:
remove cigarette vending machines – a Bill already in Parliament
off-shelf tobacco displays in supermarkets: Thanet only has 3 large supermarkets and Tesco hardly needs the profits
tighten tobacco smuggling – Dover is Europe’s largest port just down the road
conferences on tobacco reduction
increase education in schools: Kent County printers of exercise books
regear SME businesses for different product sales
increase GP training
The tobacco companies though are already regearing for Africa and Asia where smoking deaths are due to explode over the next 50 years.
Misc points:
Rmasgate Ferrty - get on with it: a superb regeration project wiht foot passengers into the towns and tourism for neighbouring towns. And where is the foot passenger minibus for the Ostend ferry?
A report on DFID spending: 14p in every pound wasted - it'll be far more than that: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/DfID.pdf
Time for Change
Vote Garbutt in May 2010.
East Kent: Thanet and parts of Dover have a rating of 70 dbl.
Areas around Heathrow such as Hounslow and Hillingdon have rating from 66 down to 54. Nearby Richmond near the flightpath has a rating of 45.
No specific ratings exist for each of the Thanet towns.
As you can see – and not unexpectedly – living near and under the flight path for 747 jumbo jets at very low level makes Manston one of the most unhealthy places in Kent.
The NHS didn’t even try the ”airports are good for you” approach.
And Thanet has the highest early death rate in Kent: dying at 69 years old in Thanet and 81 years old in the rest of Kent – again a massive statistical skew.
The 106 went some way to attempting to reduce these effects: flight paths away from the towns, air monitor etc – all of which have been ignored by Infratil, KCC and TDC.
And now our councillors and civil servants seem to be aware of the problem but simply standing around “debating” or just looking into the hole.
A shuffle of job titles, a rejig of departments and a spot of buck-passing and hey presto everything’s fine and nothing to do with us.
My view is very simple: close the airport and resite all the contaminants: fuel, petrol etc with a Water Protection Zone.
Infratil in Lubeck in Germany has already cloed last week.
Still, the election in May is a long way away.
I’ve never understood either why the new dual carriageway is to be built across farmland – improving the airport boundary road would be very straightforward and cheaper and would leave funding to improve roads and the promenade and potholes. Building a wider road simply causes it fill up with traffic. Then another road is required. Look at Westwood.
Here’s an article on Mount Isa in Australia: a town built next to the largest lead smelting works and some interesting points on the views of the council and heath officials to blood tests, environmental concerns etc
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/leadmining-the-ugly-truth-about-mount-isa-1813198.html
The NHS weren’t aware of the outfall pipe into Pegwell Bay from the airport, the overflow interceptors for fuel, the airport built on the runway, Thor, Richboro, Gasworks etc etc.
Still no specific site data and clean up schedule for these sites. With Thor supposed to be closed in 1988. Maybe we’ll get another council debate or report rather than cleanup experts like Ecologia or EdgeEnviro actually cleaning the sites.
If you’re worried about cancer etc go to your doctor for a free blood test – one of the benefits of an NHS. Why Infratil are still flying over the towns just shows how incompetent and foolish our council actually is doesn’t it?
Maybe it’s meant to be like this.
Separately I’m interested in tobacco and there’s some information on tobacco smoking (this would also affect lung cancer although no more so than most areas and certainly not with higher lung cancer exposure levels than Heathrow).
Thanet’s smoking rate is 27% and the rest of Kent and England is c.23%.
The forecasts for smoking in England over the next 10 years are down to 15% and there’s various straightforward ways to reduce smoking:
remove cigarette vending machines – a Bill already in Parliament
off-shelf tobacco displays in supermarkets: Thanet only has 3 large supermarkets and Tesco hardly needs the profits
tighten tobacco smuggling – Dover is Europe’s largest port just down the road
conferences on tobacco reduction
increase education in schools: Kent County printers of exercise books
regear SME businesses for different product sales
increase GP training
The tobacco companies though are already regearing for Africa and Asia where smoking deaths are due to explode over the next 50 years.
Misc points:
Rmasgate Ferrty - get on with it: a superb regeration project wiht foot passengers into the towns and tourism for neighbouring towns. And where is the foot passenger minibus for the Ostend ferry?
A report on DFID spending: 14p in every pound wasted - it'll be far more than that: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/DfID.pdf
Time for Change
Vote Garbutt in May 2010.
Monday, 9 November 2009
Infratil Lubeck in Germany closes
Infratil have sold off their Lubeck airport in Germany.
Infratil Manston is little more than half a dozen cargo flights from Ostend cargo airport each week. Which are then unloaded and trucked to Heathrow or around the M25.
All of it on the water supply and at rooftop height with some of the highest levels of lung cancer in the UK.
Clearly Manston has been seen as a "quick-fix" and "one-0ff" regeneration for Thanet by ignoring and removing noise and air monitoring.
What must they be doing at Prestwick?
Here's an article I've written on the subject in Your Thanet (page 15).
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=m17XJx05n3A1&PBID=84956776-5fe0-4064-a733-83aabf1dd4b7&skip=
Infratil have been pandered to by our councils to the point of deliberately endangering the public. While the RAF and MOD have done much the same with oil and chemical sprays over the runway and Fire base - all built upon the underground reservoir and water supply.
And still nothing on the clean up at Thor mercury or Richboro.
At least politically much of the nonsense of switching fixed budgets between the towns is coming to an end. Ramsgate Town Council has excellent councillors on it who I'm sure will ensure that for example the Tourist Offices are not closed depending on switching each town budget and whichever party is in power as at the moment.
I'm astonished that the Tourist offices have come 3rd in the UK - I've never seen a better tourism offices and skills. The plywood panel could do with replacing with glass though. And some better signage.
Few towns can have councillors such as Vic who have risen through the town tourism industry to lead the town. It's always the unsung people isn't it.
As MP I'll also be supporting the idea of the "Vincent Van Gogh Museum" in Ramsgate - one of the world's greatest painters and we have little more than a blue plaque in the town for his early life. Regeneration of the town centre and currently derelict Cavallino building would be ideal for this project. Where will Ramsgate's artists be able to display their works?
Most art galleries such as the National or Van Gogh Museum itself have over half of their exhibits never - that's never - available for display.
Mayor Green's excellent idea on celebrating Royal Ramsgate and the Coronation deserves flags, new altarcloths, tapestries, tablecloths and street parties - even a giant foldout 40,000 signature book of the Obelisk itself. I'm keen to support the Commonwealth with the UN Millennium Goals books for schoolchildren - remember those cloth books?
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Another printer closed in Ramsgate and we have KCC print that produces all the exercise books for our schools and is unable to help us or provide innovative ideas such as District covers.
While any council that for Rememberance Day cannot fly flags from the 1945 Peace Memorial or open the memorial isn' t much of a council. Nor one that can't keep open the mental health unit at QEQM for its community.
Margate's Dreamland and Cliftonville is crying out for a Film Studio and Imax cinema. While the clearance of the old TDC building creates the opportunity for effective regeneration of Cecil Square and coordinates with the Dreamland site.
As MP I'll create the Phoenix Fund to regenerate every property in Cliftonville and return every property to use and call on every councillor and civil servant to contribute. My 2nd home will be in Cliftonville - along with the new TDC building and the East Kent Council for Thanet and Dover.
And the World Parliament Conference at Margate Winter Gardens to create the "House of Commons" for the UN.
In a globalised and wired world, nations are less important than ever - the key drivers of change are regions - such as Kent and Thanet.
There are few problems in Thanet that can't be improved with effective regeration and improvements eg solar panels and insulation for our housing stock. Empty houses means people have aged, died or moved away. We have the world's largest windfarm and the sunniest climate - and we can heat our homes and even generate a profit on contributing to the National Grid.
Regeneration is never the quick-fix "we're a thousand jobs down let's find an employer with a thousand jobs" (although the 2nd Pfizer at Richboro will help that in creating malaria vaccines and nets) it's the weft and weave that make a community - especially one as special as Thanet.
Infratil Manston is little more than half a dozen cargo flights from Ostend cargo airport each week. Which are then unloaded and trucked to Heathrow or around the M25.
All of it on the water supply and at rooftop height with some of the highest levels of lung cancer in the UK.
Clearly Manston has been seen as a "quick-fix" and "one-0ff" regeneration for Thanet by ignoring and removing noise and air monitoring.
What must they be doing at Prestwick?
Here's an article I've written on the subject in Your Thanet (page 15).
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=m17XJx05n3A1&PBID=84956776-5fe0-4064-a733-83aabf1dd4b7&skip=
Infratil have been pandered to by our councils to the point of deliberately endangering the public. While the RAF and MOD have done much the same with oil and chemical sprays over the runway and Fire base - all built upon the underground reservoir and water supply.
And still nothing on the clean up at Thor mercury or Richboro.
At least politically much of the nonsense of switching fixed budgets between the towns is coming to an end. Ramsgate Town Council has excellent councillors on it who I'm sure will ensure that for example the Tourist Offices are not closed depending on switching each town budget and whichever party is in power as at the moment.
I'm astonished that the Tourist offices have come 3rd in the UK - I've never seen a better tourism offices and skills. The plywood panel could do with replacing with glass though. And some better signage.
Few towns can have councillors such as Vic who have risen through the town tourism industry to lead the town. It's always the unsung people isn't it.
As MP I'll also be supporting the idea of the "Vincent Van Gogh Museum" in Ramsgate - one of the world's greatest painters and we have little more than a blue plaque in the town for his early life. Regeneration of the town centre and currently derelict Cavallino building would be ideal for this project. Where will Ramsgate's artists be able to display their works?
Most art galleries such as the National or Van Gogh Museum itself have over half of their exhibits never - that's never - available for display.
Mayor Green's excellent idea on celebrating Royal Ramsgate and the Coronation deserves flags, new altarcloths, tapestries, tablecloths and street parties - even a giant foldout 40,000 signature book of the Obelisk itself. I'm keen to support the Commonwealth with the UN Millennium Goals books for schoolchildren - remember those cloth books?
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Another printer closed in Ramsgate and we have KCC print that produces all the exercise books for our schools and is unable to help us or provide innovative ideas such as District covers.
While any council that for Rememberance Day cannot fly flags from the 1945 Peace Memorial or open the memorial isn' t much of a council. Nor one that can't keep open the mental health unit at QEQM for its community.
Margate's Dreamland and Cliftonville is crying out for a Film Studio and Imax cinema. While the clearance of the old TDC building creates the opportunity for effective regeneration of Cecil Square and coordinates with the Dreamland site.
As MP I'll create the Phoenix Fund to regenerate every property in Cliftonville and return every property to use and call on every councillor and civil servant to contribute. My 2nd home will be in Cliftonville - along with the new TDC building and the East Kent Council for Thanet and Dover.
And the World Parliament Conference at Margate Winter Gardens to create the "House of Commons" for the UN.
In a globalised and wired world, nations are less important than ever - the key drivers of change are regions - such as Kent and Thanet.
There are few problems in Thanet that can't be improved with effective regeration and improvements eg solar panels and insulation for our housing stock. Empty houses means people have aged, died or moved away. We have the world's largest windfarm and the sunniest climate - and we can heat our homes and even generate a profit on contributing to the National Grid.
Regeneration is never the quick-fix "we're a thousand jobs down let's find an employer with a thousand jobs" (although the 2nd Pfizer at Richboro will help that in creating malaria vaccines and nets) it's the weft and weave that make a community - especially one as special as Thanet.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Thanet. Not many dead.
Most of the problems with the airport are being resolved. Very few flights now.
Which is good.
Pointless poisoning your own citizens with aviation fuel. And pointless poisoning your own water supply.
Not one flight. Not one helicopter. Closed.
No lung cancer. No aviation fuel. Nothing.
As MP I will assist with the EU inquiries into Lubeck and Prestwick and tighter regulation of noise and air monitoring. We cannot have aviation companies and councils endangering the public.
Aside from the airport, tobacco is obviously a major lung cancer problem and a bit more so than other towns: tobacco vending machines should be banned from pubs and cigarettes removed from the large supermarkets. Tobacco kills over 100,000 people (at least) in Britain each year.
Ramsgate Town Council are rattling along although there’s some silliness over trying to exclude the public and press from parts of the meeting. 16 councillors represent the 40,000 citizens of Ramsgate. Every piece of information is available for all 16 and all 40,000 for scrutiny and debate.
The Town Hall is the public’s hall.
Thor, Richboro, Ramsgate Gasworks look a toxic mess with no details of chemicals and clean up dates.
New Pleasurama seems another disaster and another year wasted. Burned down in 1998? An ice rink seems ideal with the grass roof and a few shops or hotel or whatever. The Lido needs revitalising too.
Councils always close down town features to save money or to task the lazy option under the guides of health and safety. A town with fountains filled with concrete and derelict bandstands.
From attractions to empty carparks. And derelict carparks at that. For council charges to pay the wages of the civil servant sand politicians who are destroying the towns.
And we let them.
And not many dead.
1,750 early mortality rate.
I’m not quite sure where that figure comes from but the NHS are digging into the problems. All coroner statistics should be published for epidemics or patterns of death eg asbestos factories.
Manifesto:
1. Close Manston. Water protection zone to clean and fill the underground water reservoir
2. End ChinaGate. No new build except brownfield sites and repairing derelict houses. I don’t remember the construction industry running our council for building permits
3. Richboro and Pegwell: “2nd Pfizer” eg Glaxo with green transport plan, clean hoverport and carcinogenic power station (derelict 10 years?)
4. Windfarm: the world’s largest on our doorstep and the towns don’t have free electricity? TDC have charged just £175k for our natural assets
5. Air, noise and water monitoring – including mobile phone masts, landfill and Xray radioactive waste from hospitals – where does it all go?
6. Dreamland heritage site: a bit like the Tivoli in Copenhagen
7. Free computer and mobile for Thanet school children and the elderly: no “Digital Divide in Thanet”
8. The UN Millennium Goals for Kent: many people think these are just for the Third World but they’re actually meant to be adapted for every nation and region and district as a consistent framework for development - http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
9. Kent Political Standards: introducing a driving test or citizenship-type exam for better governance politicians and civil servants: http://www.sipo.gov.ie/en/AboutUs/
A voluntary multi choice exam and 300 word essay plus specific manifestos etc for all candidates for public office. Too often public service is murky and underhand and rather than regulating everyone else the politicians could do with a little regulating themselves for public scrutiny. Translations or verbal help can be govern but it would be good practice to improve public standards.
10. Still no contaminated land register and details of petrol station sites: we have the most polluted water in the South East. Nothing on the farm chemicals. Nothing on Thor and Nash Housing Estate. Nothing on Richboro.
Thanet has been the district dumped on by KCC and by ourselves for too long. The KCC politicians of West Kent are paid by us and represent us but treat Thanet like a toilet.
Stick the crud at the coast they cry. No-one will know or mind. Let the towns burn down and fall down.
They're right.
And we let them.
We are Thanet trash.
To poison our water, our soil, our air, our people.
The old.
The children.
Dead.
No more.
Thanet dies 11 years earlier than the rest of Kent. We die at 69 rather than 81.
A Third World death rate.
A shocking statistical skew for only 130,000 people and a 20 mile square area.
No more.
No more early deaths.
No more.
No airport pollution.
No water pollution
No more.
No more bullshot, bluster and bumf.
No more.
It’s Time for Change.
Which is good.
Pointless poisoning your own citizens with aviation fuel. And pointless poisoning your own water supply.
Not one flight. Not one helicopter. Closed.
No lung cancer. No aviation fuel. Nothing.
As MP I will assist with the EU inquiries into Lubeck and Prestwick and tighter regulation of noise and air monitoring. We cannot have aviation companies and councils endangering the public.
Aside from the airport, tobacco is obviously a major lung cancer problem and a bit more so than other towns: tobacco vending machines should be banned from pubs and cigarettes removed from the large supermarkets. Tobacco kills over 100,000 people (at least) in Britain each year.
Ramsgate Town Council are rattling along although there’s some silliness over trying to exclude the public and press from parts of the meeting. 16 councillors represent the 40,000 citizens of Ramsgate. Every piece of information is available for all 16 and all 40,000 for scrutiny and debate.
The Town Hall is the public’s hall.
Thor, Richboro, Ramsgate Gasworks look a toxic mess with no details of chemicals and clean up dates.
New Pleasurama seems another disaster and another year wasted. Burned down in 1998? An ice rink seems ideal with the grass roof and a few shops or hotel or whatever. The Lido needs revitalising too.
Councils always close down town features to save money or to task the lazy option under the guides of health and safety. A town with fountains filled with concrete and derelict bandstands.
From attractions to empty carparks. And derelict carparks at that. For council charges to pay the wages of the civil servant sand politicians who are destroying the towns.
And we let them.
And not many dead.
1,750 early mortality rate.
I’m not quite sure where that figure comes from but the NHS are digging into the problems. All coroner statistics should be published for epidemics or patterns of death eg asbestos factories.
Manifesto:
1. Close Manston. Water protection zone to clean and fill the underground water reservoir
2. End ChinaGate. No new build except brownfield sites and repairing derelict houses. I don’t remember the construction industry running our council for building permits
3. Richboro and Pegwell: “2nd Pfizer” eg Glaxo with green transport plan, clean hoverport and carcinogenic power station (derelict 10 years?)
4. Windfarm: the world’s largest on our doorstep and the towns don’t have free electricity? TDC have charged just £175k for our natural assets
5. Air, noise and water monitoring – including mobile phone masts, landfill and Xray radioactive waste from hospitals – where does it all go?
6. Dreamland heritage site: a bit like the Tivoli in Copenhagen
7. Free computer and mobile for Thanet school children and the elderly: no “Digital Divide in Thanet”
8. The UN Millennium Goals for Kent: many people think these are just for the Third World but they’re actually meant to be adapted for every nation and region and district as a consistent framework for development - http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
9. Kent Political Standards: introducing a driving test or citizenship-type exam for better governance politicians and civil servants: http://www.sipo.gov.ie/en/AboutUs/
A voluntary multi choice exam and 300 word essay plus specific manifestos etc for all candidates for public office. Too often public service is murky and underhand and rather than regulating everyone else the politicians could do with a little regulating themselves for public scrutiny. Translations or verbal help can be govern but it would be good practice to improve public standards.
10. Still no contaminated land register and details of petrol station sites: we have the most polluted water in the South East. Nothing on the farm chemicals. Nothing on Thor and Nash Housing Estate. Nothing on Richboro.
Thanet has been the district dumped on by KCC and by ourselves for too long. The KCC politicians of West Kent are paid by us and represent us but treat Thanet like a toilet.
Stick the crud at the coast they cry. No-one will know or mind. Let the towns burn down and fall down.
They're right.
And we let them.
We are Thanet trash.
To poison our water, our soil, our air, our people.
The old.
The children.
Dead.
No more.
Thanet dies 11 years earlier than the rest of Kent. We die at 69 rather than 81.
A Third World death rate.
A shocking statistical skew for only 130,000 people and a 20 mile square area.
No more.
No more early deaths.
No more.
No airport pollution.
No water pollution
No more.
No more bullshot, bluster and bumf.
No more.
It’s Time for Change.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Manston air pollution danger
To put the danger in the reduction of air monitoring at Manston here’s a link to a diffusion tube:
http://cambridge.org/us/engineering/author/nellisandklein/downloads/examples/EXAMPLE_9.4-1.pdf
As you can see they are literally a 7cm test tube that’s exposed for a month to record any air pollution. As they’re the simplest – and cheapest – way to sample air pollution they’re usually used in large quantities and mainly for roadside fumes and pollution at a busy crossroads or junction.
Manston has 3 of these. 2 in Manston village and 1 in Minster.
You wouldn’t use just 3 diffuser tubes or sites would you? And all aligned in parallel with the runway rather than under each end where the planes land?
The more detailed air monitor in Kentmere Avenue, Ramsgate - directly at the end of the runway, the end where planes aren’t supposed to land anyway in the 106 - was turned off 2 months ago and TDC state that “even with increased traffic (at the airport) it will not be reactivated”. And notes that even their pre-August monitoring was subject to various failures of data capture and reporting – presumably the monitor was broken and never repaired, like the radar, for years - and part of Infratril’s massive alleged investment programme.
As you also know, the noise monitors were removed from Clarendon School and a Tower Block in Ramsgate (both in the centre of town where the population is) from 2006 with TDC’s help.
Richard Samuel and Brian White were both on the KIACC committee at the time. No noise and air monitoring results were produced until late 2008.
The noise monitors have never been replaced in 3 years and the air monitoring has been faulty and now almost removed.
Now why would there be only 3 of the most basic air samplers, no noise monitors despite repeated requests, no mobile monitor and the one more advanced air monitor switched off?
Why would a council and airport do that? Monitors are not expensive: a few hundred pounds ort a few thousand pounds each. Diffusion tubes cost pennies.
Ramsgate and Broadstairs and Margate could be peppered with air and noise monitors.
But the reason is obvious isn’t it?
No monitors means no data means no problem in terms of expanding the airport.
The Kentmere Avenue monitor for example was switched off in August just at the time of the night flight announcements.
With monitors it means the noise and air pollution would be accurately recorded.
You don’t need to be an aviation expert to recognise that flying 747’s at nearly roof top height over the local population – often in breach of the no overflights and training flights aspect of the 106 – would increase health impacts.
That’s cancer. Asthma. Genetic birth defects.
So we have a council and airport not just wanting to expand an airport – that’s a matter for discussion as to how robust their plans are – but doing so by deliberately removing and avoiding recording the effects of noise and air pollution and the resulting effect of cancer, asthma, genetic birth defects.
Which of course are far higher around an airport than at almost any other infrastructure.
Which councillors would knowingly and deliberately and repeatedly downgraded noise and air monitors and requests for improvement over periods of years?
Roger Latchford made the case for airport expansion on KIACC. He can’t be unaware of the problems around noise and air monitors.
Brian White actually removed them.
Richard Samuel was Chair of KIACC at the time.
None of them can claim they didn’t know.
Nor any of the councillors. A grubby little secret to be shared between the councillors and civil servants and Infratil to expand the airport in breach of all the safety requirements.
For years.
Just like Thor used to do. And still does.
None of them can claim not to be aware of the danger to public safety of removing monitors from an airport slated for expansion.
What were the thinking? Forget the public? Or the public’ll never know?
Even Steve Ladyman has received letters from me pointing out these problems and has ignored them.
We seem to have councillors and civil servants so keen to expand what is a failed airport even by Matt Clarke’ s admission that they’re willing to deliberately endanger the public they represent.
That’s you, your families and friends.
Aviation fuel doesn’t fall like stair rods from a 747 it spreads like a blanket of smog in a radius of 20 miles or more.
Across virtually all of East Kent.
And the noise and air monitors removed.
They’re so foolish they’re even poisoning their own families.
For what?
A little bit of council glory?
A pat on the back from County Hall?
Some promised cancer jobs?
A sudden turnaround of success at Manston after the failures of Planestation, EUJet, KCC-USA, BAWC and now night flights again?
And an airport due for expansion – despite it being built on the water supply:
http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?x=357683.0&y=355134.0&scale=1&layerGroups=default&ep=map&textonly=off&lang=_e&topic=drinkingwater#x=636350&y=169100&lg=1,2,&scale=4
What have they been doing?
Failed.
Resign Roger.
Resign Sandy
Resign Richard.
Resign Brian.
Failed.
As MP I will ensure there is a Parliamentary inquiry into the goings-on of Manston and the Gang of Four. Recorded statements, witnesses, legally binding documentation.
No votes or council tax increases in poisoning your own citizens.
Nor public sector payoffs or pensions or jobs.
And where is Ladyman? A former Transport Minister for an international airport a few minutes walks from his house? No comment?
Only silence and Labour Party postcards asking every question on night flights – expect the cancer question.
And silence from Sandys.
Too many incompetents and tired old men at TDC and too many mere hand-raiser MP’s.
In an area where deprivation in Margate has actually increased.
What have they been doing all these years?
Silence from Roger “Olympic Airport” Gale except “Thor and Manston are perfectly safe” - with Pegwell one of the most polluted rivers in Britain.
And now silence.
Except how many more planes will overfly the towns without noise and air monitoring before it is closed?
It’s worth knowing to allow the NHS to plan for the right number of coffins. Or the Environment Agency and TDC to pretend to clean the drinking water.
Failed.
Failed.
Failed.
Time for Change
http://cambridge.org/us/engineering/author/nellisandklein/downloads/examples/EXAMPLE_9.4-1.pdf
As you can see they are literally a 7cm test tube that’s exposed for a month to record any air pollution. As they’re the simplest – and cheapest – way to sample air pollution they’re usually used in large quantities and mainly for roadside fumes and pollution at a busy crossroads or junction.
Manston has 3 of these. 2 in Manston village and 1 in Minster.
You wouldn’t use just 3 diffuser tubes or sites would you? And all aligned in parallel with the runway rather than under each end where the planes land?
The more detailed air monitor in Kentmere Avenue, Ramsgate - directly at the end of the runway, the end where planes aren’t supposed to land anyway in the 106 - was turned off 2 months ago and TDC state that “even with increased traffic (at the airport) it will not be reactivated”. And notes that even their pre-August monitoring was subject to various failures of data capture and reporting – presumably the monitor was broken and never repaired, like the radar, for years - and part of Infratril’s massive alleged investment programme.
As you also know, the noise monitors were removed from Clarendon School and a Tower Block in Ramsgate (both in the centre of town where the population is) from 2006 with TDC’s help.
Richard Samuel and Brian White were both on the KIACC committee at the time. No noise and air monitoring results were produced until late 2008.
The noise monitors have never been replaced in 3 years and the air monitoring has been faulty and now almost removed.
Now why would there be only 3 of the most basic air samplers, no noise monitors despite repeated requests, no mobile monitor and the one more advanced air monitor switched off?
Why would a council and airport do that? Monitors are not expensive: a few hundred pounds ort a few thousand pounds each. Diffusion tubes cost pennies.
Ramsgate and Broadstairs and Margate could be peppered with air and noise monitors.
But the reason is obvious isn’t it?
No monitors means no data means no problem in terms of expanding the airport.
The Kentmere Avenue monitor for example was switched off in August just at the time of the night flight announcements.
With monitors it means the noise and air pollution would be accurately recorded.
You don’t need to be an aviation expert to recognise that flying 747’s at nearly roof top height over the local population – often in breach of the no overflights and training flights aspect of the 106 – would increase health impacts.
That’s cancer. Asthma. Genetic birth defects.
So we have a council and airport not just wanting to expand an airport – that’s a matter for discussion as to how robust their plans are – but doing so by deliberately removing and avoiding recording the effects of noise and air pollution and the resulting effect of cancer, asthma, genetic birth defects.
Which of course are far higher around an airport than at almost any other infrastructure.
Which councillors would knowingly and deliberately and repeatedly downgraded noise and air monitors and requests for improvement over periods of years?
Roger Latchford made the case for airport expansion on KIACC. He can’t be unaware of the problems around noise and air monitors.
Brian White actually removed them.
Richard Samuel was Chair of KIACC at the time.
None of them can claim they didn’t know.
Nor any of the councillors. A grubby little secret to be shared between the councillors and civil servants and Infratil to expand the airport in breach of all the safety requirements.
For years.
Just like Thor used to do. And still does.
None of them can claim not to be aware of the danger to public safety of removing monitors from an airport slated for expansion.
What were the thinking? Forget the public? Or the public’ll never know?
Even Steve Ladyman has received letters from me pointing out these problems and has ignored them.
We seem to have councillors and civil servants so keen to expand what is a failed airport even by Matt Clarke’ s admission that they’re willing to deliberately endanger the public they represent.
That’s you, your families and friends.
Aviation fuel doesn’t fall like stair rods from a 747 it spreads like a blanket of smog in a radius of 20 miles or more.
Across virtually all of East Kent.
And the noise and air monitors removed.
They’re so foolish they’re even poisoning their own families.
For what?
A little bit of council glory?
A pat on the back from County Hall?
Some promised cancer jobs?
A sudden turnaround of success at Manston after the failures of Planestation, EUJet, KCC-USA, BAWC and now night flights again?
And an airport due for expansion – despite it being built on the water supply:
http://maps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiybyController?x=357683.0&y=355134.0&scale=1&layerGroups=default&ep=map&textonly=off&lang=_e&topic=drinkingwater#x=636350&y=169100&lg=1,2,&scale=4
What have they been doing?
Failed.
Resign Roger.
Resign Sandy
Resign Richard.
Resign Brian.
Failed.
As MP I will ensure there is a Parliamentary inquiry into the goings-on of Manston and the Gang of Four. Recorded statements, witnesses, legally binding documentation.
No votes or council tax increases in poisoning your own citizens.
Nor public sector payoffs or pensions or jobs.
And where is Ladyman? A former Transport Minister for an international airport a few minutes walks from his house? No comment?
Only silence and Labour Party postcards asking every question on night flights – expect the cancer question.
And silence from Sandys.
Too many incompetents and tired old men at TDC and too many mere hand-raiser MP’s.
In an area where deprivation in Margate has actually increased.
What have they been doing all these years?
Silence from Roger “Olympic Airport” Gale except “Thor and Manston are perfectly safe” - with Pegwell one of the most polluted rivers in Britain.
And now silence.
Except how many more planes will overfly the towns without noise and air monitoring before it is closed?
It’s worth knowing to allow the NHS to plan for the right number of coffins. Or the Environment Agency and TDC to pretend to clean the drinking water.
Failed.
Failed.
Failed.
Time for Change
Monday, 19 October 2009
Less air pollution monitoring at Manston
It gets worse.
I’ve received the latest air monitoring from KIACC.
The significance of the report is that the UK limit is 40 g/m for all the nasty emissions like benzene etc, and in 2008 the average at Manston (with poor monitoring) was 31 m/g – an airport expansion at Manston can only be achieved by not monitoring the increase in air pollution.
The Kentmere monitor was also switched off in Aug 09 due to poor data capture etc – again poor monitoring.
In 2006 the central Ramsgate monitors were removed from the tower block and school and never replaced by Brian or Richard or Sandy or Roger.
The mobile monitor has never been provided after several years
Why switch off Kentmere and have no mobile monitor in the towns – making weak monitoring worse?
With Thanet having the highest lung cancer rate in Kent already it looks like our politicians and civil servants are keeping their heads down and trying to make it worse.
No votes in deliberately poisoning your own citizens - not this side of Nazi Germany anyway.
When will Brian and Richard and Sandy and Roger expaklin the removed monitors and now another monitor switched off?
They're all too vocal on jobs and night flights but we don't hear much on the air and noise monitoring do we?
And which councillors have raised this in council meetings?
They all know.
Why the silence on noise and air monitoring.
That's right. It's a criminal offence to deliberately endanger the public. And they thought they could fudge the data and removal of the monitors and expand the airprort - and then it's all too late.
And it would be.
As the death rate soars.
Time for Change
I’ve received the latest air monitoring from KIACC.
The significance of the report is that the UK limit is 40 g/m for all the nasty emissions like benzene etc, and in 2008 the average at Manston (with poor monitoring) was 31 m/g – an airport expansion at Manston can only be achieved by not monitoring the increase in air pollution.
The Kentmere monitor was also switched off in Aug 09 due to poor data capture etc – again poor monitoring.
In 2006 the central Ramsgate monitors were removed from the tower block and school and never replaced by Brian or Richard or Sandy or Roger.
The mobile monitor has never been provided after several years
Why switch off Kentmere and have no mobile monitor in the towns – making weak monitoring worse?
With Thanet having the highest lung cancer rate in Kent already it looks like our politicians and civil servants are keeping their heads down and trying to make it worse.
No votes in deliberately poisoning your own citizens - not this side of Nazi Germany anyway.
When will Brian and Richard and Sandy and Roger expaklin the removed monitors and now another monitor switched off?
They're all too vocal on jobs and night flights but we don't hear much on the air and noise monitoring do we?
And which councillors have raised this in council meetings?
They all know.
Why the silence on noise and air monitoring.
That's right. It's a criminal offence to deliberately endanger the public. And they thought they could fudge the data and removal of the monitors and expand the airprort - and then it's all too late.
And it would be.
As the death rate soars.
Time for Change
Thursday, 15 October 2009
The Gang of Four and Thanet's death rate
Trying to develop an airport by fudging or removing all the safety measures.
Why would you do that?
I can understand Infratil doing it: careers to be made, profits, promotion.
I can possibly understand a civil servant doing that: careers to be made etc.
But why would local councillors and civil servants want to do that?
Jobs for the area?
OK. I can understand that.
But pollution jobs?
Bit of political or civil service brown-nosing for County.
I can understand that.
But here’s what I don’t understand.
You wouldn’t remove the noise and air monitors would you?
And then if you did, you wouldn’t refuse to put them back would you?
That would be: no monitors, no data, no problem as the death rate spirals.
That’s what noise and air monitors are for aren’t they? To flag up any dangerous pollution levels?
At an airport.
They’re not optional are they?
And then to cap it you wouldn’t try to expand the airport again would you?
Still without noise and air monitoring.
That would be deliberately and knowingly polluting your friends, family and neighbours.
Which idiots would do that? Or which criminals?
To deliberately avoid having full noise and air monitoring at an airport slated for expansion. To actually remove the monitors. And then refuse to provide them. Again and again.
Deliberately and repeatedly polluting and killing their own citizens.
Why would Richard Samuel and Brian White do that?
Why would Roger Latchford and Sandy Ezekiel allow it to continue?
Why have Messrs Carter and Gilroy and King allowed it to continue.
Yet won't appear at public meetings to justify their policy.
Heads down. Hope the aviaton fuel discharge blows over?
Why would all the councillors not raise it at council meetings?
Why would the MP’s not mention it at all?
Like an asbestos factory for jobs, an airport with full noise and air monitoring means you can’t expand - because the death and illness rate would be too high.
Hence the highest lung cancer rate in Kent.
An early death rate 11 years younger than the rest of Kent: a massive statistical skew.
You die at 69 years old in Thanet. But at 81 years old in the rest of Kent.
Why is that? Smoking and fatty foods would all contribute but not that much.
Why else would you de 11 years younger in Thanet?
Low-level jumbo jets shedding aviation fuel onto the population?
The most polluted water in South East England with Infratil draining aviation fuel and chemicals directly into the Bay?
The Stour and Pegwell Bay one of the top 3 polluted rivers in Britain?
Derelict Richboro coal power station with its ash residue still present?
Thor mercury a mercury factory closed in 1988 but not closed and not cleaned up – with the water pollution spreading beyond the factory site?
I suppose the dead of Thanet serve a purpose in reminding us of the incompetence and deceit of our civil servants and politicians.
Hope it’s not your family that’s affected by the noise, the water pollution or the air pollution.
In a 20 mile square radius I can’t see how they wouldn’t be affected though.
But why won’t our officials and councillors and MP’s speak up on these matters?
http://www.helium.com/items/721286-how-does-airport-pollution-affect-the-environment
And why the delay in closing the airport?
It’s not going to expand. 79 jobs aren’t worth 130,000 lives.
Why the delay?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Why would you do that?
I can understand Infratil doing it: careers to be made, profits, promotion.
I can possibly understand a civil servant doing that: careers to be made etc.
But why would local councillors and civil servants want to do that?
Jobs for the area?
OK. I can understand that.
But pollution jobs?
Bit of political or civil service brown-nosing for County.
I can understand that.
But here’s what I don’t understand.
You wouldn’t remove the noise and air monitors would you?
And then if you did, you wouldn’t refuse to put them back would you?
That would be: no monitors, no data, no problem as the death rate spirals.
That’s what noise and air monitors are for aren’t they? To flag up any dangerous pollution levels?
At an airport.
They’re not optional are they?
And then to cap it you wouldn’t try to expand the airport again would you?
Still without noise and air monitoring.
That would be deliberately and knowingly polluting your friends, family and neighbours.
Which idiots would do that? Or which criminals?
To deliberately avoid having full noise and air monitoring at an airport slated for expansion. To actually remove the monitors. And then refuse to provide them. Again and again.
Deliberately and repeatedly polluting and killing their own citizens.
Why would Richard Samuel and Brian White do that?
Why would Roger Latchford and Sandy Ezekiel allow it to continue?
Why have Messrs Carter and Gilroy and King allowed it to continue.
Yet won't appear at public meetings to justify their policy.
Heads down. Hope the aviaton fuel discharge blows over?
Why would all the councillors not raise it at council meetings?
Why would the MP’s not mention it at all?
Like an asbestos factory for jobs, an airport with full noise and air monitoring means you can’t expand - because the death and illness rate would be too high.
Hence the highest lung cancer rate in Kent.
An early death rate 11 years younger than the rest of Kent: a massive statistical skew.
You die at 69 years old in Thanet. But at 81 years old in the rest of Kent.
Why is that? Smoking and fatty foods would all contribute but not that much.
Why else would you de 11 years younger in Thanet?
Low-level jumbo jets shedding aviation fuel onto the population?
The most polluted water in South East England with Infratil draining aviation fuel and chemicals directly into the Bay?
The Stour and Pegwell Bay one of the top 3 polluted rivers in Britain?
Derelict Richboro coal power station with its ash residue still present?
Thor mercury a mercury factory closed in 1988 but not closed and not cleaned up – with the water pollution spreading beyond the factory site?
I suppose the dead of Thanet serve a purpose in reminding us of the incompetence and deceit of our civil servants and politicians.
Hope it’s not your family that’s affected by the noise, the water pollution or the air pollution.
In a 20 mile square radius I can’t see how they wouldn’t be affected though.
But why won’t our officials and councillors and MP’s speak up on these matters?
http://www.helium.com/items/721286-how-does-airport-pollution-affect-the-environment
And why the delay in closing the airport?
It’s not going to expand. 79 jobs aren’t worth 130,000 lives.
Why the delay?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
'ello, 'ello, ello, Manston what's all this then says Kent Police
Mike Fuller the Chief Officer of Kent Police has been making a few enquiries around the questions raised in Kent on Sunday over Manston:
What Police safety procedures are in place at Manston airport in the event of a crash on the water supply?
Mr Fuller: Air travel is one of the safest forms of transport both for passenger and for freight flights. Before an airport is licensed its management have to meet very high safety standards, and their ability to provide these is regularly checked. Kent Police are identified as the lead emergency service and have officers who have specific areas of expertise that enable them to deal with any crisis. Our preparations are built around regular exercises with other emergency services and agencies which test those plans to the limit. As part of that we do prepare for the crash of an aircraft and the contamination of nearby water supplies. The critical role is knowing what to do immediately after any disaster, and the rigorous and repeated testing of our plans means I am confident we can deal with this and other possibilities. We also have the ability to call on extra resources both nationally and internationally if they are needed.
Sounds like a cobblers answer to me given Infratil allowed banned heavy Russian aircraft to land even during the last national security alert, changed the training flight regulations for flights over towns and removed monitors with TDC - and the already polluted water supply. Possibly the approach of “having a digger nearby to scoop up the flaming aircraft and body parts” is typical of Infratil and TDC’s approach to safety.
Or are Kent Police just concerned with securing the site and mopping up the wet bits after an accident? Serco could do that.
More dangerous of course than just a plane crash is the repeated exposure of aviation fuel onto the local population – hence the high rates of cancer in the area. Looks like our councillors and civil servants decided not to put the full safety measures in place to expand the airport as a done deal.
I’m surprised at Kent Police being so slack on this one: I’d have thought airports would be one of the pieces of infrastructure that had coppers over it like a rash. After all, lots of people die when things go wrong. Whether it’s planes crashing, goods being smuggled or even coppers in the area being polluted I’d have thought they’d want to ensure the airport was superbly run to the highest safety standards. With TDC and Infratil removing noise and air monitoring since 2006 with the knowledge and support of councillors then that seems to me a Police matter.
After all, they are meant to be monitoring the pollution levels aren’t they? And reporting them accurately? If it’s the old council attitude of fudging the data or not doing it all as a political or civil service bit of backside-covering or to hustle through polluting policies then that seems a mix of fraud and manslaughter. Thanet does have the highest levels of lung cancer which are directly linked to airports and low-level planes. You don’t need to be a Chief Inspector to know that airplanes don’t run on candy floss and the thick back clouds emerging from the engine or into the water supply aren’t too healthy. Nor that African- registered planes tend to be a bit looser in safety ratings. Hence the MK crash – luckily onto the runway killing the crew – in Canada a couple of years ago.
This next question highlights how coppers work for the public not the public service.
I don’t remember coppers, judges, councillors, civil servants or MP’s or anyone else being above the law or justice.
Worth remembering with Manston and dodgy deals such as Pleasurama and ChinaGate or even 0% salary fraud. I think the bogus pay rises and pensions should – as with MP’s expenses – be paid back. And I don’t understand why TDC payroll isn’t looked at by councillors or published.
How is public sector crime investigated on behalf of the public?
Mr Fuller: Specialist Detectives from the Serious Economic Crime Unit work on investigations into crime in the public sector, and Kent Police have mounted successful operations gaining the convictions of all those involved. This has led our officers to develop a high degree of expertise in this field, and this has been recognised nationally. We have also been asked to run training programmes in this area of police work for officers from other forces around Britain
I’m always surprised to see David’s dad driving his van around with the website and details of someone assassinated in Kent http://www.whokilleddavid.co.uk/
Mike Fuller mentions how 93% of murders in Kent are solved with only 10 unsolved in the last 10 years which is a superb record. I don’t understand why Kent Police don’t publish details of “cold cases” or if the trail’s gone cold as in America.What progress is there in the investigation into the murder of David O’Leary? Mr Fuller: We are continuing to investigate this murder, and the case is regularly reviewed by the Serious Case Team. We have kept the family fully informed of the developments relating to the investigation. At the moment we are waiting for the inquest to take place to formally decide the cause of death. This is something which has to be decided by the coroner.
Here’s a question on why Kent Police with a further 5% increase in council tax for their budget are buying an RAF cruise-missile-spy-drone as used in Afghanistan. Sounds like too much money and not enough sense in head office. Or are the RAF or Army Air Corps or Royal Navy so rubbish at air-sea rescue or surveillance that Kent Police need to do their job for them? Apart from it being a stupid idea (maybe a tank too and a cruise missile?), I’ve been told twice now that such a policy doesn’t exist. Well it obviously does. And bizarrely Kent Police seem to think that head office reviews of spy drones doesn’t actually cost money.
Are the Police still investigating buying and using Afghan-style spy drones? How much time and funds have been spent on such projects to date?
Mr Fuller: Kent Police are working with a number of public groups on a project to examine Unmanned Aerial Systems for use in coastal work. The technology is being tested by ourselves and by BAE Systems to establish how it is developing, how it could be used by the force, and also to enable commercial developers to understand our needs. This area of work is still relatively new and changes may be necessary to existing systems before we can use this. We have not spent any money on developing this but have held talks with the developers and other interested parties. Before the force committed any money it would have to be approved by Chief Officers and the Kent Police Authority.
Kent Police seem an excellent service to me but I’d have thought Mike Fuller should be rattling a few of the padlocks at Manston, council offices and his own head office.
Separately I don’t understand why apart from a bit of petty politicking over which councillor area gets the most coppers, the police don’t assess priorities on need a bit more. And, why the Police don’t report to Council and the public on their policies and move towards a more democratic style of election of senior offices on their policies like in America. I appreciate there are PACT meetings but who in the public, and councillors, with 5% increases in council tax should have to attend PACT meetings plus council meetings etc etc.
Or will the Afghan spy drone beam in Kent Police’s reports to the public?
Evenin’ all.
What Police safety procedures are in place at Manston airport in the event of a crash on the water supply?
Mr Fuller: Air travel is one of the safest forms of transport both for passenger and for freight flights. Before an airport is licensed its management have to meet very high safety standards, and their ability to provide these is regularly checked. Kent Police are identified as the lead emergency service and have officers who have specific areas of expertise that enable them to deal with any crisis. Our preparations are built around regular exercises with other emergency services and agencies which test those plans to the limit. As part of that we do prepare for the crash of an aircraft and the contamination of nearby water supplies. The critical role is knowing what to do immediately after any disaster, and the rigorous and repeated testing of our plans means I am confident we can deal with this and other possibilities. We also have the ability to call on extra resources both nationally and internationally if they are needed.
Sounds like a cobblers answer to me given Infratil allowed banned heavy Russian aircraft to land even during the last national security alert, changed the training flight regulations for flights over towns and removed monitors with TDC - and the already polluted water supply. Possibly the approach of “having a digger nearby to scoop up the flaming aircraft and body parts” is typical of Infratil and TDC’s approach to safety.
Or are Kent Police just concerned with securing the site and mopping up the wet bits after an accident? Serco could do that.
More dangerous of course than just a plane crash is the repeated exposure of aviation fuel onto the local population – hence the high rates of cancer in the area. Looks like our councillors and civil servants decided not to put the full safety measures in place to expand the airport as a done deal.
I’m surprised at Kent Police being so slack on this one: I’d have thought airports would be one of the pieces of infrastructure that had coppers over it like a rash. After all, lots of people die when things go wrong. Whether it’s planes crashing, goods being smuggled or even coppers in the area being polluted I’d have thought they’d want to ensure the airport was superbly run to the highest safety standards. With TDC and Infratil removing noise and air monitoring since 2006 with the knowledge and support of councillors then that seems to me a Police matter.
After all, they are meant to be monitoring the pollution levels aren’t they? And reporting them accurately? If it’s the old council attitude of fudging the data or not doing it all as a political or civil service bit of backside-covering or to hustle through polluting policies then that seems a mix of fraud and manslaughter. Thanet does have the highest levels of lung cancer which are directly linked to airports and low-level planes. You don’t need to be a Chief Inspector to know that airplanes don’t run on candy floss and the thick back clouds emerging from the engine or into the water supply aren’t too healthy. Nor that African- registered planes tend to be a bit looser in safety ratings. Hence the MK crash – luckily onto the runway killing the crew – in Canada a couple of years ago.
This next question highlights how coppers work for the public not the public service.
I don’t remember coppers, judges, councillors, civil servants or MP’s or anyone else being above the law or justice.
Worth remembering with Manston and dodgy deals such as Pleasurama and ChinaGate or even 0% salary fraud. I think the bogus pay rises and pensions should – as with MP’s expenses – be paid back. And I don’t understand why TDC payroll isn’t looked at by councillors or published.
How is public sector crime investigated on behalf of the public?
Mr Fuller: Specialist Detectives from the Serious Economic Crime Unit work on investigations into crime in the public sector, and Kent Police have mounted successful operations gaining the convictions of all those involved. This has led our officers to develop a high degree of expertise in this field, and this has been recognised nationally. We have also been asked to run training programmes in this area of police work for officers from other forces around Britain
I’m always surprised to see David’s dad driving his van around with the website and details of someone assassinated in Kent http://www.whokilleddavid.co.uk/
Mike Fuller mentions how 93% of murders in Kent are solved with only 10 unsolved in the last 10 years which is a superb record. I don’t understand why Kent Police don’t publish details of “cold cases” or if the trail’s gone cold as in America.What progress is there in the investigation into the murder of David O’Leary? Mr Fuller: We are continuing to investigate this murder, and the case is regularly reviewed by the Serious Case Team. We have kept the family fully informed of the developments relating to the investigation. At the moment we are waiting for the inquest to take place to formally decide the cause of death. This is something which has to be decided by the coroner.
Here’s a question on why Kent Police with a further 5% increase in council tax for their budget are buying an RAF cruise-missile-spy-drone as used in Afghanistan. Sounds like too much money and not enough sense in head office. Or are the RAF or Army Air Corps or Royal Navy so rubbish at air-sea rescue or surveillance that Kent Police need to do their job for them? Apart from it being a stupid idea (maybe a tank too and a cruise missile?), I’ve been told twice now that such a policy doesn’t exist. Well it obviously does. And bizarrely Kent Police seem to think that head office reviews of spy drones doesn’t actually cost money.
Are the Police still investigating buying and using Afghan-style spy drones? How much time and funds have been spent on such projects to date?
Mr Fuller: Kent Police are working with a number of public groups on a project to examine Unmanned Aerial Systems for use in coastal work. The technology is being tested by ourselves and by BAE Systems to establish how it is developing, how it could be used by the force, and also to enable commercial developers to understand our needs. This area of work is still relatively new and changes may be necessary to existing systems before we can use this. We have not spent any money on developing this but have held talks with the developers and other interested parties. Before the force committed any money it would have to be approved by Chief Officers and the Kent Police Authority.
Kent Police seem an excellent service to me but I’d have thought Mike Fuller should be rattling a few of the padlocks at Manston, council offices and his own head office.
Separately I don’t understand why apart from a bit of petty politicking over which councillor area gets the most coppers, the police don’t assess priorities on need a bit more. And, why the Police don’t report to Council and the public on their policies and move towards a more democratic style of election of senior offices on their policies like in America. I appreciate there are PACT meetings but who in the public, and councillors, with 5% increases in council tax should have to attend PACT meetings plus council meetings etc etc.
Or will the Afghan spy drone beam in Kent Police’s reports to the public?
Evenin’ all.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Politics without parties
Seeing the national parties at work I can’t help but think that they’re so similar now that you could lump them together and have one fairly good main party with maybe 3 or 4 smaller offshoots. Rather than 3 large and bland copycat parties.
New Labour as Thatcher-lite, Cameron Tories as New Labour-lite and Libdems as a bit of everything.
Cameron’s raised some sensible points recently on curbing civil service salaries – but aren’t councillors meant to do that? – and publishing accounts and payroll for councils and quangos – but doesn’t that happen anyway? – and cutting MP’s by 10% or c.60 seats.
Personally I’d slash MP’s to 400 seats and 200 in the Lords, slash quangos which are simply more civil servants in new guises and limit civil service departments except by Parliamentary Act.
And ban Party whips except on national security issues.
We seem to have failed financial services and failed governance and regulation.
None of the parties seems able to reduce public sector bloat or improve efficiency and as with MP’s expenses at all levels of the service it becomes a costly and cosy club with few penalties for failure and little incentive for reform.
All the more surprising given 99% of the public are not members of political parties and the National Trust has more members than the political parties and civil service put together.
And anywhere from 40% to 70% of the electrate don't vote - the lowest levels ever.
While party funding is either from the State itself which seems designed to perpetuate the status quo and failure of support and half from corporate or trades union donors.
So, all the research shows the problem with politics is the parties themselves. Throw in the myriad of quangos etc and Britain becomes a creaking shambles.
And all on monopoly, often secretive, and borrowed funding. Largely aimed at protecting political and civil service careers.
At County and local levels the main parties have almost no relevance at all – I can’t see what local politicians do except name-call and become pseudo-civil servants defending the civil service.
Having said that the Thanet civil service is quietly distancing itself from its own failings and that of the politicians and producing its vision plan
And on page 17 are various core initiatives that seem fairly good.
The only problem with all of these though is – what’s been done so far? What about the £600M of council tax over the last 10 years? Plus business rates plus national tax and EU funding? We seem to have had a decade or two of no policies at all.
Anyway here’s the outline Thanet plan again (with a 2 or 3 year consultation before sign-off(!) )
􀂃 Develop key industrial and employment sites and support development of the airport.
OK: especially Richboro as a 2nd Pfizer malaria facility and the airport would make a terrific water park to protect water supply
􀂃 Support a creative, cultural and tourism economy.
OK – what’s been happening so far? Every area has a couple of festivals.
􀂃 Diversify the Port of Ramsgate.
OK – to what and why? Not just the ferry?
􀂃 Regenerate Margate (including developing key sites and improving the Old Town).
OK – Turner and Dreamland again?
􀂃 Promote Thanet as a Destination.
OK. As always.
􀂃 Reducing crime and fear of it and develop diversionary activities.
OK – what activities? Ramsgate needs a Lido and Skate Park and Icerink
ô€‚ƒ Consult on new “green policies”.
OK
􀂃 Extend and improve walking and cycle routes.
OK – which ones?
􀂃 Promote best environmental practice in building construction.
OK
􀂃 Promote quality standards for town centres and parks/open spaces.
OK – a bit bumf-y as it depends on the policies completed. The public sector seems to spend a lot of time on other public sector marks such as "Quality Coast" that are of little relevance
􀂃 Delivering quality new homes (including affordable homes).
OK – not the silly 4th town centre infill though? Doesn’t brownfield land and derelict land get used first? And why build a 4th town centre when much of Margate has decayed?
􀂃 Deliver a housing renewal programme in Cliftonville West Renewal Area
OK – which ones
􀂃 Address fuel poverty
OK – free electricity from Vattenfall (the world’s biggest windfarm) for all homes in Thanet seems ideal and extra heating/insulation for pensioners.
􀂃 Discourage further in-migration of vulnerable people.
OK – from what to what
􀂃 Discourage loss of domestic gardens/larger homes to smaller units.
OK – from what to what
􀂃 Increase opportunities for exercise and play and promote healthier lifestyles.
OK – which ones
A couple of points are missing: reviving the town centres, the existing “computers for Thanet schoolchildren” programmes, school and University policies, Coastguard/ambulance/Fire policies, water and air pollution, lung cancer and the early death rate, and the 1,750 deaths of unknown estimate but on the whole fairly good but lacking detail.
It would be useful to have an understanding if the plans and costs and likely public sector costs.
Thanet seems to have been towns in search of governance.
It seems foolish to have 750 staff in Thanet and 850 staff in Canterbury and so little happening for the towns.
Nearly 2,000 civil servants and c.£200M just in council tax for half a dozen small towns: collecting the bins, potholes and a few arts events as a minimum.
Ramsgate Town Council is in danger of falling into the same trap as a mini-TDC with now 2 full time staff and a Town Clerk on £35k pro rata and 16 councillors.
And many of the councillors duplicated at TDC. Locally, the volume of seats simply can't be filled due to public apathy and disgust except by husband and wife teams and party duplicates.
The number of seats should be slashed to 11 in each town without duplicates and 30 at County Hall.
Plus the existing 750 staff at TDC. Plus the 40,000 at KCC - the County's largest employer(!).
For £60M council tax each year from the area and £22M spent on TDC payroll it seems a lot for very little.
For any of the political parties or the civil servants.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
New Labour as Thatcher-lite, Cameron Tories as New Labour-lite and Libdems as a bit of everything.
Cameron’s raised some sensible points recently on curbing civil service salaries – but aren’t councillors meant to do that? – and publishing accounts and payroll for councils and quangos – but doesn’t that happen anyway? – and cutting MP’s by 10% or c.60 seats.
Personally I’d slash MP’s to 400 seats and 200 in the Lords, slash quangos which are simply more civil servants in new guises and limit civil service departments except by Parliamentary Act.
And ban Party whips except on national security issues.
We seem to have failed financial services and failed governance and regulation.
None of the parties seems able to reduce public sector bloat or improve efficiency and as with MP’s expenses at all levels of the service it becomes a costly and cosy club with few penalties for failure and little incentive for reform.
All the more surprising given 99% of the public are not members of political parties and the National Trust has more members than the political parties and civil service put together.
And anywhere from 40% to 70% of the electrate don't vote - the lowest levels ever.
While party funding is either from the State itself which seems designed to perpetuate the status quo and failure of support and half from corporate or trades union donors.
So, all the research shows the problem with politics is the parties themselves. Throw in the myriad of quangos etc and Britain becomes a creaking shambles.
And all on monopoly, often secretive, and borrowed funding. Largely aimed at protecting political and civil service careers.
At County and local levels the main parties have almost no relevance at all – I can’t see what local politicians do except name-call and become pseudo-civil servants defending the civil service.
Having said that the Thanet civil service is quietly distancing itself from its own failings and that of the politicians and producing its vision plan
And on page 17 are various core initiatives that seem fairly good.
The only problem with all of these though is – what’s been done so far? What about the £600M of council tax over the last 10 years? Plus business rates plus national tax and EU funding? We seem to have had a decade or two of no policies at all.
Anyway here’s the outline Thanet plan again (with a 2 or 3 year consultation before sign-off(!) )
􀂃 Develop key industrial and employment sites and support development of the airport.
OK: especially Richboro as a 2nd Pfizer malaria facility and the airport would make a terrific water park to protect water supply
􀂃 Support a creative, cultural and tourism economy.
OK – what’s been happening so far? Every area has a couple of festivals.
􀂃 Diversify the Port of Ramsgate.
OK – to what and why? Not just the ferry?
􀂃 Regenerate Margate (including developing key sites and improving the Old Town).
OK – Turner and Dreamland again?
􀂃 Promote Thanet as a Destination.
OK. As always.
􀂃 Reducing crime and fear of it and develop diversionary activities.
OK – what activities? Ramsgate needs a Lido and Skate Park and Icerink
ô€‚ƒ Consult on new “green policies”.
OK
􀂃 Extend and improve walking and cycle routes.
OK – which ones?
􀂃 Promote best environmental practice in building construction.
OK
􀂃 Promote quality standards for town centres and parks/open spaces.
OK – a bit bumf-y as it depends on the policies completed. The public sector seems to spend a lot of time on other public sector marks such as "Quality Coast" that are of little relevance
􀂃 Delivering quality new homes (including affordable homes).
OK – not the silly 4th town centre infill though? Doesn’t brownfield land and derelict land get used first? And why build a 4th town centre when much of Margate has decayed?
􀂃 Deliver a housing renewal programme in Cliftonville West Renewal Area
OK – which ones
􀂃 Address fuel poverty
OK – free electricity from Vattenfall (the world’s biggest windfarm) for all homes in Thanet seems ideal and extra heating/insulation for pensioners.
􀂃 Discourage further in-migration of vulnerable people.
OK – from what to what
􀂃 Discourage loss of domestic gardens/larger homes to smaller units.
OK – from what to what
􀂃 Increase opportunities for exercise and play and promote healthier lifestyles.
OK – which ones
A couple of points are missing: reviving the town centres, the existing “computers for Thanet schoolchildren” programmes, school and University policies, Coastguard/ambulance/Fire policies, water and air pollution, lung cancer and the early death rate, and the 1,750 deaths of unknown estimate but on the whole fairly good but lacking detail.
It would be useful to have an understanding if the plans and costs and likely public sector costs.
Thanet seems to have been towns in search of governance.
It seems foolish to have 750 staff in Thanet and 850 staff in Canterbury and so little happening for the towns.
Nearly 2,000 civil servants and c.£200M just in council tax for half a dozen small towns: collecting the bins, potholes and a few arts events as a minimum.
Ramsgate Town Council is in danger of falling into the same trap as a mini-TDC with now 2 full time staff and a Town Clerk on £35k pro rata and 16 councillors.
And many of the councillors duplicated at TDC. Locally, the volume of seats simply can't be filled due to public apathy and disgust except by husband and wife teams and party duplicates.
The number of seats should be slashed to 11 in each town without duplicates and 30 at County Hall.
Plus the existing 750 staff at TDC. Plus the 40,000 at KCC - the County's largest employer(!).
For £60M council tax each year from the area and £22M spent on TDC payroll it seems a lot for very little.
For any of the political parties or the civil servants.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Thanet coastguard
I hope the Ramsgate ferry happens: congratulations to anyone of any party that makes it happen. 20 years and counting. This year and counting.
Certainly a far better idea than the silly “new town centre” of a shopping centre with in-fill houses on farmland near-the-town-centres at Westwood.
Thanet’s looking more like a polluted, derelict and burned down version of Milton Keynes every day.
If the ferry doesn’t happen before the election then I will help drive it through from Parliament - and in the meantime instigate a minibus/passenger service that drives onto the existing TEF ferry.
I’d also throw out any silly road closure filming bills from County hall: isn’t the County meant to open and close County roads and if they’re not then who is responsible for existing closures of the County’s roads for festivals etc with KCC’s £2bn budget (and a £100M Highways budget) and no meetings in September because they had nothing to do after the councillors awarded themselves a pay rise the previous month
With Pegwell Bay the most polluted river in Britain apart from the Thames and the Medway, I hope Thanet Coastguard are paying close attention to the Port as well as the cargo ships and tankers moored a few hundred metres from their offices.
There seems to be an average of about a dozen ships, all of which should be moored in their destination port and pose a risk of waste/fuel tanks being flushed out and waste disposed overboard.
Into the sea. And onto the beaches and bays.
So everyone can swim in it and paddle in it.
While TDC and the EA monitor-it-by-not-monitoring-it.
The EA do seem to do water sampling around the beaches although the full toxin results seem difficult to get hold of.
Still no news on the Thor mercury site next to Hornby and BandQ toxin reports (obviously nothing has been done since it closed-but-not-closed in 1988 and the councillor for the Nash Road estate where the pollutes water runs downhill and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up in the Tivoli Brook.
With Thanet built on chalk, as you’d expect water drains into the sea and through the various fissures.
Still no news if Pleasurama is built above the clifftop – so that means it is. Nor how Cardy are developing the site through the SwissBank/Caribbeantaxhaven “SFP – Site of Former Pleasurama Ventures” Why aren’t TDC doing it with Cardy – isn’t that why we pay £60M in council tax in Thanet: £40M for KCC and £22M for TDC’s payroll plus extra mini-quangos like EKO: KCC and TDC councillors and officials in a mysterious “joint venture company”.
Doesn’t seem as if Thanet’s coast – or the public - is very well guarded at all.
Or if anything has been spent on or in the towns beyond funding civil servants - the Tory Party conference has called for all council and quango payroll to be open (FOI and EIR access laws allow that already) - but where is TDC's? MP's and councillors publish their costs but not civil servants?
What has been going on?
If you’d forgotten here’s the night flights petition for another ridiculous consultation like the fake Xmas 2005 consultation, the ChinaGate consultation and Ramsgate Labour’s would-you-like-an-airport-but-don’t-mention-cancer-around-airports consultation - and feel free in the space provided to ask for the air and noise monitor reports since they were removed in 2006.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nonightflights/signatures.html
Looks like our councillors and officials are actively working against the public rather than for them and with them.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
What has been going on?
If you’d forgotten here’s the night flights petition for another ridiculous consultation like the fake Xmas 2005 consultation, the ChinaGate consultation and Ramsgate Labour’s would-you-like-an-airport-but-don’t-mention-cancer-around-airports consultation - and feel free in the space provided to ask for the air and noise monitor reports since they were removed in 2006.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nonightflights/signatures.html
Looks like our councillors and officials are actively working against the public rather than for them and with them.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Richard Samuel of TDC speaks on Manston
Hello.
This is a TDC and Manston public announcement.
As Chief Executive of Thanet Council I understand there are public concerns over TDC’s role in developing the airport and I wanted to use this opportunity to put one or two matters straight.
It ain’t me. I had nuffink to do wiv it.
I saw some papers but I don’t remember. It was Brian White wot done it.
He can change his job title and department name and everyfing . But he done it.
He removed them noise and air monitors. It ain’t me.
Not never.
I am sure.
Not when I was Chair of KIACC. And not as CEO of TDC.
I ain’t done it. Since 2006. I ain’t done nuffink.
It was Brian.
He never told me or nuffink.
It was Brian.
And even if I did I don’t remember nuffink.
Besides Ladyman and Gale never said nuffink neither. And they knew too.
Although I knew nuffink.
And if people are dead well that’s their problem. I sign the papers and read the memos. And that means it ain’t nuffink to do with me.
And besides since when did airports have to have noise and air monitoring?
Brian. He did it.
All the councillors will agree too. It ain’t me. It’s Brian. Maybe the councillors too. But don’t tell them I said it.
They sign off my pension and everything.
I’ve written a memo saying nuffink so that should be the end of it. Because I’ve done nuffink wrong. And if I did it’s Brian’s fault.
I get to keep my salary and pension and payoff and 0% payrise don’t I? Seems silly not to because only a few people are dead. If any at all really.
Because I know nuffink and I’m saying nuffink.
And I don’t know nuffink about Thor or Richboro or Pegwell Bay pollution neither. Brian White did it all by himself.
Me and Sandy and Roger never said nuffink never. And we're sticking to it.
This concludes the Manston and TDC public service announcement.
Could residents and TDC officials with lung cancer form a queue over here.
Thank you.
This is a TDC and Manston public announcement.
As Chief Executive of Thanet Council I understand there are public concerns over TDC’s role in developing the airport and I wanted to use this opportunity to put one or two matters straight.
It ain’t me. I had nuffink to do wiv it.
I saw some papers but I don’t remember. It was Brian White wot done it.
He can change his job title and department name and everyfing . But he done it.
He removed them noise and air monitors. It ain’t me.
Not never.
I am sure.
Not when I was Chair of KIACC. And not as CEO of TDC.
I ain’t done it. Since 2006. I ain’t done nuffink.
It was Brian.
He never told me or nuffink.
It was Brian.
And even if I did I don’t remember nuffink.
Besides Ladyman and Gale never said nuffink neither. And they knew too.
Although I knew nuffink.
And if people are dead well that’s their problem. I sign the papers and read the memos. And that means it ain’t nuffink to do with me.
And besides since when did airports have to have noise and air monitoring?
Brian. He did it.
All the councillors will agree too. It ain’t me. It’s Brian. Maybe the councillors too. But don’t tell them I said it.
They sign off my pension and everything.
I’ve written a memo saying nuffink so that should be the end of it. Because I’ve done nuffink wrong. And if I did it’s Brian’s fault.
I get to keep my salary and pension and payoff and 0% payrise don’t I? Seems silly not to because only a few people are dead. If any at all really.
Because I know nuffink and I’m saying nuffink.
And I don’t know nuffink about Thor or Richboro or Pegwell Bay pollution neither. Brian White did it all by himself.
Me and Sandy and Roger never said nuffink never. And we're sticking to it.
This concludes the Manston and TDC public service announcement.
Could residents and TDC officials with lung cancer form a queue over here.
Thank you.
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Ramsgate Town Council meeting tomorrow (Monday). Cancer optional.
At last the minutes and webpage is available from Ramsgate Town Council today - the old “get the info out the day before the meeting tomorrow” trick it seems, partial/fudged minutes etc etc – and it seems impossible for the public to add items to the agenda such as Pleasurama, Thor, Richboro, Infratil etc.
Anyone going to RTC’s 4th meeting tomorrow (7pm at Albion House, Ramsgate's Town Hall) may want to ask questions on Thor, Richboro, Infratil, Pegwell, lung cancer, early death rate, derelict buildings, £60M tax-take and £22M salaries at TDC rather than some of the ceremonial aspects.
Whoops – a couple of points of correction on the latest minutes:
# no mention of Thor mercury
# the jet dumping ground is a fact not potential: 6 dumped jumbo jets and a 7th removed at Xmas after being dumped for 10 years
# Noise monitoring inefficient – as it was removed, and still no air monitors nor mobile monitors
# no mention of TDC/RTC payroll/costs for review
# all RTC info is open to public and no exemptions would be valid. Paul Carter recently described how all local government information should be open.
Let’s hope these can be corrected for tomorrow and Infratil, Thor and Richboro added to the agenda for ongoing review.
Soem silly comments previously on the public "buying" Albion House when we already own it through TDC and public funds. Why would the public pay for it twice - and why isn't Albion Hosuwe open to the public every day as Ramsgate's only public space?
The Tourst Centree seems to havd suffered the "Margate Twesait" with Margate's tourism cnetre open every day but Broadstairs and Ramsgate on half-days for "saavings". Looks liek the town busdget sbeign shifted aroufd the towns. Don't we pay £60M council tax and £22M TDC salaries for all the 3 towns? Where is Ramsgate's £20M?
Here’s the new Ramsgate Town Council website which seems good enough with details of agendas, meetings, minutes etc.
url is http://www.ramsgatetc.kentparishes.gov.uk
Although the agenda for tomorrow (Monday) gives out at the info from the Eastcliff Residents on flight routes by Infratil etc.
While the “debates” continue” although the politicians and civil servants seem to have no answers on noise and air and water pollution by the Gang of Four agreeing with Infratil to remove monitors and keep quiet on safety breaches – then the flights continue, which increases the air and noise and water pollution.
The pollution problems and council crimes at Guerra in Italy and Corby Council last month would be relevant here for such cover-ups.
With many of the Town Councillors also TDC Councillors and previously Charter Trustees then we seem to be having a lot of meetings, fairly short and innocuous agendas and extra costs for committees. They know how to organise and run a council surely? Although TDSC isn’t the best example given it’s rating as one of Britain’s worst councils – hence the public’s formation of RTC.
Let’s hope that RTC really picks up the pace for November’s meeting as they seem not to have a meeting in December or August – maybe there’s nothing to do for the town.
Where are the regular Police reports? NHS? Education? Ambulance? Fire? Coastguard? MP's? Environment Agency? TDC? Aren't the public entitled to have a monhtly report from our officials on how they're safeguarding us and improving the area?
Certainly webcasts could be in place and toxin reports from Thor, Richboro etc.
I’m also a little concerned over what seems an extra fence for the Pleasurama site restricting the promenade – and still no details of whether the SwissBank/Caribbeantaxhaven company are just a front organisation (why are they paying Cardy the builders and not TDC?) and if the building is built above the clifftop.
Murky goings-on at TDC that RTC shouldn’t be replicating.
After all, some councillors and civil servants are foolish enough to think that airport pollution form aircraft doesn’t drift over the whole Isle and that water pollution doesn’t drift through chalk into the water supply or sea pollution doesn’t drift round all the Isle.
What is the 1,750 deaths figure from TDC released last month? All deaths in the Isle? Early deaths? Based on what sources?
What have our councillors and civil servants been doing?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Anyone going to RTC’s 4th meeting tomorrow (7pm at Albion House, Ramsgate's Town Hall) may want to ask questions on Thor, Richboro, Infratil, Pegwell, lung cancer, early death rate, derelict buildings, £60M tax-take and £22M salaries at TDC rather than some of the ceremonial aspects.
Whoops – a couple of points of correction on the latest minutes:
# no mention of Thor mercury
# the jet dumping ground is a fact not potential: 6 dumped jumbo jets and a 7th removed at Xmas after being dumped for 10 years
# Noise monitoring inefficient – as it was removed, and still no air monitors nor mobile monitors
# no mention of TDC/RTC payroll/costs for review
# all RTC info is open to public and no exemptions would be valid. Paul Carter recently described how all local government information should be open.
Let’s hope these can be corrected for tomorrow and Infratil, Thor and Richboro added to the agenda for ongoing review.
Soem silly comments previously on the public "buying" Albion House when we already own it through TDC and public funds. Why would the public pay for it twice - and why isn't Albion Hosuwe open to the public every day as Ramsgate's only public space?
The Tourst Centree seems to havd suffered the "Margate Twesait" with Margate's tourism cnetre open every day but Broadstairs and Ramsgate on half-days for "saavings". Looks liek the town busdget sbeign shifted aroufd the towns. Don't we pay £60M council tax and £22M TDC salaries for all the 3 towns? Where is Ramsgate's £20M?
Here’s the new Ramsgate Town Council website which seems good enough with details of agendas, meetings, minutes etc.
url is http://www.ramsgatetc.kentparishes.gov.uk
Although the agenda for tomorrow (Monday) gives out at the info from the Eastcliff Residents on flight routes by Infratil etc.
While the “debates” continue” although the politicians and civil servants seem to have no answers on noise and air and water pollution by the Gang of Four agreeing with Infratil to remove monitors and keep quiet on safety breaches – then the flights continue, which increases the air and noise and water pollution.
The pollution problems and council crimes at Guerra in Italy and Corby Council last month would be relevant here for such cover-ups.
With many of the Town Councillors also TDC Councillors and previously Charter Trustees then we seem to be having a lot of meetings, fairly short and innocuous agendas and extra costs for committees. They know how to organise and run a council surely? Although TDSC isn’t the best example given it’s rating as one of Britain’s worst councils – hence the public’s formation of RTC.
Let’s hope that RTC really picks up the pace for November’s meeting as they seem not to have a meeting in December or August – maybe there’s nothing to do for the town.
Where are the regular Police reports? NHS? Education? Ambulance? Fire? Coastguard? MP's? Environment Agency? TDC? Aren't the public entitled to have a monhtly report from our officials on how they're safeguarding us and improving the area?
Certainly webcasts could be in place and toxin reports from Thor, Richboro etc.
I’m also a little concerned over what seems an extra fence for the Pleasurama site restricting the promenade – and still no details of whether the SwissBank/Caribbeantaxhaven company are just a front organisation (why are they paying Cardy the builders and not TDC?) and if the building is built above the clifftop.
Murky goings-on at TDC that RTC shouldn’t be replicating.
After all, some councillors and civil servants are foolish enough to think that airport pollution form aircraft doesn’t drift over the whole Isle and that water pollution doesn’t drift through chalk into the water supply or sea pollution doesn’t drift round all the Isle.
What is the 1,750 deaths figure from TDC released last month? All deaths in the Isle? Early deaths? Based on what sources?
What have our councillors and civil servants been doing?
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
A polluted Thanet Council. A polluted river and sea.
A report in Thanet Extra (page 2) on the “Thanet cesspit” that is the pollution in Pegwell bay one of the worst 2% of polluted rivers in UK.
http://www.thanetepaper.co.uk/index.aspx
The report correctly highlights the much tougher punishments elsewhere in Europe for deliberate pollution.
Geoff Wild the KCC legal and flytipping expert has repeatedly refused to remove the dumped jumbo jets at Manston: ask him yourself: geoff.wild@kent.gov.uk
Brian White and Richard Samuel for years have refused to provide noise and air monitors that would record the aviation fuel onto the sea: ask them yourself brian.white@thanet.gov.uk and richard.samuel@thanet.gov.uk
They are available for question son 13th October at the Pavillion Broadstairs to discuss 7,500 extra housebuilding in Thanet.
While Infratil and Matt Clarke continue to dump aviation fuel into the outflow system that feeds into the Kent Highways road drainage and dumps straight into Pegwell Bay. Approved by Brian White.
And the Environment Agency simply records that fact: ask them yourself: Andrew.pearce@environment-agency.gov.uk
While Thor mercury has no decontamination whatsoever – and both Steve Ladyman and Roger Gale previously in Thanet Extra described the airport and Thor mercury as "no danger" and "well-run" facilities.
The fact of the matter is our councillors and civil servants have deliberately connived to remove all safety measures at Manston to allow its expansion and deliberately endangered the public.
Only with public protests over night flights have they suddenly back-tracked and tried to cover their traces.
Thanet is polluted because of our civil servants and councillors not despite them.
The cosy club of pensioner politicians is too idle or too stupid to evaluate the council properly.
Richard Samuel and Brian White should be jailed. And Sandy Ezekiel and Roger Latchford should resign.
4th Ramsgate Town Council meeting 5th October: where are the toxin reports on Pegwell and Thor and Richboro? Where is the TDC payroll? Where are the EKO quango ChinaGate costs?
With Thanet as the worst district for lung cancer and an 11 year early death rate the failures of our councillors and civil servants and MP’s have literally been killing the public.
The time is coming to clear out under-performing councillors and civil servants.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change
http://www.thanetepaper.co.uk/index.aspx
The report correctly highlights the much tougher punishments elsewhere in Europe for deliberate pollution.
Geoff Wild the KCC legal and flytipping expert has repeatedly refused to remove the dumped jumbo jets at Manston: ask him yourself: geoff.wild@kent.gov.uk
Brian White and Richard Samuel for years have refused to provide noise and air monitors that would record the aviation fuel onto the sea: ask them yourself brian.white@thanet.gov.uk and richard.samuel@thanet.gov.uk
They are available for question son 13th October at the Pavillion Broadstairs to discuss 7,500 extra housebuilding in Thanet.
While Infratil and Matt Clarke continue to dump aviation fuel into the outflow system that feeds into the Kent Highways road drainage and dumps straight into Pegwell Bay. Approved by Brian White.
And the Environment Agency simply records that fact: ask them yourself: Andrew.pearce@environment-agency.gov.uk
While Thor mercury has no decontamination whatsoever – and both Steve Ladyman and Roger Gale previously in Thanet Extra described the airport and Thor mercury as "no danger" and "well-run" facilities.
The fact of the matter is our councillors and civil servants have deliberately connived to remove all safety measures at Manston to allow its expansion and deliberately endangered the public.
Only with public protests over night flights have they suddenly back-tracked and tried to cover their traces.
Thanet is polluted because of our civil servants and councillors not despite them.
The cosy club of pensioner politicians is too idle or too stupid to evaluate the council properly.
Richard Samuel and Brian White should be jailed. And Sandy Ezekiel and Roger Latchford should resign.
4th Ramsgate Town Council meeting 5th October: where are the toxin reports on Pegwell and Thor and Richboro? Where is the TDC payroll? Where are the EKO quango ChinaGate costs?
With Thanet as the worst district for lung cancer and an 11 year early death rate the failures of our councillors and civil servants and MP’s have literally been killing the public.
The time is coming to clear out under-performing councillors and civil servants.
Failed. Failed. Failed.
Time for Change
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