Time for Change: Campaign for an Independent Green Thanet MP and Ramsgate Mayor

Tim Garbutt KCC leader 2017 candidate and MP 2020 said: "The Southern Water pollution at Margate and other Blue Flag beaches in 2012 is horrific. Not just the scale of the pollution with 20 tonnes of faeces dumped on the beaches - but the repeated previous discharges and complete lack of alerts and cleanup. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2433209/southern-water-fined-sewage-in-sea-margate-beach-kent-pollution/ The record fine of £2M is a drop in the ocean though with the £119M of nett profit for Southern Water and excessive salaries and pensions. And 4 years to bring it to trial is laughable. This monopoly water service is a licence to print its own money and merely recharge fines to the taxpayer. The public need to see not just stricter pollution monitoring in East Kent but also jail sentences and profit reductions as with the Flint, Michigan contamination. While the Environment Agency has proved useless as merely a tame tool of Carter's Toxic Three regime....

Khun Suranand Vejjajiva as always makes some fascinating points on Future Thailand in his article this week "PM big decisions on Cabinet revamp" in The Bangkok Post and the Road to Democracy through 2017: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1158097/pm-faces-big-decisions-in-cabinet-revamp Clearly few farangs including myself could sensibly comment on the detailed deliberations of Thai Cabinet politics, and the candidates for the Justice, Economy or Digital Economy roles. But with an unelected PM, an economy in the doldrums, and an over-reliance on one economic sector plus deep-rooted societal divisions and ongoing military conflict there must be cause for concern. But enough about Britain's problems. While what about Kent must also be the cry from Surin to Satun? For those problems in Britain, are similar to those here in Kent with British democracy throwing up strange anti-democratic sinecures such the Leader of Kent County being Tory (the UK politica...

The 2nd public meeting on BrettGate expressed delight and satisfaction at the cancellation of the secret Phase 2 megadevelopment of a Brett cement works. Yet concern remains that the smaller Phase 1 development was passed last year - without any public notice or consultation and now it seems not any environment review. And - along with the lack of TDC support for the P22 US Navy boat and Ramsgate Sprint projects - there is concern at the silence of Leader Wells for the Phase 2 mega-development and secrecy of SELEP funds sought way back in June. Why the silence for such a megadevelopment for over 6 months? When will we hear from Wells to explain why he and TDC councillors voted for this mega-blight including 1M freight lorries - only to have it overwhelmingly rejected within days of the public hearing about it? And who is the TDC harbour official who signed off on environment studies for monitoring the cement dust - yet didn't do them? Answers on the back of a child's ...

(update points in Misc below) The BrettGate U-Turn collapse within 10 days of the mega-cement plans being announced by TDC raises not just questions over who voted for that at TDC - and kept it secret since the SELEP meeting of June 2016 - or questions over how Phase 1 of BrettGATE crept through, and why this hasn’t already been cancelled? But it means there are now no East Kent policies at RTC or TDC or KCC or SELEP or anywhere at all. Nothing. Our councillors and civil servants have not just completely messed up but are now hoping to keep on collecting their pay cheque and pensions - for doing nothing until the May 2017 elections. The worst of all possible worlds. Clearly we need a system of claw-back to prevent that and also active policies in the run-up to the May 2017 KCC election. I’ve made it clear I am standing for KCC Leader – Directly Elected Leader for reform against both Paul Carter and Trevor Shonk – the former of the Toxic Three of Infratil and Thor and Roa...

A guest blog by Joe Thomas below, and my thoughts on UN Road Safety Week later on: Air pollution is now one of the most pressing environmental concerns. While nine out of the ten most polluted cities in the world lie in India and Pakistan that leaves no room for complacency amongst other countries; partly because they too have their own issues and also because we live in a connected ecosystem. What Is Air Pollution? Air pollution is a complex topic as so many factors are responsible for the poor quality of our air. However, simply put, air pollution is any chemical, physical or biological change which causes the atmosphere to become dirty and thus risks not only our own potential for survival but also that of other animals and plants. Air pollution can also be further divided into two distinct categories; visible and invisible. Both can lead to an alteration of the delicate balance of our atmosphere and cause problems to health on a local scale and also damage to the ecosyst...

Kent is now adrift with an almost total collapse in governance. Neither at County or District or town level are there any policies at all. The horrifying news that 200 children escaped from KCC Social Services Jimmy Savile Care homes – with 53 still missing is only matched by East Kent’s rape statistics of 67 rapes last year and zero arrests. And that with KCC bleating about a few hundred extra refugee children taken in from the Calais Jungle - or £20M of savings on a £2BN budget and excessively padded staff rosters and reserves. And still no tax cuts even considered, even attempts to breach the 1.99% limit, nor full FOI. Zero in Year Zero and Ground Zero of a failed Kent. And this week Dover and Ashford cited as Kent’s worst Crap Towns again. Carter and the Toxic Three have created a Retard Nation in Kent. And the Medway slumtowns record Britain’s worst primary schools again – and CCU in the bottom third of UK universities. As KCC Leader I will ensure at least one top...

Dear Editor It’s good to see the Gazette letters page expanded – can we have more of Frederic Stansfield with the previous weeks view that Manston requires large cannon pointing across the Channel presumably at Paris or Berlin or Moscow. It’s certainly no more daft than LibDem Russ Timpson’s space-cadet view of Manston as the Cape Canaveral of Kent. But surely not one but four lengthy letters from Save Manston SMA and SUMA and Why Not Manston, and with two letters from Riveroak’s PR agency and Riveroak’s lawyer, is a bit much even for the pro-Manstoners? I’d hope you’d print this somewhat lengthy letter to stimulate debate on a non-airport future for Manston. For my view (since at least 2004) is that the runway should be dug up to protect the East Kent drinking water aquifer under the runway. And Infratil’s directors should be extradited from their last airport in Wellington, New Zealand (Asia’s most dangerous airport?) to face corporate manslaughter charges from removing the p...