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

Our MP's Roger Gale and Steve ladyman both cliam that Thor mercury is safe and water pollution from Thor, Sericol and Infratil is our fault for tipping paint or oil down the sink. The fire at Thor in 2007 was claimed by Roger and the Police as off no danger and simply "close your windows". Thor in Margate closed in 1988 after health and safety concerns over poisoning workers, neighbours (Thor Margate sits next to a business park and housing estate and main road) and the water table. 20 people were subsequently poisoned in Africa and Thor closed in 1994 in Cato Ridge. Thor Margate still operated until last year. Confirmation of chemical storage and water pollution rests with the Environment Agency. What has been going on for 20 years? Below is an extract from the United Nations (UNEP and WHO) mercury report in Bangkok 2007. As you can see there is no safe dosage level (droplets can kill): as breathed in or passed onto the skin or drunk from the water or eaten from fish, it...

Some interesting facts from the Aerotoxic website on contaminated crew and passengers within aircraft – as detailed to Parliament. Worth remembering that the site: www.aerotoxic.org deals with contamination only inside the aircraft – you must use your imagination as to the effects of aviation fuel and chemicals on people on the ground around airports. Well you don’t need to as the symptoms for exposure are detailed below and many reports are available from US and Europe on the death rates around airports – as you’d expect breathing aviation fuel vapour is not good for your health. Especially children, the elderly and infirm. No doubt soon TDC and Infratil will be confirming exactly why noise and air monitors were removed from the tower blocks and schools in Thanet and where the much-promised mobile monitors to situate them in the towns as aircraft fly at low level are. And exactly what forecasts of the impact of 30 night flights or more as promised by Planestation and higher forecast f...

Thanet’s polluted water: MP’s misinformation and failure The Environment Agency is clearly struggling with the problems of their own making: "The Environment Agency last week revealed a 20-year plan to improve the water quality, which it says is “lower than we would hope.” The groundwater, which forms part of the drinking water supply, contains a variety of nitrates, pesticides and solvents, although the agency insisted there was “absolutely no risk” to human health. Experts said that while previous industrial accidents had exacerbated the problem, much of the contamination was caused by local people disposing of harmful substances like white spirit or engine oil incorrectly." No mention of the real problems: # Thor mercury: no clean-up in 20 years since the site supposedly closed in 1988 # Sericol: 500 tonnes of industrial solvent lost to the water table: the equivalent of about 4,000 oil barrels of chemicals # Infratil: deliberately allowing the drainage of aviation fuel ...

Paul Carter Leads Kent County Council and works with all the other public bodies and agencies on the public's behalf as funded from Westminster and Council tax. In the run-up to the County elections here's a selection of policies to date: 40% public sector economy KCC the County’s largest employer No inward investment of any size Failure to reform defunct councils like Thanet and Dover KCC bonuses and pay rises Thames Gateway: stalled No reform of KCC structures Margate centre: burned down Turner: 10 years for work to begin Pleasurama: derelict Infratil: breaching all safety guidelines and polluting a UNESCO Bay Thor mercury poisoning China Gateway failure Manston cargo airport: failure, water pollution and public endangerment Lydd airport: see Manston Rochester airport: see Lydd Boris Island airport: see Rochester Cliffe airport: see Boris Island SaveWye-Imperial: failed Margate: burned down Sericol: 500 tonnes chemical water pollution Pfizer: cutbacks Glaxo: closure Grupo Ant...

As if by magic the Labour manifesto for the County elections appears. Good. Tony Flaig has managed to fend off the attentions of Geoff Wild the Kent County Censor to obtain one manifesto. With 8 weeks to go. No sign of the Tory or LibDem or other manifestos. Now the details of the Labour manifesto. Most of it’s general flannel: “working with the Labour government”: I take that for granted as I think most people would. “Better education, lower crime”: as opposed to the alternative? Worse education, higher crime? Not worth the paper it’s printed on as a policy. A few “not invented here” policies - good "yah boo" stuff: cancelling Kent TV and the Local Boards and replacing them with the same but with a different name. What a waste of time and effort now these have been created instead of reforming and improving them: where is the detail on the alternatives? Some interesting points: scrapping Kent Healthwatch: a cost of £400,000! For an existing call centre! I contacted them over...

News of the official complaint for Tony McNulty's expenses claims as a Minister must surely provide greater reform of the system. Surely Messrs Gale, Ladyman and Sandys will step forward and sign up to the electoral refoms I will implement as MP: * full disclosure of all expenses - with receots: none of this "no receipt up to £250" business * full disclosure of staff and office costs: none of this "all lumped together " business * no family member employed: when did representignthe public become a family business? * an MP "annual report": successes and fasilures from the region and Westminster: who knows what Messrs Ladyman, Sandys and Gale think or do - expecept the decline of our towns * an open diary: all meetings listed and displayed for full transparency: too many MP's spedn their time with lobby groups or other MP's * all additional costs/expenses detailede: none of this "vouchers for John Lewis kitchens" business In short full...

Good to see Roger Gale MP meeting with the Commonwealth MP’s from Kenya and other parts of Africa. Let’s hope they provide aid and democratic support to Margate. “Your town burned down Mr Gale? You had 2M tourists when you became MP but it’s now none? And your council is one of the worst in Europe? Thor has poisoned the water table and workers with mercury? How can Kenya help?” Surely Roger should be calling an emergency regeneration conference in Margate and drafting in KCC? Why is Thor mercury Margate still not cleared up under Roger’s watch? Has Roger given up? With the failure of the Gang of Four it looks as though he has. A council tax strike seems the only way forward given the massive failures of Coastal Kent: decades of under-investment, corrurption and plain incompetence. I've no doubt that Roger is a good constituency MP but the political failuire and regeneration failure from the Party machine in his constituency is clear to see. The old guard is changing in Thanet: Stev...