Cinderella on Sea

                                                         “THE  RATEPAYERS  TEARS”

Ville Views blog says, us Ramsgatonians live in a beautiful place, therefore we should shut up and keep playing second fiddle to Margate. This is a typical view of Ramsgate, stated by an outsider who knows nothing about the town. Ramsgate’s downfall is its beautiful location and setting, visitors are enchanted by it and do not see Cinderella beneath its beautiful exterior.

 The odds have been stacked against Ramsgate since 1974 when local government re-organisation created Thanet District Council with a voting advantage of 60/40 in favour of Margate. Since then Cinderella’s fortunes have rapidly declined as all the attention is lavished on its ugly sisters. Ramsgate has even been struck off the tourist map with the closure of its Visitor Information Centre.

Fortunately for Ramsgate, it’s a bit like “Marmite”, it seems that depending on where you live in Thanet you either love it or hate it. Those who hate it put obstacles in the way of its success; those who love it volunteer their time and effort, free of charge to ensure its survival and progression. One thing’s for sure, the more obstacles that are put in the way of Ramsgate’s re-generation the more the town’s volunteers rally to keep it functioning.  There are more volunteering groups in Ramsgate than you can shake a stick at and even the Town Councillors donated their expenses to the good of the town.

We in Ramsgate have a marvellous opportunity to illustrate that “Localism” can really work and take charge of our own destiny to thwart those faceless individuals who are jealous of Ramsgate’s magnificent beauty and resilience. 

West by Sou’west

Water to the North.

Water to the East.

Water to the South-East.

The clue is in the name “Isle of Thanet”, before draining of an area around the River Wantsum in the Middle Ages, Thanet was in fact an island.  Access onto this” island” is still from one direction only, West by South-West, a corridor where all land based communication must pass.

This has certain repercussions for the prosperity of the area, everything and everyone has to enter and exit from one direction, which makes for an amount of isolation. This is a geographic fact of life which cannot be changed, so when planning for airport expansion we must factor into the equation that the airport has a catchment area one quarter the size of an inland airport. This is a good reason to plan for moderate expansion and not be too over ambitious about its growth potential. This is not to say that a thriving airport does not have a part to play in the regeneration of Thanet but it will not single-handedly be Thanet’s saviour.

The degree of isolation caused by Thanet’s island status has a certain allure to tourists and this should be promoted and encouraged to build on the foundations set by the Turner Contemporary.

Another factor which is overlooked when planning a massive airport expansion is our newly acquired HS1 train service joins the main high speed line at Ashford where it competes with Channel Tunnel traffic for space on the high speed line. Trains from Thanet will always be considered secondary to the cross channel services.

We need a reality check and some solid research into these aspects of airport expansion to establish what is feasible and what is fantasy.