Want to join a CAAC?

Finally, TDC have got into gear and are kicking off the required Conservation Area Advisory Committees to go alongside the running of their designated Conservation Areas. Fellow Thanet blogger Cllr Dave Green posted the news of their arrival here
I asked them 18 months ago where my local CAAC was and found they didn't have one.

How are the Conservations Areas run I wondered?

It does bother me that Cllr Green suggests the type of people able to get involved. Why shouldn't just anyone get involved? Why is there a limit?

I was a member of one in in east London for 6 years before coming to Margate. Our numbers fluctuated and we were a group of committed locals. Out photographing planning application sites each month and submitting comments and objections and notifying of unauthorised works. We didn't get into building new works ourselves through funding!

I hope Thanet's CAAC's will be great!

There will be a meeting March 6th Council Chambers at the council offices in Cecil Street, Margate on Thursday 6 March from 6.30pm.

Contact Louise Dandy on 01843 577126 louise.dandy@thanet.gov.uk

Time to rein in the Frankensteins

I'd tuned in to Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago and caught an interview with Tim Knox, director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, going on about the plague of public art projects and statues springing up all over the country. Wonder what he'd make of our Shell Lady.



I saw kids with shell lady mini versions in town yesterday. The invasion has begun. Still wonder where the shells have come from.

Marina Restaurant, Ramsgate RIP

Well, not strictly my patch, but I do take an interest in Ramsgate and things of interest in Thanet in general, especially when there is the wanton destruction of a Listed building under the noses of the authorities. Fello bloggers the delightful Eastcliff Richard and Cllr Dave Green have posted the sad news that the Marina Restaurant building on Ramsgate seafront has unfortunately been demolished. Apparantly there will now be moves to make sure it's reinstated like for like. We'll be watching this space with interest. Espeically given the similar intention of the owners of the tea rooms at Cliff Terrace to get it demolished for years before a developer stepped in to 'make improvements'. One hopes that the authorities will ensure the full weight that legislation affords them with regard to the protection of Listed buildings in Thanet will befall the owner.