Now the dust has settled and the hoo hah is finished it is time for reflection. For
me it is a bitter sweet result, one one hand and given the way I was
treated by the Labour Party ( I am now a former member ) I am happy that
they got more or less wiped out. I am exceptionally pleased that the
two carpetbaggers didn't get elected in Newington. I am deeply saddened
that the architect of the anti airport stance, Peter Campbell got reelected supported by another anti Michelle Fenner. I suppose that it
says that they are good ward Councillors. I know that Jenny Matterface and Iris Johnston are both excellent ward Councillors and that is why they got reelected. Obviously given my political
outlook I am disappointed that UKIP have taken control. In all the
excitement people seem to have overlooked the fact that being a
Councillor is about a lot more than getting Manston reopened. They will
have my full wholehearted support in that but we will have to see what
else they do in the future.
UKIP have talked the talk but we will see if they can walk the walk. Just out being nosey I took a look at their local Manifesto expecting to see something relevant to Thanet and Ramsgate in particular. Imagine my surprise to find nothing about Thanet at all, not even a word about Manston !! Chris Wells has been a busy boy talking about how TDC is going to set the ball rolling on a CPO, I feel though he would be best advised to wait for the Price Waterhouse Cooper report in the unlikely event that they give the arrangement a thumbs down otherwise it could be egg on face time.
I also hope that they dont get caught up in concentrating on Manston and CPO and forget about all the other things that a Council has to do.
We are promised a return to weekly bin collections, more expensive, more road sweepers, more expensive, a complete rewrite of the Local Plan, very expensive, I hope that they can do all these things within the current Council Tax take otherwise our bills will rise dramatically !!
While on the subject of money and the Council, while I dont know yet who will be responsible for the Councils finances they would be well advised to ask what are we committed to ? At the time of leaving I was aware of nearly £8 million of committed expenditure by way of compensation and requirement to pay for things in which TDC is a partner.
I quite like this article by John Prescott.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-lost-election-5-years-5671406
A Bad Time for some Thanet Bookshops and some Thanet Archive Photos
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This picture is of Saint Augustine's Abbey library in Ramsgate, the shelves
are empty because it was taken after the monks left Ramsgate, link to
more ...
3 months ago