Category Archives: Kent

To the airport!

Posted on by
1

Airports are looming large in my life at the moment. I’ve been bemused throughout this whole third Heathrow runway vs. Boris Island debate that nobody has thought to look south a little.

Down here in sunny Kent we have Manston, aka Kent International Airport, a former RAF base situated on the Isle of Thanet just outside Ramsgate and Broadstairs. I’m not sure of the exact stat, but the runway is either the longest or the widest in the country, and whichever one it isn’t, it is as near to being the longest/widest as makes no difference. (I believe the other half of this is RAF St. Mawgan, aka Newquay Airport, which has the longest/widest runway, whichever one Manston doesn’t have.)

For one lovely summer the airport at Manston had its own airline, the much missed EU Jet which had a small collection of flights going out to venues across the UK and Europe. Mrs. Snowolf and I were much taken with it – the terminal building was small, the parking was cheap and good and it was only 20 minutes from our front door. Unfortunately EU Jet tried to grow too fast too soon and started to do silly things, like all flights a quid. The planes were full, the coffers were empty.

Barring the occasional freight flight and plane load of package tourists who would normally have been bussed through the channel tunnel or on the ferries, the airport lies unused. It is a crying shame as those who staff it are rightly proud of their airport, and it sits slap bang in the centre of an area which has been devastated by the departure of Pfizer from the site which is practically next door. The jobs generated by the airport being used regularly would be an enormous boon to the local economy. Even the worries of noisy flights passing overhead are mitigated somewhat by the fact that the approach for landing is from the sea, it is only really necessary to approach the airport over the seaport, which will, to an extent, minimise the disruption to local residents.

So when I see this argument about Heathrow vs. Boris, (which sounds like a monster movie that needs to be made now, I can just see a giant CGI Boris stamping all over Feltham, taking bites out of the Terminal 5 building) I find myself wondering how much consideration has been given to the promotion and use of Manston.

The runway can take anything you care to land on it.

The local economy needs the jobs.

There is now a high speed line to London from Ramsgate, which would only need a spur attaching to the airport.

There is a large and functioning seaport next door to the airport which could help a cohesive freight plan.

The road links are pretty damn good with the new Thanet Way leading off the M2 straight to the door of the airport.

Yeah, sure it isn’t as close to London as Heathrow, or a man made island in the Thames estuary. But we know that the west London residents and MPs will create a stink over a third runway, and the environmentalists will do their pieces if the green light is given to the island idea. Whichever one is picked, it will be subject to court challenges, reviews, enquiries, protests and the like. Even once a decision is made it will be years before anything is actually built and ready for use. Then there’s the concerns over the number of planes in the area, if an island is built it will be increasing the traffic in the skies that are already very busy with Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and London City all adding to the mix.

Down south in Kent there’s a place, effectively sat in mothballs that could be used tomorrow. It could free up capacity at Heathrow by taking on freight flights and charter flights, that alone would make a huge difference both to Heathrow and to Thanet’s unemployment figures (it’s one of the worst unemployment black spots in the country). Why not bloody use it?

Well, looks like KLM (now part of Air France) are giving serious consideration to this, they are currently running a survey in partnership with the owners of Manston to test opinion over running twice daily services from the airport to Amsterdam Schiphol, a flight which takes 40 minutes from Thanet, the thinking being that once you’re at Schiphol you’re at a big hub airport from where you can go wherever you like. It sounds like a great idea to me.

The only real purpose of this post is to illustrate that there is an alternative to the two main options on the table, and one that could be deployed in no time at all.

The other purpose of this post is to inform you that tomorrow morning I will be jetting off for my holidays. From Gatwick, unfortunately. I’ve been beset with spam comments recently, and upon my return will be re-visiting my captcha wossname. But I’ve not the inclination to do it today, so this evening I’ll be turning moderation on for the duration of my break.

Be excellent to each other in my absence.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, but no-one has told me how to do it.

Posted on by
3

I’m struggling to comprehend this:

A council spokeswoman said: “Data has shown there are people who don’t go to the beach.

“We have families in Margate and Ramsgate – the more deprived areas – who have never taken their children.”

She said when children from Newington Kids Club in Ramsgate were taken to Dumpton Gap, some of them said they had never been to the beach before.

And when council project officers go into schools, they regularly ask children if they have visited the beach. In nearly every session, there are some children who say no.

Whoa there. You mean to tell me that the reason some parents have never put a pair of shoes on and walked, for free, to the beach, which is free, in their own town is because they are deprived?

*boggle*

That is to say, that it has never occurred to these parents, on a nice day in the school holidays when the kids are bored and climbing the walls to take them down to the bloody beach?

Thanet (Ramsgate, Margate & Broadstairs) has much going against it, however one of the greatest strengths it has are its beaches, most of which are gorgeous sandy affairs. Ramsgate has a corker, Margate’s beach is enormous, literally a five minute walk from the town centre and probably the only high spot in a town which is so faded it is almost transparent. Just outside Broadstairs is the sublime Joss Bay, a beach so beautiful that it could make angels cry, it has surf, numerous rockpools, caves, sea eroded arches in the magnificent cliffs that surround the beach which can be explored at low tide. It’s a great place, look:

You see? Who wouldn’t want to take their kids there? Which child wouldn’t want to go and play in the rock pools looking for crabs and shellfish, or explore the caves and arches? Incidentally, through that arch you see is another enormous beach which on the far side turns into a moonscape of chalky rocks, it really is a wonderful place. And it is free.
How is being deprived preventing you from using this?
Still somebody has a job to protect and so has made sure that a problem is identified. Of course now that the problem has been identified, we need the solution. Can we guess what it is?
The authority has received £100,000 from the Big Lottery Fund to encourage locals to explore the coast.
Whaaaaaaat? A hundred grand, to tell people to walk out from their own bloody front door? You are joking aren’t you?
No, of course not, these are council people, their sense of humour is surgically removed upon induction to the office.
OK, look, perhaps an advertising campaign for the beaches isn’t such a bad idea, there are people from all over Kent who would love using them, plus it could bring some much needed revenue into the towns. It’s going to stop there though, isn’t it?
Activities coming up include a fun day on Margate beach and a “fit and healthy” day on the sands at Ramsgate.
Oh, no, come on, you’re ruining it. A fit and healthy day? Why does everything councils touch have to turn to bland? Kids don’t want that, they want danger, excitement. They want pirates and smugglers, they want a tide race. A tide race is so fun that it would probably be banned if it became widespread. The idea is that on a sandy beach you divvy people up into teams and at low tide, with the aid of shovels, you dig out and build the biggest sand castle you can, at the sound of a whistle, everyone in each team has to jump on, the tide comes in and the last team to be washed away wins.
But no, it’ll have to be an eco-friendly, tofu pimping, five-a-day, socially inclusive, fit and healthy fun day.
Give me strength.
Once again, the state steps in and tells parents; “we will tell you how to raise your kids. Indeed, you can’t be trusted, so we’ll do it for you.”
This is why kids aren’t being taken to the beach – it’s nothing to do with deprivation, it’s to do with being told that your kids aren’t your responsibility and you can only do things when someone organises it for you.
How very tragic.

The One That Is Very Fortunate. . .

Posted on by
2

No political ranting today.

This afternoon Mrs. Wolfers and I took a walk along the River Stour onto Hambrook Marshes, minus the wolf proper as it is too hot for her and she’s still recovering from a bilateral cruciate operation. Despite living in the centre of Canterbury these meadows are only a ten minute walk from my front door, through one of the city’s parks.

There’s a herd of wild horses, a Belgian breed, that live on this meadow, having been introduced by one of the local wildlife charities. They weren’t there today – a shame. They’re very friendly and enjoy having a scratch.

Settings like this, with a gentle breeze, some fluffy clouds scudding across the sky and the sound of the crickets in the long grass, along with what can almost be described as an infestation of the most striking electric blue damsel flies, served to remind me that with all that is wrong with this country, there are still some parts of it that are undeniably England.

Misty eyed nostalgia for a bygone age that probably never existed? Probably, but it is real shame that so few things are as perfect as this place.

Lovely.