Why the Margate Town Deal is Failing – Part 1…
It is with great frustration and disappointment that GRASS Cliftonville CIC have decided to go public with our experiences working with Thanet District Council (TDC) on the Margate Town Deal. We have reached this difficult decision due to the lack of progress and support provided by TDC throughout this arduous process.
For the past eight months, work on our project has been placed on hold, forcing us to change our project programme multiple times, and delaying the start date of our build from September 2023 to September 2024. Unfortunately, the inefficiency of TDC’s regeneration project team has resulted in inflation eating away at the Margate Town Deal’s rapidly depleting funds, making all the projects much less viable. Despite repeatedly expressing our concerns to the Director of Regeneration about the impact of these delays on our match funding applications and overall project delivery, little progress has been made, and we have faced numerous challenges and obstacles that have made every step feel like an uphill battle.
It has become painfully clear to us that the Margate Town Deal’s project team has allocated insufficient resources to the Coastal Wellbeing projects, leaving the Cliftonville community on the back burner. We have not received the revenue funding that should have been allocated to our project, which instead was directed to TDC’s own projects, making the delivery of The Oval Bandstand’s project much more difficult. This imbalance raises serious questions about the council’s commitment to serving the best interests of the Margate community.
Over the next few days we will be making further announcements about our experiences working with TDC on the Margate Town Deal, including additional information on our missing revenue funding, as well as details about our contract negotiations and TDC’s insistence that we sign an NDA clause before we receive the remainder of our funding.
Good luck with this.
Now some of you will understand why thanet is so run down. Its not because of the locals as some have said. Rather the council.
You support projects and the council just sit back and do next to nothing, till all your energies gone and your mental healths on the brink.
For example Northdown Road was made into a conservation zone. The council don’t even know what one is and still dont have an official guide.
When this was proposed they were ment to give shops a £2000 grant each to sort out the front windows. Instead they gave the money to Dalby Square garden. I feel that was just because they had the new investors doing the properties.
Just look at Northdown Road the council have spent nothing or even got any funding at all since it was made a conservation area to improve it for the community.
We can relate to tour observation about our energy being gone and mental health on the brink, as dealing with TDC is horrendous. We love your shop and can see that the Northdown Road has really improved recently with loads of great things going on, despite TDC’s lack of vision and effort, and it’s all down to people like you. Keep up the good work, and thank your for your support.
That is an absolute travesty! But comes as no surprise to me tbh. I’ve lived here since I was 6 im 66 now and over the years have witnessed TDC allowing this once beautiful town to become an utter eyesore. The beautiful Victorian shelters falling down, the iron railings along the coast going rusty and neglected. I’m so saddened to read this and hope you continue to fight on. We have just left the oval after a lovely evening the bandstand looks glorious. I wish you luck with your continued work.
Thank you for your support Melanie.