Sell Museum to pay for Pier?

Herne Bay’s Museum and Kings Hall should be sold off to pay for the redevelopment of town’s pier, a new report has suggested. The document, which was written for the city council by consultants Humberts Leisure at a cost of £10,000 reveals few developers are interested in working on the pier and suggests local firms may be the only hope. The consultants recommend demolishing the pavilion building and using the empty pier structure as a performance or events space. A cafe, shops and entertainment venue could replace the hall, and collections in the museum could be relocated to the new pier.

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£20k down a small hole

Just to quickly refresh your memory, dear reader, we are living in times of budget cuts and belt-tightening. There has been widespread local coverage of Canterbury City Council slashing, cutting, trimming and salami slicing. In the expectation that their central funding will be reduced, CCC has been wielding the knife on all but the biggest projects. It came as an unwelcome surprise to me that CCC was proposing to make a £20,000 "contribution to hospitality for the Open Golf Tournament at Sandwich".

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HB Councillors, by Ward

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If you're not sure which Ward you're in, visit: www.canterbury.gov.uk/whatward.php

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Non-HB Councillors

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The official story

For those in search of traditional seaside magic, you will find it in Herne Bay. Two miles of splendid seafront offer seaside favourites in the shape of candyfloss, ice cream parlours, cafés, friendly pubs and fish and chip bars.

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21st century Canterbury

As KCC unveiled its vision for the next 20 years Canterbury City Council has been doing the same. It has begun a six-week public consultation on its Local Development Framework, which should take the district to 2030. Bosses at the city council say the district is at a crossroads and a “window of opportunity” exists to shape it for the next 30 years. Officers have spent the past two years working on the first draft of the 120-page Local Development Framework.

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Wall of silence

The council taxpayers of Herne Bay have just received a reassuring message from the city council. Apparently the town’s museum is not being closed after all - it just will not be open to members of the public! Talk about semantic gibberish!

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Gilbey in fighting mood

"It's really disgraceful. It's absolutely disgraceful that they can't see what this council is doing. But we will fight that. We will fight it tooth and nail to show them what we are doing. No question."

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Gale's View: Town Centre

It has been a long and frustrating time in coming but at last serious proposals for the re-development of the centre of Herne Bay are out in the open.  We need a good mix of high-quality retail, leisure facilities and residential accommodation in the heart of the community to keep the town alive night and day; and I believe that these plans warrant and deserve the backing of the town.

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The ninth iffiest Pier?

Herne Bay pier is among 10 across England and Wales that have been identified as being at serious risk of demolition or collapse. The report from the National Piers Society, placed the town's iconic structure at number nine in a top 10 which also includes Hastings and Brighton West piers in neighbouring East Sussex. But staunch defenders of Herne Bay Pier's future have dismissed the survey as pure conjecture.

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