Who will save the pierhead?

The Council won't and the Pier Trust can't

Today's HB Times HB Gazette (oops!) highlights the worsening state of the pierhead. Apparently it's outside the Pier Trust's remit, and the Council just watches from the shore to see if the lightbulbs need changing - their bare legal obligation. If we do nothing, time and tide will take their toll, and we will have nothing but rust and memories.

Write to your Councillors and your MP - click this link: WriteToThem.

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Isolated at sea, exposed to the elements and crumbling, the old pier rotunda looks unlikely to survive the winter intact. This week outrage grew at the lack of protection given to the iconic building as recent storm damage to the battered structure became visible from the shore.

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Bay's renewal plan is 'second best in Europe'

I'm intrigued by this award. I've asked the Strasbourg judges for a copy of the prize-winning bid, but they said they weren't allowed to release it. So I've asked Mr Rynne of CCC for a copy - I'll share it with you when I get it.

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Herne Bay's plans for regeneration are the second best in Europe, according to a European poll. Judges in Strasbourg voted the town's efforts into second place in the Council of Europe's Best Practice Awards for Coastal Towns.

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Pier review

Well, it's all kicking off over at the Pier Trust - name-calling, playground threats, hair-pulling, you name it.

Once upon a time, the Herne Bay Pier Trust had a nice little Facebook site which people would saunter over to from time to time, to find out what was new, and add their words of wisdom and encouragement.

How times change.

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News from the end of the Pier

Herne Bay Pier Trust Newsletter

Spring 2012

Hello members,

Well, we have had a lot of coverage about the future of the pier in the local press over the last few weeks – some of it correct and some… rather misleading. So we thought our members would like to have the facts from the horse’s mouth.

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HB Exhibition at King's Hall

There was commerce, campaigners, councillors and charities crammed into Herne Bay's Kings Hall for the town's annual business expo exhibition. It was opened by the Lord Mayor of Canterbury Ian Thomas on Wednesday. The city council's senior projects manager, Patrick Rynne, who helped to arrange the event, said:

"There were 46 businesses and 22 projects represented in the hall, with more than 500 visitors at the exhibition. Herne Bay should feel justifiably proud of the interest the town is attracting. This really highlighted the success stories we are seeing."

Herne Bay Pier Trust unveiled a multicoloured model of an extended pier.

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Council demolition failure

Now this is interesting. Firstly Mr McMahan doesn't say where his figure of £750,000 comes from - is this what CCC have actually paid the contractors? - but I really like his idea that money generated from the demolition could have been re-invested in the Pier.

Secondly, the Council spokesman (Wormtongue, as I think of him) seems to be having trouble with numbers when he says "... it was discovered that the amount of asbestos in the building was understated and its removal was more problematic than first envisaged. The council has incurred no extra cost ...".

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Pier pressure

At long last our Council has described its vision for the future of our Pier. In a word: short.

Some of the trustees of the Pier Trust have been angling for a new Pier for years if not decades. All of the trustees have given generously of their time and expertise. They have drawn together a wealth of national and international experts to produce first rate proposals and business plans which they presented to our Council.

CCC dismissed them, and now we know why.

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Our Council must support the Pier Trust

An open letter to CCC from the Pier Trust's ex-Treasurer Jason Hollingsworth and ex-Chairman Graham Cooper:

In light of all the recent Council criticism of the Pier Trust in the press, as past Trustees we feel compelled to respond and set the record straight.

Firstly and perhaps rather tellingly, our first observation is astonishment that CCC should level any criticism at the Trust at all, after all the Pier Trust is a community organisation and if the council considers there are deficiencies why has CCC not done the right thing and wholeheartedly got behind the Trust and to support it and help to rectify those supposed failings.

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Pier Trust reveals extension plans

Campaigners have unveiled plans to extend the pier and build a new pavilion. Members of Herne Bay Pier Trust revealed details of the scheme – the brainchild of graphic designer Dave Parish – ahead of a crucial council meeting to debate the pier's future after council officers claimed the lack of a clear plan for the site meant that "difficult decisions" would have to be made.

In a six-page report due to be discussed by the council's ruling executive on 2nd Feb, council officer Dawn Hudd raised a number of issues.

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The Pier Pavilion... not to be missed ;-)

Well, dear reader, here's an interesting little something... a report on our dainty little town, as viewed through the eyes of a visitor from afar.

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RE: Herne Bay Pier Pavilion

Dear Sir/Madam,

We recently visited Herne Bay for the first time and on the whole enjoyed our day in the town. However, we were both rather horrified and aghast at the sight of the 1976 Pier Pavilion.

After recovering from our disbelief we decided that while a building so municipal, imposing and downright ugly may have made sense on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, as the focal point of a 'Victorian' coastal resort it was akin to seeing the Queen making a public appearance with chocolate spread smeared on her cheek.

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