Transport of Live Animals from the Port of Ramsgate

By Cllr Michelle Fenner

 

Sadly, the transport of live animals has taken place on 2 occasions during the last few weeks from the Port of Ramsgate.

This situation has arisen as Dover currently does not have the capacity because of the refurbishment of 2 berths.

The company owners have not requested any facilities from Thanet Council to take care of the needs of farm animals if they are stationary in the port of Ramsgate, arguing that they would move them inland.

This type of uncaring treatment has led to the Lisbon Treaty, article 13 (2009) which re-classifies live animals as ‘sentient beings’ rather than ‘goods’.

The current argument against a ban is that it would allow a quantitative restriction on imports and exports. This argument is based on legislation from 1847 which assumes live farm animals to be ‘goods’.

Today the Labour Group gave written notice of a motion to full council that Thanet Council seeks legal opinion on the legality of a ban on the transport of live animals from the Port of Ramsgate.

Night flights study to be taken with a pinch of salt!

The recent study produced by York Aviation, and paid for by Infratil, is based on an aspirational Airport Master Plan which was also produced by Infratil. It was no doubt designed to influence the local media, Councillors and planners, and is an expression of Infratil's hopes for the future. Master Plans are at best guesses and should be treated with appropriate scepticism.

The Manston Master Plan, published in October 2008, predicts a throughput of 2.2 million passengers and 167,000 tonnes of freight a year by 2018 with employment rising to 3,500. There appears little or no justification for these figures as Airports and Airlines, for their own commercial reasons, tend to exaggerate the number of jobs that will be created by airport expansion: they have shareholders to keep happy.

Currently all Regional Airports are suffering due to the economic down turn and if new runways are ever built at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted the future for Manston could be very bleak indeed.

Thanet Labour Deputy Leader Cllr Alan Poole said "Manston is operating nowhere near capacity during the day (07:00 to 23:00) and the introduction of night flights from 23:00 to 07:00 simply cannot be justified. Night flights could bring untold misery to Thanet’s residents. Sadly our local health statistics are already the worst in Kent and sleep deprivation is known to cause heart problems and further reduce life expectancy. The health and quality of life for Thanet’s residents must surely remain paramount considerations".

Thanet Labour Leader Cllr Clive Hart said "In so many ways our relatively poorer district here in Thanet is all too often seen as a very convenient dumping ground by an otherwise prosperous south-east economy and the protection of our local communities and their delicate local environment must therefore be our main priorities. Let's be clear, we - Thanet Labour - most certainly want Manston to succeed and to be prosperous. We certainly want good jobs for local people but we will not be hoodwinked by a study so clearly designed to benefit private interest and run roughshod over the threatened local communities that we represent".

Proud to be Pluralist

By Councillor Linda Aldred

The results of the recent District elections left Thanet with no one political party gaining an overall majority. Within the two main groups (Conservatives 27 - Labour 26) there are very different scenarios indeed.

The Conservative group is made up of 20 men and 7 women. The Labour Group is made up of 14 men and 12 women.

At Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet level the differences are more pronounced. The Conservative Cabinet is totally made up of men whilst the Labour Shadow Cabinet is made up of 3 men and 2 women.

Now I'm a great believer in the right person for the job, whatever their gender, but are the Conservatives really saying that there are no women members in their group good enough for the job? What message does that send to the general public as a whole?

At the first meeting of Thanet Council since the elections I was very pleased to look around our assembled Labour group and see a real cross section of the communities we represent. There was a reasonable balance of male and female members from a wide range of age groups, and our number came from many walks of life.

The view on the Conservative benches was altogether different. A group very much dominated by, and exclusively led by, 'senior' men.

Our new Chairman

Thanet Council press release about the aims for the year ahead of the new Chairman of the Council Doug Clark.


http://www.thanet.gov.uk/news/latest_press_releases/new_chairman_elected.aspx

A good night at Thanet District Council

The newly enlarged twenty-six strong Thanet Labour Group took up their new positions on Thursday evening at the Thanet District Council AGM.

 

Firstly, in the council's primary civic roles, Cllr Doug Clark JP was elected as Council Chairman and Cllr Kay Dark as Vice Chairman.

On the political front, Labour Group Leader Cllr Clive Hart now heads a team of five Shadow Cabinet members including Cllr Alan Poole the Labour Deputy Leader and Cllrs Iris Johnston, Michelle Fenner and Richard Nicholson.

The TDC Labour Shadow Cabinet - left to right - Cllrs Alan Poole, Michelle Fenner, Clive Hart, Iris Johnston and Richard Nicholson.

Cllr David Green will be joint Vice Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel andCllr Harry Scobie will Chair the Joint Transportation Board.

 

Cllrs Peter Campbell and John Edwards are now the Vice Chairs of Governance and Audit and Licensing respectively.

 

Labour Group Leader Clive Hart said "I am absolutely delighted to lead a much larger Labour Group at TDC. The outcome of both the local elections and Thursdays AGM undoubtedly means there will need to be more cross party working at TDC. However, it is very important to understand, this is not a coalition and we in the Labour Group are now stronger, with our own set of very distinct policies that we will pursue".

Ed Miliband praises Thanet result

Ed Miliband has spoken positively in The Independent about Labour's promising local election results in Thanet last week. “We made big gains in Thanet and Thurrock,” he said. “We made progress, it's a staging post.”

Elsewhere, on the Progress website, Luke Akehurst referred to Thanet as a 'bright spot' in Labour's electoral fortunes by acknowledging that “good hauls of seats” were won.

Though no party won an outright majority, it is fair to say that Thanet Labour made impressively strong gains, so it's very reassuring to see Ed Miliband and Luke Akehurst recognize the good work that went into achieving this.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who voted Labour last week. In doing so, you've helped send a strong message of discontent to the local Conservative group about the way they've been running our council. It's now time for them to listen to what the people of Thanet want!

Oh Roger

Roger Gale appears to be trying to rewrite history to turn last weeks local elections into a victory for the Conservative Party in Thanet. Lets look at the raw facts.

1. The Conservatives lost five seats, one in North Thanet and four in South Thanet.
2. They only just held onto two more of their seats as they won by twenty five votes in Garlinge and only two in Beacon Road!
3. There was a 5% swing in the vote from Conservative to Labour.
4. Nearly every other Conservative Council in Kent was able to hold power (except Gravesham) and in many cases actually gained seats.

The result for the Thanet Conservative party when compared to the rest of the South East and Kent is appalling. When you look at Thanet against seats just like it in the South East like Dover and Dartford it really shows how bad the Thanet result was. Roger is right when he says no party won, but after his party has just taken a pasting in the elections perhaps he should think before he writes.