This "book" contains all the inportant contact information for Thanet Council, it's councillers and departments.
It may also contain advice and information about getting the best from Thanet Council.
It is collaberativly written so it may contain ommisions or errors. But as more of us add to the Thanet District Council (TDC) Information and Address Book it will become better and better.
You too can freely write for and add to this book. All that you require is a free account.
You will also be able to review your counciller or add information for navigating the red tape.
If you find a topic that you feel you could do a better job of - feel free to add your own page so that readers have a choice. If an area get's crowded we will have a vote to see what should stay.
If you have something to say then you should add it.
If it's a comment then comment and if it's a new bite of information then add it. Sometimes you may be able to write a "better" or fuller page based on the page of another user. That's fine, although good form suggests an attribution is called for.
Over time the book may get heavy and we may need to remove less usefull pages (maybe) but at this stage the book is light and empty so add your stuff.
Links
There is no reason why you can't add links and quotes from your own content (blog, forum, wiki, etc) so long as it has some relivance to the content.
In this way a blog author or webmaster might be able to promote thier own work while adding to ours.
A win-win set-up.
Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974. It occupies the area known as the Isle of Thanet. The district is divided into 23 wards, some of which are included in the three traditional coastal resorts of Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate.
The civil parishes located in the district are:
Margate and Ramsgate are unparished areas, though there are attempts to parish Ramsgate [1]. The district was formed by the merger of Margate and Ramsgate municipal boroughs with Broadstairs and St Peter's urban district and part of Eastry Rural District. An Isle of Thanet Rural District had existed from 1894 and the Local Government Act 1894 until it was abolished in 1935 to form part of Eastry RD.
Because of the three towns, almost the entire coastal area is built on. From Birchington, via Westgate-on-Sea, Margate, Cliftonville, Kingsgate to Ramsgate there is scarcely any unused seafront. Where it is not built upon, the coastline is slightly higher - for example at North Foreland. The whole district suffers from seasonal unemployment, in spite of its proximity to London.
The district is bordered by the City of Canterbury district to west, and the Dover district to the south.
Railway lines encircle the island, giving access to London by two routes. Road links approach from the North Kent coast, Canterbury and Dover. There is an airport at Manston recently renamed Kent International Airport. Ferry services operate to the Continent from Ramsgate.
From The Wikipedia.
I have added this section to allow a good collection of geography to be documented.
If anyone has a map image they can lagitamatly add that would be good.
Untill that time here is a link to the Google map for thanet
This section deals with the elected rather than the admistrative council.
The council and it's meetings are often shrouded in a general lack of easily accessable information deep in the councils own website (if at all).
As such this section deals with meetings, outcomes and time tables. It could also have advice on meetings that the public can attend and related information.
This section of the book I have added so that we can document information pertaining to each counciller such as party affiliation, ward, contact inofrmation and other details (personal websites, email, surgery times etc).
Councillers are invited to add thier own information if they are able. Just grab an account and join on in.
Click on the council members name and you will be taken to the members overview page. This will probably contain an address and a few phone numbers.
There is a link that says "Add Child Page" once you have clicked this you will be taken to a form for you to write your review. This is much the same as blogging or posting a foum message or comment.
you will be able to preview your review and submit it when happy. It will appear as a link under the overview page and other members of this site will be able to post comments.
Give it a go - it's very easy.
Feel compleatly free to link to these sub pages when talking about these councillers.
Feel free when adding pages to link out to relivant resources too.
You can add extra information by adding a comment that the page creator can then add into his or her write up or you can file a child page with the content you wish to add.
Adding sub pages should generally be reserved for stories, opinion and full articles where as comment might be better for smaller "corrections".
The so called members portal is the section of the council website that took the longest to be of much use in relacing a fully functional list of members.
It is aparently a "pilot program" which begs the question where is the current working program?
If a group commits to a new program and removes the old one in favour of the new they are commited to it and can no longer afford to call it pilot, beta or other words indicating it as a test.
The following quote comes from this page
The Member Portal is a pilot programme and it is clear that some Members find it a useful aid to communicating with their constituents. Others feel less ethusiastic towards it.
--Paul Moore
I'd say that not only is it not ready to replace the original information page but that the members themselves are not ready for it to do so either. Which begs another question: Who the hell did they employ to make this waste of cache? Where is the analysis report on the subject that was issued prior to the changes? If one was created at all.
Users, memebrs or passers by who have access to this information may wish to more and I'd be greatfull if you would.
Conservative
This council member not only looks stupid in my personal opinion but also sounds really lame when he mutters about "Cafe Society" without knowing the history of the phrase.
I know this entry will need to become more nutral in view point (sub pages are where comment should go) and I promise that as a good all round coverage is added I will revise this section.
Or should I threaten to revise and say nice things if coverage is not added?
17 Crow Hill
Broadstairs
CT10 1HN
01843 602533 (or fax 01843 224348)
07976 283593
cllr-sandy.ezekiel@thanet.gov.uk
Labour
23 The Paddocks
Broadstairs
CT10 3AJ
01843 602594
poole@btinternet.com
Conservative
The Poop
35 Domneva Road
Westgate
CT8 8PE
01843 836311
I could not just post this page without first sniggering like a school boy at the house name. I wonder what the real story behind that one is.
Ward: Thanet Villages
Party: none / independent
32 High Street
Minster
Ramsgate
CT12 4BU
01843 821919
I confess that at this time you now have all I know.
54 Masons Rise
Broadstairs
CT10 1AZ
0787 5436716
barbara.cook1@tesco.net
Labour
29 Wilfred Road
Ramsgate
CT11 7RD
Phone: 01843 580057
Fax: 01843 580057
You can e-mail me at: barbara@bnicholson9.wanadoo.co.uk
Conservative
42 Northdown Road
Margate
CT9 2RW
0793 1131420
bowenfuller@hotmail.com
Conservative
76 Park Road
Birchington
CT7 0AD
01843 845553
07984 841360
brianandann@birchpark.fs.co.uk
Party: Conservative
Ward: Cliftonville East
121 Monkton Street
Monkton
Ramsgate
CT12 4JQ
01843 821112
Labour
26 Marlborough Road
Margate
CT9 5SU
01843 226182
07814 235245
Party: Conservative
Ward: Thanet Villages
Sea Tower
Spencer Road
Birchington
CT7 9EY
01843 842538 (Fax: 01843 845887)
cllr-charles.hibberd@thanet.gov.uk
Party: Conservative
Ward: Viking
3 Foreland Heights
Broadstairs
CT10 3FU
01843 601117
Labour
28 Clarence Avenue
Cliftonville
Margate
CT9 3DP
01843 298770
Councillor for Thanet District Council.
Mr Green is also a fellow web user and maintains a web blog at http://eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com/ which was closed down suddenly and without clear reason for quite some time. It is suspected that other councillers tried to silence him.
His council pages are one of the few that have anything to see. It seems labour are the only ones with the skill to fill out the pages.
Cllr Green activly invites reports of broken street furniture, pot holes and other invironmental issues. While I may be bias towards him as he is a blogger too he is the only "true Labour" I know of.
As such I leave it to other members to add more nutral review.
Councillor David Green
27 La Belle Alliance Square
Ramsgate
01843 591495
dgreen.home@btinternet.com
David Green has a surgery once a month on the first saturday between 1000 and 1200 at: ECHO community shop, Plains of Waterloo, Ramsgate.
Labour
30A Newington Road
Ramsgate
Kent
CT12 6EE
01843 593447
07793 381194
havingfun@tesco.net
I'm not sure if I should be terrified or impressed by the email address. Good advert for Tesco I guess.
Party: Conservative
Ward: Westbrook
18 Laleham Road
Cliftonville
Margate
CT9 3QA
01843 293523
Labour Party
20 St Peters Road
Margate
CT9 1TF
01843 220174
Labour
27 La Belle Alliance Square
Ramsgate
CT11 8HZ
01843 591495
Ward: Dane Valley (apaprently).
ian.gregory@ekht.nhs.uk
11 Albion Road
St Peters
Broadstairs
Kent
CT10 2UP
I don't feel able to say anything nice so I am going to say nothing at all.
Party: Conservative
Ward: Westgate-on-Sea
20 Barnes Avenue
Westbrook
Margate
CT9 5EQ
01843 299265
cllr-ingrid.spencer@thanet.gov.uk
ingrid.spencer@talk21.com
Labour Ward Councillor representing the residents of Margate Central
Cllr Iris Johnston is possibly the most well known councillor possibly because she enjoies being in the news (and why not) for the support of different causes.
Iris Johnston is another one of the tiny club that have bothered to update or add to thier council provided web page.
You can write to Iris Johnston at:
15 Hatfeild Road
Margate
Kent
CT9 5BL
You can phone Iris Johnston on 01843 299207 and you might get an answer.
iris.johnston@btinternet.com
Iris Johnston's surgeries are held at 44 Northdown Road in Cliftonville the venue can be contacted on 01843 232147.
All this I optained from Ms Johnston's main page. An example of good design.
Iris Johnston is also a member of "Finance, Best Value and Performance Review Panel" as is the other council memebr that has bothered to do anything with this expensive (or very cheap) new council web site.
Independent District Councillor for Birchington South.
Jack Cohen is one of the few members that have taken the time to fill out thier TDC website profile page. Read it here.
Acording to his pages at the TDC website he is a member of "Finance, Best Value and Performance Review Panel"
jackbernard.cohen@virgin.net
2 Leslie Road
Birchington
CT7 9HG
01843 847421 (or Fax 01843 847421)
Party: Conservative
Ward: St Peter
The Old Farmhouse
13 Church Street
St Peters
Broadstairs
CT10 2TT
01843 602834
Party: Conservative
Ward: Viking
5 Merrivale Heights
Broadstairs
CT10 1RG
01843 868652
jkirkpatrick@onetel.net
Party: Conservative
Ward: Nethercourt
38 Goodwin Road
Ramsgate
CT11 0JJ
01843 594857
Cllr-Jill.Kirby@thanet.gov.uk
14 Central Road
Ramsgate
CT11 7SE
07957 151787
Conservative
1 Carlton Avenue
Ramsgate
CT11 9BP
01843 597638
johnfullarton@hotmail.com
Party: Conservative
Ward: Cliffsend & Pegwell
38 Goodwin Road
Ramsgate
CT11 0JJ
01843 594857
cllr-john.kirby@thanet.gov.uk
Labour
8 Irvine Drive
Margate
CT9 3XA
01843 228165
Labour
9 Duncan Road
Ramsgate
CT11 9SU
01843 592302
kaydark@hotmail.com
Party: Conservative
Ward: Central Harbour
Golden Point Farm
115 Monkton Street
Monkton
CT12 4JQ
01843 822368 (Fax: 01843 822368)
07850 233359
agreg115@aol.com
Labour
Flat 1
36 York Street
Broadstairs
CT10 1PB
01843 865474
higgsl@parliament.uk
Now that domain name gave me pause for thought. If this member can arrange for anofficial email address why not the others? Perhaps this site should offer all councillers an address.
Ward: Cliftonville West
77 Dumpton Park Drive
Broadstairs
CT10 1RH
Phone: 01843 602490
llaldred@yahoo.co.uk
Party: Conservative
Ward: Birchington South
Walnut Tree Cottage
16A Grenham Road
Birchington
CT7 9JH
01843 841545
Party: Conservative
Ward: Cliftonville East
57 Cornwall Gardens
Cliftonville
Margate
CT9 2JE
01843 299484
cllr-martin.wise@thanet.gov.uk
Labour
23 Holbrook Drive
Ramsgate
CT12 6DY
01843 590119
cllr-mike.harrison@thanet.gov.uk
Party: Conservative
Ward: Thanet Villages
10 Earlsmead Crescent
Cliffsend
Ramsgate
CT12 5LQ
01843 595065
michael.roberts@thanet.gov.uk
michael.rob653@onetel.net
Party: Conservative
Ward: Westbrook
11 Westbrook Gardens
Margate
CT9 5DJ
01843 293733 (Fax: 01843 293733)
margatecarnivalgroup@btinternet.com
Labour.
No known mail address please help.
Works at Thanet College in the Dyslexia Support Service.
07766 452552
michellefenner@hotmail.com
35 Grafton Road
ST Peters
CT10 3DW
01843 861030
Labour
cllr-richard.nicholson@thanet.gov.uk
29 Wilfred Road
Ramsgate
CT11 7RD
01843 580057
Another member with an official email address. So they are available then.
Conservative
Getting very fed up with typing such little information about each of our secretive councillers I chose to web search this one.
All I found was this interesting missive.
Dear Councillor
I thought you would like to know that it is no longer possible to contact you directly by email via the TDC website. When one clicks on your name as it appears as a link to information about you one moves into a realm of the surreal where one is asked for passwords or to write your website for you. Rude messages like “Access denied. You do not have permission to perform this action or access this resource” come up.
This link takes you to the information about councillor Ezekiel’s information on the TDC website and is typical of all the other councillors web presence http://councillors.thanet.gov.uk/sites/sandyezekiel/default.aspx it looks appalling and shows both you and the council in a bad light...
michaelsbookshop.com
Contact info:
'Dunollie'
Second Avenue
Kingsgate
CT10 3LL
01843 869506
cllr-robert.bayford@thanet.gov.uk
bobbreggub@aol.com
Party: Conservative
Ward: Birchington North
10 Seaview Road
Birchington
CT7 9LB
01843 841956 (Fax: 01843 841956)
07795800329
cllr-roger.latchford@thanet.gov.uk
roger.latchford@btinternet.com
Ward: Dane Valley
6 Orchard Gardens
Westbrook
CT9 5JT
01843 832888
I do not feel I can say anything nice so I am asking others to contribute content.
Conservative
54 Norfolk Road
Cliftonville
CT9 2HZ
01843 230509
01843 230516
Ward: Dane Valley.
354 Northdown Road
Margate
CT9 3PH
08701 347682
I'm going to ask others to write this one up as this counciller has never replied to any communication to date and I'm likely to say "un nice things".
Thank you for understanding.
Party: Conservative
Ward: Garlinge
11 Westbrook Gardens
Margate
CT9 5DJ
01843 293733 (Fax: 01843 293733)
margatecarnivalgroup@btinternet.com
29 Glencoe Road
Margate
CT9 2SL
01843 228071
121 Sea Road
Westgate
CT8 8QE
07966 456403
simonday@clara.co.uk
I could find no further worthy information about this person on the web.
I appeal for members of this site to show me up by finding something.
Party: Labour
Ward: Eastcliff
24 Muir Road
Ramsgate
CT11 8AX
01843 594821
steve_ward@btinternet.com
Party: Liberal Democrat
Ward: Bradstowe
7 Dickens Road
Broadstairs
CT10 1DX
01843 600730
trevoremes@freenet.co.uk
Party: Conservative
Ward: Bradstowe
Bill Hayton
12 Cecilia Road
Ramsgate
Kent CT11 7DY
01843 591529 (Fax: 01843 584950)
bill.hayton@thanet.gov.uk
Party: Conservative
Ward: Viking
2 West Cliff Road
Broadstairs
CT10 1PU
01843 862107
Labour
Flat 2
Newington Court
152 Newington Road
Ramsgate
CT12 6PU
Surgeries are also believed to be held at this address.
01843 580534
Party: Conservative
Ward: St Peters
01843 861562
07890 649550
The council and it's members often use terms and make references that the rest of us find incomprohensible like the mutterings about "Cafe Society".
This section of our great book is here to address such coucnil speak along with it's use of made up words.
This is so regular people know what they are... um... talking about.
On this page I addressed on this site the issue of "Cafe Society" because in the "Isle of Thanet Gazette, Friday, September 29, 2006", Page 2, Council Sandy Ezekiel is quoted as saying "...it is one of our mainstays in the Conservitive group to promote cafe society."
I wondered without seriousness if this was some confusion of Conservatives Against a Federal Europe or a reference to a new form of aggression that relies on a gesticulation more usually associated with Roman cafe society.
However, I knew that this was just pointless sarcasm and that I had no idea. So I emailed a few poeple a few members of the council replied. But more on that further on.
The wikipdeia has this to say:
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "beautiful people" and "bright young things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in Paris, London, Rome or New York, beginning in the late 1800s. Although members of café society were not necessarily members of The Establishment or other ruling class groups, they were people who attended each other's private dinners and balls, took holidays in exotic locations or at elegant resorts, and whose children tended to marry the children of other café society members.
In the United States, café society came to the fore with the end of Prohibition in December 1933 and the rise of photo journalism, to describe the set of people who tended to do their entertaining semi-publicly, in restaurants and night clubs and who would include among them movie stars and sports celebrities.
In the late 1950s the term "Jet Set" began to take the place of "café society", but "café society" may still be used informally in some countries to describe people who habitually visit coffeehouses and give their parties in restaurants rather than at home.
So unless we have some better information we could conlude that Cllr Ezekiel wants to promote a Jet-Set for thanet. A group of rich people with nothing better to do than take skiing holidays probablly paid for by expensive projects like the Turner Centre that can be used to suck up vast ammounts of tax payer money.
Interestingly there was also a nightclub that traded on the use of this name:
Café Society was also a New York City nightclub opened in 1938 in Greenwich Village by Barney Josephson to showcase African American talent and to be an American version of the political cabarets he had seen in Europe before the war. Josephson also intended the club to defy the pretensions of the rich; he chose the name to mock Clare Booth Luce and what she referred to as "café society", the habitués of more upscale nightclubs. Josephson not only trademarked the name, which had not been trademarked by the gossip columnist for the New York Journal American M, who wrote as the first "Cholly Knickerbocker". but advertised the club as "The Wrong Place for the Right People." Josephson opened a second branch on 58th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenue, in 1940.
--wikipdeia
But as the conservative websites are silent on this "mainstay" I was baffled untill Cllr David Green pointed me to this long winded PDF. "I think its about tables and chairs" he told me. It seems that Café Society means allowing the greasy spoons and other caf's to put thier tables and chairs on the street. However, as we shall shortly learn the working group (or whatever) for this has never met.
That's why the newspaper story of the counciller that resigned.
Too right too.
But all this puts me in mind of the fuss of getting the upper class decks and chairs sorted out on the sinking titanic. That is not to say that I think Thanet is a sinking ship but the similarities scare the crap out of me.
"Although I cannot answer for Cllr Ezekiel I believe he was referring to the 'cafe society' where people sit outside and eat." says Iris Johnston in her reply to me.
She continues in her explination and enlightens us greatly on this secret mainstay.
"The Council has promoted the idea of tables and chairs outside cafes as in warmer countries and a working party was to be set up to set out guidlines and charges. I have complained on several occasions that the group has yet to meet." (which we had established).
"There has been problems at the Parade in Margate where my advice to work with all food providers was not listened to since 2003. Cllr Ezekiel recently told me there was no need to have proper arrangements ...he was involved in a disasterous road closure episode recently where no one had a clue what was going on and I spent my weekend placating traders in my ward We have real disagreements between some traders on whose tables and chairs should be where and a nice idea is being spoiled by lack of proper procedures." (abridged).
Cllr Johnstone then continued to explain exactly what had happened in a way that I only wish the newspaper had done.
Councillor Cohen a former chairman of Planning was quite right to put his question at Full Council (Gazette story Rossetti Gardens Birchington) to Councillor Latchford. The Cabinet member for Tourism and Leisure is often the first port of call for someone wishing to use public open space. He can agree to its use or bring it to Cabinet. He should also advise that planning permission/advice must be sought with full public consultation. This didnt happen in Birchington and is only beginning to happen after pressure from me in Margate. Councillor Cohen has left the Conservative Group at TDC and sits alone and Cllr Latchford simmered throughout the meeting with anger. Cllr Kirby had to cover up their incompetence and an officer was blamed. No one knows who the officer is!
From this I can only conclude that this Café Society of Cllr Ezekiel is a strangly anarcho-communistic* by-pass of planning permision. I strangely as I would have expected something this far left of centre to be the soul domain of the labour party. It's that or Cllr Ezekiel has taken a bribe that no one is aware of.
*note: see also Libertarian Communism.
Anarchist communism stresses egalitarianism and the abolition of social hierarchy and class distinctions that arise from unequal wealth distribution, the abolition of capitalism and money, and the collective production and distribution of wealth by means of voluntary associations.
In anarchist communism, the state and property would no longer exist. Each individual and group would be free to contribute to production and to satisfy their needs based on their own choice. Systems of production and distribution would be managed by their participants.
-wikipedia.org
What I wonder is why the leader of Thanet's right wing party is promoting such a left wing ideal?
What is going on at Thanet Council?
Who is realy in control, if any one?
It seems that this could be a potentially cynical and depressive death rattle of a council ready to give up the ghost to a great power. Does anyone know if Kent Council are thinking of anexing the district council?
Is Thanet Council in danger of become a puppet to some one or some thing else?
Were we invaded and no one told us?
This is truely a scary place to be.
When information does not seem to fit into any of the current section and it does not seem to you that a new section is justified this general information is the chapter to file it under.
For example you can currently access an A to Z on the council's own site here however the council regularly changes these things.
The council's official site runs some unknown CMS on a Windows based IIS server running the Microsoft .NET Framework (Version:1.1.4322.2300) and ASP.NET (Version:1.1.4322.2300)
Currently the A to Z is very unfriendly to use (if say you don't know the name of the department you need).
Fortunatly we are creating a book of inofrrmation that may be of more help.
This section is dedicated to information relating to council tax, and related benifits.
It may include information on what to sya, how to say it and when the best time to visit is.
Once the book begins to fill it may also include information on what forms you needs and where to get them from.
It is possible to calculate roughly what sort of housing and council tax benifit you might get with the councils online form.
I have no idea if this is any good.
http://www.thanet.gov.uk/databases/wbc/index.html
This is possibly one of the nastiest places that a human being ever has to go.
The waiting area is often grossly overcrowded and stuffy and the chances are that you will hear some pritty ripe language before you are seen to. It's not a place to take children.
The waiting time at some points is as great as two and ahalf hours or more.
The chances are that the staff at the desk will be curt to the point of rudeness and will suffer boats of selective deafness and repeat-my-lines-untill-you-go-away-itus.
The only reason you should ever visit this desk is to submit documentation. You may be tempted to post said documentation but the rate of loss is very high and that recipit could save you weeks of lost benifit.
Most people go to this desk when they have a question or need to talk to someone.
When they do this they will be playing a sick game of wispers. The person you talk to has no direct control over your account other than to "misslay" important things if you insult them (even when they started it).
When you ask them a question they will know the answer because they have a set of lines they have been briefed to deliver or because they have a flow chart out back that they read from or because they have gone out the back and phoned upstairs.
Save youself the hassle of convincing this monkey that you have a lagitimate claim or point but talk directly to the organ grinder.
To do this phone benifits on the correct number (given at the end) or speak to reception when you arrive. They will point you to an unattended internal phone (often gathering dust) that you can use to speak directly to the clerk that can answer you directly.
Be VERY polite and plesnet to this person as they do not make any disicians about your claim but can set all sorts of flags against your file that can cause you extra red tape or reduce it.
These people know, or can find out, the answer to every question and problem you have.
When they say you need to fill out six forests of forms and they are now in the post - say "thank you" and then book an appointment with some one that can help you fill them out.
There is also a security gaurd watching the benefits desks and untill such time as they give this guy the promotion he deserves he will be able to point you to the correct forms (in a massive rack), desks, phones and other information.
The security guy is your best friend.
When you need to show some proofs to the desk (often undermanned) there are good days and bad. Fridays are a bad day. and the best time is Tuesday at 9am or Thursday at 9am. If 9am is hard for you (why do you think it's such a good time to be there) the morning of each day is still fairly slow.
Get in, hand in and get out. Ask no questions, make only small talk while you have to. Smile, say "thank you" and walk away.
When you have to show some evidence at the desk walk up (on your turn) say "I need to show this, this and this" or "I need to hand in this". Then collect the recipt and put it somewhere safe so that you can find it again if/when the benefits department losses the documents. They take photo copies of most stuff (like ID)
If you see a lot of people waiting take a ticket then chat to the security guy and ask him politly if he has an idea of the likely waiting time. There is a good chance that you can get your shopping done or have a meal and still get back in time.
Yes it is that bad and worse.
One last thing. If you must go on a friday expect a very crouded room full of people wanting beer money and bring a big big book (you will need it). Also expect not to get to sit down.
Phone numbers:
There are four sections to deal with claims they are devided by the surname of the claimant as follows.
01843 577554 (A-DON)
01843 577555 (DOO-KER)
01843 577556 (KES-RIC)
01843 577551 (RID-Z)
Not listed on the A to Z is a fax number: (01843) 230404 but you will need to phone the relivant number first to find out what can be faxed and what must be shown to the desk staff.
The lines are open between 8.45 am to 4 pm according to the website but you may get an answer as late as 5:30 but after that give up untill the next day. They don't work sundays and you will be luck to get an answer saturdays.
They have an email address:
benefits@thanet.gov.uk
Sometimes given as Benefits@thanet.gov.uk (capital B) On some systems this difference can cause an email to fail so CC the capitalised address to be sure.
There are also some other numbers but I have little idea what they are for.
01843 577369 Investigations
01843 577550 Benefits Payments/Overpayments
Thanet Council as many other councils are the landlord to a great many families.
Now, the issues of insufficient stock aside, this section details information on the topic of the Council as Land Lord.
DRAFT:
There is currently some issue with getting works carried out. To start with TDC forward all calls to Mears and therein lies the rub.
Mears have different numbers depending exactly what it is you want. If it's gas appliences needing a fix then you get an 0800 number (0800 731 2826) but as this seems to have been having "technical difficulties" since before Christmas good luck getting through on that one.
Try calling 01843 577266 to get the council department but do not be supprised if you get Mears anyway. So don't bother phoning if you wish to complain about Mears.
General repairs is supposed to be 0800 0234 320 out of hour try 01843 292442 or drop an email to housing.repairs@thanet.gov.uk but be warned that they have every right to claim that they never got the message.
You can try this form but I personally would not hold out much hope of ever getting Thanet Council to respond to a digital message.
So if a phone call leads to no joy your best bet is to write a note and post it to the council with "Housing Repairs" on the top. Admitedly that grants them the freedom to take over a week to react.
Other than that perhaps advertising to them that this page currently says what it does might cause a possitive change but do not hold your breath.
The council page for repairs is http://www.thanet.gov.uk/housing/council_housing/housing_repairs.aspx which makes it look like thier "SEO" expert doesn't quite understand the use of "_" vs "-"... but I digress.
The council are responsible for all common areas although expirence has shown that they rarely maintain the common hall lights.
This section has been started to detail FOI and DPA issues and advice.
If you have an area of knowledge within these fields please feel free to add what you know.
As we have already learned secrets are bad for the public good however in 2006 we descovered that the location of new dental surgeries is to be kept secret.
It was for this reason that in 2000 to 2002 a new set of laws collectivly called the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) were created.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (2000 c. 36) is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level, with the exception of Scottish bodies, which are covered by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (2002 asp. 13).
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (2000 c. 36) is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level. It is an Act of Parliament that introduces a public "right to know" in relation to public bodies. The act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election. The final version of the act is believed to have been diluted from that proposed while Labour was in opposition. The full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The act itself is Crown copyright but can be found at the Web site of the Stationery Office.
from the wikipedia
Any person can request information under the act; this includes legal entities such as companies. There is no special format for a request. Applicants do not need to mention the act when making a request. Applicants do not have to give a reason for their request.
There are three relativly unusal clauses given below (edit version of the wikipedia article)
Requests by individuals for access to their own personal information falls outside the act, and will continue to be dealt with under the Data Protection Act 1998. Which means you may have to pay one or more fees.
Requests for information about matters concerning the environment are dealt with by the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Those regulations, while similar to the FOIA do differ in a number of ways.
There is no procedure whereby third parties can challenge a decision by a public authority to disclose information: for instance, if a commercial organisation provides information to a public authority, and the authority discloses that information in response to a FOI Act request, the commercial organisation has no right of appeal against that decision.
We all know that for each accounting period the council has a wedge of grant money to spend.
This section is awaiting for people to fill this section with thier knowledge.
I figured that a section on the arts and the councils support (or lack thereof) for them might be a good section.
Feel free to add what you know as I'm pritty ignorant in this area.