Thanet Council - Information and Critique - Thanet District Council

Site Redevlopment and Changes

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:02:33 +0100

This site does not fullfill it's original purpose and so must be changed.

To this end we are going to start afresh splitting the site into three or more unique sites each with a unique domain name.

We will in time produce a search engine specifically for thanet content.

None of us intended to become administrators of a large and unwieldy system to complex for the average web user to consider using. But we have become this.

Who will control the council next

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:52:18 +0000

News Round Up.

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:19:11 +0000

For me personally being interviewed by the BBC tomorrow about what it is like to live arround here and other issues for a political lunchtime program is the highlight.

But for those of you that are not me here is the news in brief.

Fair Trial or a good way to "loose" those with opinions?

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:03:51 +0000

Thanet Council have introduced a new axe to threaten it's tenants with. The "demoted tenancy" allows the council to "...place residents guilty of anti-social behaviour on probabtion for a year." (source: Your Say Winter 2006 No 30.)

What worries me is the test of guilt.

In the past a formal complaint was all that was required to establish guilt.

It seems that if you rent from the council (as I do) that the rule is guilt by acusation and it is up to you to prove yourself innocent. Something that is almost impossible in many cases.

If I sleep with my feet in the freezer and my head in the oven...

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:37:03 +0000

The Thanet Times (Tuesday, October 31, 2006) wanted to shock us with the "fact" that we have 119 registered sex offenders living in Thanet with a population of 120,000.

Then without converting to a compariable measure they state the Kent average is 59 per 100,000.

Matt looks at the numbers and shows us what they mean

Have your say on Council services?

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:01:28 +0100

"You could be amongst a group of people chosen at random to have their say on Council services and how they can be improved in the future." say council.

It seems that TDC want to listen (for a change?) and are sending out surveys "at random".

As always we can expect the usual level of "fairness" and total "lack" of bias. (yeah right!)

Demoted Tenancies - New TDC proposals.

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:25:50 +0100

Some people might be aware that TDC introduced a period of introductiory tenancies which means that new council tenants are not full tenants for a year.

This means that bad tenants can be quickly got rid of only if they are bad tenants in that year. However it also means that right to buy takes an extra year to become available.

With the shortage of housing caused by no council replacing it's prperty pool this must have seemed like a great idea.

Now they wish to go a stage further and introduce "Demoted Tenancies" which is a way of revoking the rights of tenants to make them easier to get rid of.

Welcome Back David Green

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:43:22 +0100

A big welcome back to cllr D Green who has returned to blogging after a sudden departure due to issues still not been explained to everyones satisfaction.

It seems the system is in need of radical people.

This is no longer about being right or wrong, about being safe or clean. This county needs the "radical elected" - mad souls who will shake things up so totally that change becomes a definite possibility.

My vote goes for the outspoken only.

"We don't do ants"!

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 09:55:40 +0100

As documented at thanetcouncil.blogspot.com back in 2004 the ant population has been for some time in the council properties arround Elham, Biddingdon and Appledore getting rather large.

It was said back then that it would only a metter of time untill we saw ants setting up home inside the building.

Well, now there is at least one family of ants living in 17 to 25 Elham Close.

So I phoned the council to have them treat the common halls for ant infestation. They were not at all helpfull.

TDC Service quality at the notorious Revenues and Benefits desk

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 07:48:35 +0100

I have been looking at the figures for attendance at the notorious Revenues and Benefits Desk as quoted in the draft proposal for a KCCTDC service centre (Margate Library).

Apparently this desk had 39,564 "customers". (I'm guessing this was 2005 but the report fails to say).

Given that there are only two windowed desks in use (and a third disabled access desk that takes over from one of the other two should a wheel chair user require it), this amounts to the following figures:

The council offices are open for 8 hours a day Monday to Friday. Assuming they work bank holidays the office would be open 260 days of the year.

The Isle of Crime!

Sat, 06 May 2006 10:23:55 +0100

Drug Crime: 117% Increase
Burglary: 60% Increase
Car Crime: 25% Increase

Only minor graffiti and related lessor misdemeanors are down at all.

What is being done?

According to the Friday 5th May (2006) edition of the Isle of Thanet Gazette Supt. West (the new area commander of the police) has said "There are a number of tactics open to us and we are using them all the time."

Isn't that the same as "we are doing everything we know to do"? So the Kent Police are doing everything they can and drug crime is up by 117%... I see.

In your experience how have you found the council to be (overall)?

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:12:32 +0100

Great. Helpful and efficient with a full understanding of my needs.

0% (0 votes)

Good. Makes an effort to be helpful and at least seems to listen to my needs.

9% (1 vote)

Poor. Little effort or understanding of my needs.

9% (1 vote)

Bad. A lot more effort required just to be poor, fairly inefficient and a poor grasp of my needs. Excessive "red tape".

45% (5 votes)

Abysmal. Unhelpful and totally inefficient at everything other than wasting my time. No idea of my needs.

36% (4 votes)

Total votes: 11