The meeting at The Grand on Monday night of town centre traders from
Folkestone showed the strength of feeling and concern over the parking
strategy. Shepway Council has recently taken steps to promote the town
to shoppers and visitors by making parking free in the weekends
leading up to Christmas. The price to park for the first hour in the
council car parks has also been dropped. Businesses are concerned that
this will not be enough to turn things around for them. Clearly if
things do not improve action must be taken, and we cannot afford to
wait until March next year before any further decisions are made on
the parking strategy. Shepway Council had intended that there should
be a full consultation on the first 6 months of the new parking
arrangements. But we are having this debate now and the formal review
the council was planning must be brought forward and be held as soon
as possible. Also, if the measures that the council has proposed to
increase the free parking available in Folkestone do make a positive
difference, we should see how this could be extended and carried over
into the New Year.
Last Wednesday I was invited to speak at the Go Folkestone AGM held at
Wards Hotel. This meeting also featured a presentation from the
Folkestone Harbour Company on the planning application they have put
in for the seafront. It is over a decade since Go Folkestone started
its work and whilst there is much more that we want to see achieved
its important to remember the progress that has been made already. New
buildings like the Quarterhouse and the University Centre, the
creation of the Town Council and purchase back on the old Town Hall,
the establishment of the Creative Quarter in the Old Town area, and
the progress of the Step Short project in making our area a focus for
the national commemoration of the centenary of the First World War;
these are all hugely positive steps and Go Folkestone members have
been a force supporting all of these achievements. There still remains
a huge ambition for the future which is why there was such a positive
reaction to the seafront plans.
On Thursday I joined the ‘Grow for it’ campaign battle bus when it
called in to the Glassworks in Folkestone. The ‘Grow for it’ campaign
has been created to promote business investment in East Kent and help
local firms access finance and achieve their goals. The ‘Grow for it’
campaign, which was launched by Kent County Council, is also
encouraging people to apply for loans from the £35million Regional
Growth Fund for East Kent. You can find out more about this online at
www.kent.gov.uk and on Twitter @growforit
I was delighted to attend a special Mass at Canterbury Cathedral last
Friday to mark 50 years of Catholic Education in Dover. The Mass was
led by the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith and he was supported
by Catholic clergy from across East Kent. Many young people from our
area have benefited from the education they have received at St
Edmund’s school and I would like to wish all the current staff and the
students best wishes for the future.