The question of whether we have a new power station built at Dungeness
is one of the most important we face for our local economy. A
‘Dungeness C’ would create thousands of new jobs during its building
and operation and in the current economic climate it would be a great
loss to the area if it did not go ahead. This is an issue I have
spoken about a number of times in the House of Commons and last Friday
I met again with Graham Finn the Station Director at Dungeness B.
Graham’s family have lived in Romney Marsh for generations and he
himself went to school at what is now the March Academy.
During our meeting and tour, I was particularly interested to discuss
the site for the new power station. The principle objection to this
comes from Natural England’s complaint that the construction would
damage the shingle banks and vegetation, and that this would be
impossible to compensate for. We could see on the visit that most of
the land marked out for the new power station was disturbed during the
building of the existing facilities, so it is not free from previous
human activity. Interestingly, as this part of the site has remained
largely undisturbed for the last 25 years people believe that the
shingle is starting to revert back to its original structure, which
suggests that it could be possible to restore in time sites disturbed
by building Dungeness C.
I also take the view that as the building would be on only 1% of the
land in the protected area around Dungeness, Rye and Romney March that
this work could not be seen as damaging to the whole site. In our
difficult economic times when we are all being asked to make
sacrifices, we might need to extend this to the vegetated shingle as
well.
Following, this I met with Matthew Pack the Chief Executive of Holiday
Extras at their offices in Newingreen. This business, which is nearly
30 years old has been a great local success story, employing hundreds
of people, and it was interesting to be able to meet members of the
team and hear about their plans for the future.
This is an important time of the year for civic commemorations and
festivals. On Thursday 1st July, I joined the Mayor of Folkestone, Tom
McNiece, and other local dignitaries at Shorncliffe Military Cemetary
for Canada Day, where we particularly remember the sacrifices in the
First World War of the Canadian Servicemen who were stationed in our
town and are buried here.
And last Saturday I joined the Mayor of Hythe, Cllr Keren Belcourt ,
for the opening parade of the Hythe Festival.
On Monday I met with Tracey Luke and members of her team and some of
the students at the Folkestone School for Girls. This was followed by
a visit to Lympne Primary School, where I enjoyed a tour from
Headteacher Joyce Rhodes, and a very good question and answer session
with members of the School Council.