Forgotten streets in Cliftonville fear bulldozers

The Labour administration at Thanet Council rejected calls to promote a conservation area across Cliftonville at last Thursday’s council meeting. Instead, having done nothing with appraisals that were completed in 2011, they voted to roll out conservation slowly, over a smaller area, section by section, signalling to developers where and when they are safe to demolish.

Cllr Julie Marson, Shadow Cabinet Member for Planning, commented:  "facing the embarrassment of having publicly to admit their laziness in dealing with the issue of conservation in Cliftonville, the humiliation of being booed in public meetings by frustrated residents, and the strength of the movement started by Laura Sandys MP last summer, the Labour Cabinet had nowhere to turn. So they did the cynical thing: rejected cross party working, reinvented a less effective form of conservation than they were asked for, and claimed it was their intention to do this all along."

Tweeters in the chamber and angry residents outside could not understand the lack of real action from the Cabinet, and immediately feared for the impact on the streets of Cliftonville abandoned by the Labour Party.