Dane Park Consultation Period ends

The Dane Park public consultation period came to an end on Friday.

It opened with a "fun day" in the park on St. Valentine's Day, and Thanet residents were given until Friday 30th March to submit their completed questionnaires to the District Council.

Public consultations are all well and good, but let's hope that this one proves to be more than just a public relations exercise designed to placate residents and to create the illusion of a "listening council" prior to May's local elections.

When, I wonder, will the relevant Council committee be meeting to discuss the findings of the consultation. Before or after the elections? What are the chances of a new council surreptitiously "filing away" the consultation in the bin. Well, people have short memories, don't they!

New broom, new priorities, new agenda.

Let's hope not.

Voted one of the most popular parks in Thanet in 2004, Dane Park was presented to the Margate Borough Council by a local businessman at the end of the 19th century and was first opened to the public in 1898 by the Lord Mayor of London. Today, it is still the main park for Margate residents.

Below: A more genteel age - Dane Park in the early 1900s, complete with lake!