Caption. Prospective Kent County Councillors Karen Constantine & Raushan Ara assisting with an enquiry in the local Labour Party office.

Cllr Karen Constantine’s report. November / December 2016

“It’s been yet another busy period of time.

Yet more housing issues to deal with. They can best be summed up as people facing very difficult and complex pressures. There will be no let up in the New Year. Crisis is the name of the game. We really need to see some house building in Thanet!!

I was appalled to see that TDC are planning to sell off 22 viable business enterprise units in Dane Valley. Myself and Labour leader Jenny Matterface are calling for TDC to halt the sale, to get around the table and to negotiate a solution that doesn’t put people out of work. We have helped to get a petition off the ground that calls on TDC to stop.

I was delighted to help the children from Dame Janet School on their litter pick. I can confirm that there wasn’t one bit of litter left at the end. All the children were super motivated eco-warriors and I was delighted to join them.

Locally we produced a leaflet and calendar for all residents of Newington. We have had great fun delivering this – eating mince pies and then walking off the calories! We hope local residents find the newsletter informative and that the calendar is useful.

I remain very concerned about Ramsgate Port. There is a great deal of work going on – but no sign of any actual contracts. Can we afford to plough this money into the port area? Likewise, I am amazed that the Cardy’s hoardings are still on public land. I’d really like to see them pay extra for this land; better still let’s get Cardy’s to take the hoardings  back to where they legally should be. That would add about 12 feet to the public footpath. I’m writing to our local KCC councillors on these points.

I met with our local MP about sexual assaults and rapes in our town. I have asked him to commission some relatively simple desk top research to be certain that Ramsgate doesn’t have a bigger problem that other places. I’m still waiting a response from him. We are both very concerned to ensure all crime is reported and to ensure we have adequate policing.”