What the EAP achieved in its first year?

The Environmental Action Programme has started to improve the appearance of Thanet since its launch in August 2004.

Ramsgate town centre

This was the first stop for the Programme and the Rapid Response Team tackled a range of problems, including:

• Painting nearly 400 pieces of street furniture (seats, bollards, lamp-posts) in the town centre and along the seafront.
• Levelling out and replacing paving in Queen Street and King Street
• Installing 40 square metres of buff coloured tiles, called "tactiles" in York Street to warn blind and partially sighted people of steps in partnership with Kent County Council
• Laying 1,000 new blocks on the traffic calming ramps in King Street, which were breaking up.  This work was completed in partnership with Kent County Council
• Installing new seats and bins in the town centre.
• Lifting and treating four square metres of tree grills – where the rubbish was cleared out and then they were rebolted.
• Repairing broken kerb edges in York Street
• Cutting back trees in Charlotte Court

There’s also now a colourful new look to the beach facing side of the Royal Victoria Pavilion. A series of Manga characters now overlook Ramsgate Main Sands, designed by young people from the Ramsgate School and the Children’s Society, in association with IOTA (Isle of Thanet Arts Ltd.). The Pavilion had been a regular target for graffiti and the new characters aim to put a stop to graffiti attacks there.

New palm trees have been introduced around the Royal Harbour area to provide a more continental feel to the area’s seafront and access to the Main Sands have also been improved, with the installation of a new wooden boardwalk, allowing families with pushchairs and people with disabilities to enjoy the beach.

Margate town centre

The Rapid Response Team’s next target was the centre of Margate, which they moved into in November 2004. Here, they targeted an area surrounded by High Street, Marine Drive, Marine Parade, Fort Crescent, Zion Place, Trinity Square, Hawley Square, Cecil Street and Mill Lane. The team’s work in Margate included:

• Replacing uneven paving slabs in the Lower High Street area.
• Repaired the footway in Market Place by the Mayor’s Parlour.
• Replacing litter bins.
• Repainting street furniture, including benches and lamp columns.
• Installing bollards to stop people driving through from Love Lane into Duke Street.
• Weather proofing benches using wood preservative.

Cecil Square has been given a striking new look thanks to 1,000 flowers in hanging baskets and the central reservations.

Nine hanging baskets have also been installed in the Old Town, which have been paid for by the Margate Charter Trustees, Margate Town Partnership and from a Kent County Councillor’s fund. Elsewhere in the Old Town, a previously derelict plot of land in Duke Street has been tidied up.

Palms have also been introduced to Margate seafront to provide a more continental feel to the area’s beaches.

Northdown Road in Cliftonville

Work started here and in surrounding roads, such as Zion Place, Eastern Esplanade and Cornwall Gardens in March 2005 and achievements included:

• Replacing paving slabs
• Replacing 31 litter bins to be installed shortly
• Painting street lights

Other parts of Thanet:

Elsewhere in Thanet, the Environmental Action Programme has been making a difference.

In the run-up to Christmas 2005, lighting installations were put on some of the area’s most prominent roundabouts. Both Lord of the Manor roundabouts were lit up, while at the Pearce Signs roundabout, a steel galvanised frame was erected and a net placed over it with white lighting to resemble a Christmas tree.

More than 70 floral troughs, containing over 500 flowers, have been put on the central reservation of the A28 Canterbury Road through Westgate.

Environmental Action Days have taken place regularly across the area, targeting a range of anti-social issues, including abandoned and untaxed vehicles, graffiti, dog fouling and rubbish dumping. In one two-week period, 140 cars and 25 tonnes of rubbish were collected and more than 1,000 square metres of graffiti was removed.