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Please pass this on to friends as fast as you can – there’s no time to lose!
Stop press – click here for the latest news on this development
Standard Quay in Faversham is a busy part of the old town – the boatyard there is currently busy restoring the famous old barge Cambria, for one thing. Click on the picture above to learn more.
But now it’s said that Swale Borough Council is considering allowing the developers in – and they want to turn it into a restaurant area and housing, and that there’s a big meeting about the issue this Thursday.
No doubt there’s serious money behind the project, but this sounds very much like the wrong project for the town, and for everyone who loves Faversham Creek and Standard Quay the way they are.
One of my concerns is that if they bring in developers to sponsor housing, restaurants and the rest, it won’t be long before the traditional maritime activities will be the subject of complaints about noise and general untidiness. Even traditional and historic industrial activities such as boatyards and yuppie flats rarely make happy close neighbours.
I understand the shipwrights, the shipwright apprentice scheme and the blockmaker who currently operate from the listed quayside workshops restoring traditional vessels are already planning to leave, as they believe they have no other choice. That’s a great shame, because there is demand for the skills and facilities Standard Quay currently offers.
This website includes a trailer for a beautiful and atmospheric film about this part of Faversham Creek.
If you know the area or are concerned that this important area of the town might be lost, please contact the relevant councillors now – their contact detail are in the News section of the The Quay website above.
Photos provided by Standard Quay film maker Richard Fleury
Another example of the money of the few overriding the views and wishes of the many. How much longer are the British going to allow their heritage to be swallowed up by the same sort of people whose greed led to the all to recent global financial crisis, the fall out of which is still raining down – ask the Irish!
Really a shame. Soon as the "developers" come in, common sense leves the room. But worst are the consultants. Eggheads providing reports for other eggheads, their reports often nothing but hot air. These consultants naturally won't bite the hand that feeds them, so the contents of their reports ain't worth the paper they are printed on. But these folks rule the world.
Gav, familiar story, you need to follow the money, see where it leads.
jeff
I will be back in Faversham in March. Before that I am trying to spread the report and helping in any possible way.
Thanks for sharing
I understand that the key could have been bought two years ago for around £250,000.- The council did not take the opportunity. Conservation costs money. We cannot all live in nostalgia land. A chance to save the key was missed then. Where was everyone at this time? This developer is in it for the money so he should realise that these classic craft draw many tourists and locals alike. If he has any sense he will not miss this point.
Simon – In answer to your question, I suspect many of us were not as aware of the issue as we are now, and were in any case getting on with their own lives, which for most of us are quite demanding enough to keep us occupied with our own business! A lot of things happen when good people happen to be looking the other way, as we all know.
The question is this: is there any way at all of improving the long term future of Standard Quay, and if so how do we achieve it?