TheRoyalStandardisflyingaboveRamsgatetoday
(Wednesday).
The flag is being raised at 9am this morning to
mark the town's association with King George IV,
who was a fan of the town which gave him a
rousing send off when he sailed for Hanover,
Germany, in 1821.
He did not want to sail from Dover as his
estranged wife, Princess Caroline of Brunswick,
whom he was said to have hated, was lauded
there, so he chose to leave from Ramsgate.
Before setting sail, King George stayed with
his friend Sir William Curtis in Cliff House, which
overlooks the harbour.
The King's standard is now raised three times a
year and flies for just one day on each occasion
after the tradition was restarted in 1996.
Ramsgate mayor David Green was unable to
attend, so deputy mayor Ralph Hoult
(pictured) took his place. He said: "It's a special
thing to do as we are the only royal harbour in
the UK. It's a tradition we should honour."
ROYAL STANDARD
FLIES ONCE AGAIN
Police on the hunt for
polite garage robber
POLICE are appealing for information
after a robber with a conscience targeted
the Total service station in Birchington.
The man apologised to the female
cashier whom he made open the safe and
fill carrier bags with cash and cigarettes.
The incident happened on Saturday,
January 23, between 10.55pm and
11.10pm at the Canterbury Road garage.
A man came into the garage at the
same time, asking for cigarette papers.
Officers do not believe he is connected
with the crime and are keen to trace him.
The robber is in his 30s, 5ft 10in tall
and has a southern accent. He wore a
dark balaclava, gloves and clothing. He
fled into Broadley Avenue.
Phone police on 01622 690690, quoting
reference EY/1076/10, or Kent
Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Drive to slow down
motoristsnearschool
OFFICERS from the Serious Collisions
Unit in Maidstone joined Thanet police
and community policing officers in a bid
to reduce speeding last week.
Teams were out on theTuesday outside
Northdown primary school in Tenterden
Way, Margate.
Dane Valley councillor Sandra Hart
said: "I was pleased to see police officers
using cameras to monitor the speed of
vehicles using Millmead Road and by the
way they engaged with parents and chil-
dren at both school gates.
"I do hope these actions will continue
and that more permanent solutions to
speed control along the B2052 in both
Millmead Road and College Road can be
established."
PROPOSALS to share services
between councils in east Kent are
going forward to three district
council meetings on the isle over the
next few weeks.
Shepway council has pulled out of some plans
to group together services, but Thanet, Dover
and Canterbury are still pushing ahead.
Shepway council chief executive Alistair
Stewart voiced concerns about unrealistic
timescales and a lack of clarity over set-up costs;
his authority was also worried about how staff
would be selected to run projects.
Resources
The plans are intended to save millions of
pounds and could see the remaining councils
pool together human resources, waste and recy-
cling collections and landlord services.
In total, three schemes will be discussed.
The next round of discussions will involve the
East Kent Joint Waste Project, which involves
Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet work-
ing with Kent County Council to introduce com-
mon collection arrangements for waste and
recycling in all four districts over the next four
years.
Later meetings will focus on an East Kent
Shared Housing Service, which would see the
Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet
authorities jointly managing council housing.
Building control, revenues and benefits, IT
and customer services, including face-to-face
and telephone, will also be talked through.
Martin Wise, Thanet council's cabinet mem-
ber for finance and corporate services, said:
"Everyone is well aware of the pressures that
councils are facing to save money. We're no
exception to that.
"Over the next five years, we have to find sav-
ings of more than �6 million.
"It's not a new position to us as we've had to
make significant savings over the last few years,
but as time goes on, finding savings becomes
harder and harder.
"We are determined that the level of services
we provide remains at an acceptable level for
our residents and we believe that one of the
ways we can achieve this is by sharing services
with our neighbouring councils, which is why
we're looking at this project.
"It's not all about saving money, though. It's
also about providing more resilience to our
services and looking at how we can improve in
the future."
Scrutiny
The first meeting to look at the three different
proposals will be an extraordinary meeting of
the council's overview and scrutiny panel,which
begins at 10am tomorrow (Thursday).
Any proposals coming from this meeting
will then go forward to the council's cabinet,
which is due to meet at 7pm on Thursday
next week.
All councillors will then be able to have their
say on the plans when full council meets in an
extraordinary meeting at 7pm on Thursday,
February 18.
All three meetings are due to take place in
the council chamber at the council offices in
Cecil Street, Margate, and all the meetings are
open to the public.
s BY TOM BETTS
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