Charter Trustees to discuss retaining Sam Mendes movie lighting wires on Margate seafront

Margate lighting Photo Rob Yates

Margate Charter Trustees are due to make a decision on whether to keep some of the wiring and sockets installed on the seafront by the Empire of Light film company.

Neal Street Productions gifted the festoon lighting used during the shoot of the Sam Mendes movie to Thanet council but the authority said issues with the lights, including a manufacturing fault and the inability to dim them, meant they were not kept in place.

However, the charter trustees are meeting tomorrow (June 7) to discuss keeping some of the film set catenary wires, and lamppost electricity sockets installed by the film company. The film company has continued its offer to hand over the assets for free.

The Charter Trustees believe they will be very useful in order to install future festoon lighting or wrap around lamppost lighting along the seafront.

Today the catenary wires from Turner Contemporary to the clock tower will be removed. The Charter Trustees have not asked the film company to delay this, because Kent County Council has highlighted individual areas which are at risk of damaging the lampposts at high winds.

The film company has agreed to delay the decision to remove the wires from Nayland Rock to the clocktower until after the meeting tomorrow, so the Charter Trustees can decide whether these wires should be kept.

The Charter Trustees are asking residents of Margate to sign up for a vote on a Margate Town Council. They say a Town Council is best placed to manage the assets in the long term.

Sign at: https://margatetowncouncil.co.uk/

14 Comments

  1. Might be worth reminding the Charter Trustees that they are NOT allowed to own anything. We do not think that even IF they can it is NOT within their brief to take on this type of responsibility and on going up keep.

  2. Surprised that Friends of Cliftonville Coastline haven’t piped up about the wires being a risk to migrating birds.
    I’m sure there will be a protest and petition about this soon, maybe even a strongly worded letter from one of their nonsense DFL Solicitor friends.

  3. Strip them down… find resources to get proper seaside lights up instead.

    Nothing that is “free” is a good thing.

  4. Worth looking into the Safety/liabilities involved!
    These Metal Catenary Wires seem to now link up all these ‘Metal’ Lamposts?
    Whereas the Lamposts were originally individually 240V supplied and earthed.
    Would this not make an Earth Bonding safety issue?
    For the ‘Temporary’ Installation, Individual 240V power supplies appear to have picked up from each of the Lamposts to feed ‘Individual’ strings of lights. Hence not all of the long string supplied from the one source.

  5. Well that’s nice of them. Deciding whether to keep something that was given to the town. How pathetic.

  6. Trustee have no power to do so.
    You should pay precepts to margate and Cliftonville which we lost due to trustees over the years. Hiding behind secrets..
    11-13 King Street is a gift trustees are not allowed gifts and it’s not declared

  7. Rip them down. You’re gradually destroying Thanet thank you TDC. So why bother to listen to your employers now!

  8. Thanet is now a low level sea side resort currently being slowly destroyed by Thanet District Council. What was once a thriving sea town it now struggles as they even shut the toilets early evening 17.45hrs at Westgate!! Unbelievable

  9. Thanet Council
    Experts at bringing a great seaside town to its knees
    Can they do one thing positive to save us from losing everything this historic town once had ..here’s one thing they can do ,,all hand there resignations in and let’s get new proper margate people in who care…

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