A campaign group hoping to halt the open market sale of the former council depot at Pierremont Park in Broadstairs will be submitting a petition to Thanet council.
The Friends of Pierremont Park want the depot brought into use to benefit the community and protect the park environment.
Last August TDC’s own planning application to create four properties, made up of three terraced houses and a bungalow, on the 0.2ha plot was refused by members on the planning committee.
The main concerns included vehicles using the current access which is in constant use by pedestrians.
In September the council shelved plans to dispose of the site via auction but it will still be sold on the open market with tenders invited and “account taken of the social value of each bid.”
Any disposal will not include the access road which is within the park. Part of the reason for the asset sale is Thanet council’s need to raise £1.25m each year through disposals, with that money then being used for capital investment in buildings, repairs and maintenance.
The former district council depot had been in use since the 1970s but TDC says it was “vacated due to its condition and its location, which is too far out from the council’s main depots to continue as an operational basis.”
Thanet council says it is incurring vacant property costs and ongoing requirements for maintenance and management.
The council hopes to sell the site by the end of this financial year (March 2026).
However, the Friends of Pierremont Park are calling for a veto an open market sale and asking that the site -which can only be accessed via the protected open space park- to stay in public ownership and potentially be used by the town council via a community asset transfer.
The group says Thanet council’s Monitoring Officer has now considered the Friends of Pierremont Park petition and confirmed the request wording is valid.
FoPP say they will now submit the petition in mid February so Thanet council will debate it at their meeting on 26 March – or act before then, using extra government funding to fill the hole in the council’s budget.
Lorraine Williams, from FoPP, said: “Since we had first sent the petition wording to TDC’s Democratic Services team in October last year and some councillors had previously been trying to tell us that what we were asking them do was “illegal” – it is something of a relief to know at last, they will now have to consider our request – which was obviously our belief all along, but it is helpful to have it finally confirmed officially.”
FoPP has also been informed that petition signatories don’t have to be just Thanet residents. Visitors views are considered important too and will be considered.
The group is now asking that anyone who has friends or family from out of the area who agree with the petition aims to ask them to sign it. Signatures have now exceeded 1500 online and on paper versions, which are available from the group on request by emailing [email protected].
The latest public meeting on 21 January was well attended and included a presentation by Ruth Brackstone Bailey on a Social Value Plan for the site. It has led to a commitment from the Town Council to work with FoPP and other stakeholders to develop a plan to help make the case for TDC to let the Town Council take it on.
Campaigners are also urging Thanet District Council to comment on a covenant on the land which they which restricts usage to being part of the park and pleasure grounds. FoPP say they believe it is robust.
May I wish FoPP well. For once a positive campaign which I can support. This area needs to remain part of the park environment with activities you would expect within the confines of a park. The access lane is in no way suitable for a residential property or properties. An accident waiting to happen unfortunately, if vehicular traffic and park user’s were sharing it regularly.