Mechanical Memories Magazine

the park's viability. He said that he would like to return for another season if owner
Jimmy Godden lets him. Wallis told the Gazette: "We do feel that there is a need for
this type of entertainment in Margate."
The Council issued a report on the public consultation exercise carried out on the
Margate Masterplan in August 2004. This stated that the future of Dreamland
"understandably generated the most passionate responses". The report went on to
state:
"The public sees the Dreamland site as Margate's key potential tourism/leisure
generator, and the closure of the facility is seen as highly negative for the town's
future. The clear view from the public was that tourism and leisure should continue to
be the strong leading use for the site and that the Council should be steadfast in its
opposition to major retail development there. Equally, housing development
(particularly low quality development) to an extent which would prevent the site being
a major tourism/leisure generator should be avoided. "
Dreamland generated more responses than any other question in the Masterplan
consultation, attracting over 44% of all responses, "with almost all of them strongly
supporting the use of the site for a major amusement park, family-based attraction" .
Nearly half of the written comments about the Dreamland site concerned the Scenic
Railway, which represented nearly 20% of all the written comments received.
The report concluded on Dreamland that: "There was a strong public view that
the Council should be highly proactive regarding the future of the Dreamland site and
that it should actively seek solutions for it in order to benefit the town's future" . This is
significant and was clear early support for the Council taking the direct action that it is
now taking.
The Council did not progress further with the flawed Masterplan document and it
was never formally adopted by the Council. We would have to wait until 2005 to see
the outcome of the public inquiry, and that will be covered in a future article.
Nick Laister
Nick Laister (Chairman, The Dreamland Trust)
www .dreamlandmargate.com
www .savedreamland.co.uk
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