Sir, Contrary to Steve Higgins’s letter (August 5), there is a lot going on to improve Kent’s coastal towns — you only need to look at Whitstable as a successful example.

Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs have received heritage lottery funds to restore Victorian buildings to their former glory and Pugin’s Grange on the cliff top at Ramsgate has been renovated recently. We will soon be starting work on the building for Turner Contemporary, designed by the Stirling Prize-winner David Chipperfield. We have run a scheme with Thanet District Council to bring 85 empty homes back into use and we are now seeing migration from London into Thanet where purchasers are seizing the opportunity to buy elegant Victorian buildings at affordable prices.

We have no doubt that with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link domestic services coming to Folkestone, Dover and Margate the migration of wealth and prosperity into East Kent will gain momentum.

Sandy Ezekiel
Leader, Thanet Borough Council

Paul Carter
Leader, Kent County Council

Sir, Steve Higgins mentioned the Marina Bathing Pool but part of Pugin’s Granville Hotel was also demolished, as was the terminal building at the old Ramsgate airport, considered an architectural gem. The western bandstand was also demolished and the remaining buildings not maintained. The beautiful twin dolphin lamps along the seafront seem to diminish in number year by year. Recently, there were even proposals to obscure the beautiful Georgian terraces of the East Cliff, despite the historical significance of this area where Wellington’s troops camped before the Battle of Waterloo.

Perhaps the Government should consider a development agency to protect our heritage and to promote regeneration in all our seaside towns.

Teresa Clark
Sittingbourne, Kent

Sir, There are signs of change. There is new investment going into resorts in places such as Morecambe, Folkestone, Margate, Worthing and Bognor Regis. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment recently announced the first tranche of £45 million of grants to aid seaside regeneration. Here at Littlehampton, Arun District Council has announced ambitious plans for improvement, and the Environment Agency is aiming to fund major flood protection measures. The current recessionary climate, the state of the pound and increasing air fares are discouraging overseas travel. The prospects for the British seaside are rosier now than for a generation.

Jane Wood
Littlehampton, W Sussex

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