2004: a vintage year for reports

The not-so-dusty Pier report from 2004 has been the cause of much pulse-quickening, gander-upping and even name-calling. My insatiable curiousity compelled me to send my spies to the four corners of the earth to learn more, and here's some of what I have gleaned...

The report itself is made of unobtainium and is scarcer than unicorn poo - it appears that very few people have actually held a copy in their hands. It is not available on the Canterbury City Council website. It is not available anywhere online, as far as I know, but it will be available here shortly. One of my operatives based in the North Africa bureau traced a fragment of the elusive document through an antiquarian booksellers in Marrakech. By a great stroke of good fortune, it's the executive summary of the 2004 report, and is well worth a couple of glances.

• It turns out that people have been peering at the Pier on and off for decades: Feb 1974, Dec 1996, Jun 1998 and the now contentious 2004 report. In the meantime, of course, the Pier itself has been falling to bits.
• At the beginning of 2004, CCC chose PMP Consultants (from a shortlist of three) to produce a feasibility study into "a new pier at Herne Bay" in PMP's words, or "the rebuilding of Herne Bay pier" in Canterbury's words.
• The study was jointly funded by Canterbury City Council, Kent County Council and Tourism South East (now called Visit South East England), and was seen as being the first phase of the project: investigating the options for the new pier and assessing the economic viability of the project.
• In March 2004, CCC had the good manners to ask the people of Herne Bay about "the kind of facilities a new pier should provide". I'll see if I can track down what, if anything, they were told.
• In May 2004, PMP delivered their report on the future of Herne Bay Pier - here's the summary.
• In June 2004, CCC announced that PMP had delivered the report, and gave their own summary of PMP's findings - do feel free to compare the two and play spot-the-difference.