Future of shelter to be decided

A long-running battle over where to place a Victorian shelter looked set to come to a head this week. Councillors were voting on where to put the historic Green Shelter as the Times went to press, after failing to come to a decision at a meeting in March. At the moment the shelter is in storage after having been taken down and repainted.

The three options for where to put it are back where it was, near Herne Bay pier; to move it to one side, on to the slopes of the Spa Esplanade – the option favoured by councillors – which would require the shelter to be supported by stilts; and to put it onto Herne Bay Pier itself. The head of Herne Bay Residents Association Dick Eburne said:

" I think it is highly likely the money will be used to put the Green Shelter on stilts on western slopes of the Spa Esplanade."

Councillors had asked officer Malcolm Burgess to hire someone to work out costs for placing the shelter back on the site where it was. That option had been rejected by council engineers as unsafe and expensive because of an underground drain. Mr Burgess said putting the shelter on the site councillors wanted would cost around £14,000. That's on top of the £8,000 facelift the shelter had after being taken down in February last year.

HB Times 17th Jun 2011