Portrait Bench at Reculver

In spring 2013, a Portrait Bench will be installed along the clifftop between Reculver and Bishopstone - and Canterbury City Council need your help to decide who it will feature!

A Portrait Bench is a collection of three distinctive, lifesize local figures cut from sheet steel and installed alongside a simple bench, inviting people to join the group and become part of the 'portrait'. Here's an example of one from elsewhere in the country:

The figures are inspired and chosen for their individual contribution to the life of the community and reflect the local heritage, culture and aspirations of the area. Their features are simplified but retain their essential characteristics.

Funding for the Portrait Bench is coming from the national sustainable charity Sustrans. The city council is organising the project locally and paying for it to be installed.

The Reculver Portrait Bench

The bench at Reculver is being provided as part of the Oyster Bay Trail cycle route. The section of the route between Reculver and Swalecliffe opened last year and the council is in the process of finalising plans to extend it between Swalecliffe and Whitstable.

So, which characters do you think best reflect the local area? A pilot perhaps? An oyster fisherman? Maybe a hockey player?

The city council has come up with a shortlist of seven figures who could take pride of place on the clifftop bench. Now it's down to local people to decide on their top three, and those with the most votes will be created.

The seven characters are:

• A Dambuster pilot. The bouncing bomb was tested at Reculver and local pilot Bill Ottley flew one of the Lancaster Bombers and died on the Dambusters Raid.  
• A fossil collector. Many important specimens have been collected from Bishopstone Glen.  
• A Roman. A fort and settlement was built at Reculver around 43BC, probably to defend the Roman fleet anchored in the channel. It was rebuilt in the third century to protect the coast from Saxon longship raids.
• A Saxon. In the fourth century, long after the fort was abandoned, King Egbert granted land to the priest Bassa to build Reculver church. Many Anglo-Saxon items have been found near the site.
• A roller hockey player, representing the long tradition of roller hockey in Herne Bay. It began in 1901 and still has strong links in the town with the Bay Sports Arena being the proud home of roller hockey. 
• An oyster fisherman. Oysters have been found in Whitstable for centuries, where fishermen would dredge the seabed to harvest the town’s famous, native oysters.
• A diver. The Deane brothers of Whitstable invented and trialled the first underwater breathing apparatus (air-pumped diving helmet) in the town. Divers from the town salvaged sunken ships around the world, including Henry VIII's flagship, The Mary Rose.

Vote now!

Voting on which characters you would like to see make up Reculver's Portrait Bench is now open and runs until Wednesday 31 October.

Cast your vote now!

CCC website

Crass criticism from stunning councillor

Yes, dear reader, I was there and this actually happened - Cllr Vickery-Jones scored a few notable firsts. He is the only person to have called the village green application "crass", and he is the only person to have called me "pious".

He also suggested that as a "newcomer" I didn't have the right to clutter things up with my pesky village green application. He seemed to have forgotten that the application is supported by 1,180 other people, some of whom were using the Downs on a regular basis long before he ever saw the light of day in his native Derbyshire.

He also demonstrated an astonishing lack of understanding in his belief that a village green could in any way only ever benefit a single person.

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A row over a Bay beauty spot erupted at a public meeting after a councillor slammed an application to secure village green status for the land as "crass and pious". Herne and Broomfield councillor Peter Vickery-Jones, 69, speaking at the town's member panel, blasted "newcomers" to the town for the campaign to register the Downs as a village green. Leaving councillors and campaigner Phil Rose stunned, he said:

"This is a crass application, it doesn't empower local people. Newcomers to the town are damaging what we're trying to do."

The broadside came amid debate over council plans for a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Field, which would transform a vast swath of the town's coast, including the Downs, into a legal trust "to protect the land for leisure and recreation".

Friends of the Downs member Phil Rose had asked council officers why they had claimed certain clean-up activities around the Downs had to be cancelled until the village green inquiry – which has been postponed until March after the £500-per-day lawyer brought in by the council fell ill – had been concluded. He said:

"None of the items in the QE2 Coastal Park action plan that are being deferred pending the outcome of the village green application actually need to be deferred for that reason."

Officers had claimed community clean-ups and plans to clear a channel at Bishopstone Glen needed to be put on ice until the fight over the Downs had been resolved. They were forced to backtrack when Mr Rose pointed out that the Bishopstone Glen lay outside the village green application area. But Mr Vickery-Jones said:

"This application serves to empower one person who has picked up bad information. And now his pious and lamentably late concerns about what that involves show that he's trying to wriggle out of his responsibilities."

thisiskent 19th Jan 2012

Council fights bid to turn Downs into Village Green

Canterbury council bosses were this week racking up a huge legal bill battling to keep control of picturesque land in Herne Bay. A five-day public inquiry to stop the Downs being granted Village Green status opened on Monday 28th November, with top London barrister Richard Ground fighting the city council’s corner against local campaigner Phil Rose.

Mr Rose wants the mile-long stretch between the Kings Hall and Bishopstone Glen to be made a Village Green – taking its control out of council hands and protecting it from development. He made the application in September 2009 after plans surfaced to build beach huts on the eastern side of the site.

The council refused to support the bid, but independent inspector Lana Wood will rule on the case after the inquiry ends on Friday. It is expected complicated legal issues about what the land is actually owned for will play a huge part in her decision.

Mr Rose has collected more than 1,000 questionnaires from people backing his fight, making it the most strongly-supported application for a Village Green ever made in England and Wales. To qualify for the status, land must have been used by locals for “lawful sports and pastimes” for at least 20 years.

Mr Rose told the inquiry those who answered questionnaires had used the land for as long as 86 years. He also listed more than 70 sports and pastimes the land is used for, including dog walking, football, sledding, sunbathing and bagpipe playing. He said:

“We have met every single one of the tests required to register the application land as a Village Green.”

Barrister Mr Ground said most of the Downs has been owned by the city council or previous public authorities since the Second World War – large parts for longer. He added the council had no intention of developing the land or stopping anyone from using it for recreational purposes.

HB Gazette 1st Dec 2011 joewalker@thekmgroup.co.uk