Newsletter No. 3

July 2008

In our last Newsletter we told you about the consultation process the Environment Agency was about to undertake. They have produced a strategy document, ‘Planning for the Future’. DOC has welcomed the consultation process and this document in principle. We are grateful to Nigel Stafford-Clark for writing DOC’s official response, which is attached to this newsletter. A copy of our response is being sent to both Members of Parliament representing the Marsh, The Rt. Hon. Michael Howard QC, MP for Folkestone & Hythe, and Michael Foster DL, MP for Hastings & Rye. Both MPs have already written in support of the DOC objectives.

If you haven’t received a copy of the document, please contact us as soon as possible and we will arrange for a copy to be sent to you. It is vital that as many individuals as possible make their own response using the forms provided, before the consultation ends on 15th August. Following the completion of the consultation, we are to arrange an open meeting for all DOC members with senior officers from the Environment Agency. The provisional date for that meeting is Friday 26th September 2008 at the Guild Hall in Lydd, so please make a note in your diary now! Further details to follow shortly.

Our PR and Media Officer has been extremely active in enthusiastically promoting DOC. You may have seen Brigitte on BBC Television South East Today.

The next local events for us to promote DOC are coming ever nearer (The Summer Fete in Camber on 9th August and The Day of Syn in Dymchurch on 25th August). It is vital that we are seen to be present and active at these events. Volunteers are needed to run the stand, please let us know if you are able to help. As there are no funds available yet to purchase our own display panels, Brigitte has managed to loan some panels from Camber.

We are also planning a website to promote DOC, which is being set up free of charge by Jim Whiteside of the CCAG. Tony Hills our Technical Officer has already designed some material for the site, which will be a great asset to our campaign. Let us hope that in the next newsletter we will be able to report it being up and running. Many thanks to Tony and Jim Whiteside for making this happen.

We have come a long way in a very short time since we started DOC, and have become recognised as a serious pressure group for the Marsh and its coastal defence issues. The Environment Agency is listening to us and so are the media - let us continue to keep the momentum going. There really is no time for complacency! Welcome news is that a number of local companies have promised us financial assistance, and our membership drive continues. The more members we have the more outreach we can achieve and the more effective we will become.

We would like to thank David Alford, the first Chairman of DOC, Chris Albrow, and our Minutes Secretary Mrs. Margaret Weaver for the considerable contribution they have made while serving on our Management Committee, particularly for all their help with the launch of DOC. We wish them all well in their future work and commitments. Terry Preston has been elected Chairman until the next AGM.

If you know of any one who would like to serve on the Management Committee, please let us know. Meetings are held in the function room above Camber Castle Public House. We are grateful to John Parker for his generosity in allowing us to use his facilities free of charge.

If there are any matters you would like to discuss or information from DOC you would like, please contact our PR & Press Officer, Brigitte Bass, Tel: 01797 225255 or email: doc.romneymarsh@ yahoo.co.uk. For donations, subscriptions or membership issues please contact our Treasury Secretary, David Donohoe, Tel: 01797 320714 or email: doc.members@hotmail.co.uk.