Dover people against Dover Harbour Board

With over 3.5 thousand members joining the Dover people against DHB Facebook group since its inception at the end of April, CommunityAd thought they would catch up with the group creator Roy Skelton to find out more.

 

Having also featured his campaign on BBC South East, Roy informed us how the group against Dover Harbour Board first came to fruition, he told us:

“Well, the Admiralty Pier has been closed for some time now. Obviously, it’s one of those places that is difficult to impose social distancing and the Dover Harbour Board called a meeting with Dover Sea Angling Club who run the pier on their behalf.

“The Harbour Board turned up at the meeting with the consensus being that the Angling Club would propose the re-opening of the pier only for the Harbour Board to rather shockingly state that there will be no more fishing, not just on the pier but in the whole of Dover and that it’s a done deal!

“When I heard, I was aggrieved to say the least because, over the years, Dover Harbour Board have basically done whatever they want, knowing that no-one will ever stand up to them and after getting the hump, I thought ‘no, not this time’.

“So, I created the Facebook on a Tuesday night in April. I needed some help as I am nearer 70 than anything else! But once I started the group, it flew and built great momentum, it was amazing.”

 

Amazing is right as Roy has definitely got the people of Dover talking and once the group gathered more and more members, he got in touch with the Harbour Board to let them know his plans to oppose their no fishing ban, he explained:

“I contacted the Harbour Board and told them what I had done and they sort of disregarded it at first until I told them what I intended to do which caused quite a reaction of shock and surprise.

“What I said to them was that we think that this fishing ban is all to do with the fact that they want to attract yachts and cruise liners into the port with passengers paying £3000 a ticket!

“They can come in but you can’t come to fish because they don’t want you.

“If the cruise liners went, the Harbour Board would lose a fortune but the town itself wouldn’t lose a lot of money because most passengers go to Canterbury or London, they don’t normally even stop here for something to eat because of course, on a cruise they get all their food anyway.

“I have asked many people with businesses locally if they have ever had tourists from the cruise liners come in their businesses and very few have. Of those that said yes, most of them said they didn’t spend anything, they just had a look round and left.

“I informed DHB that what we would do is to basically protest. Legally, we can drive very slowly around a route and we intend to do it every time a cruise liner comes in. I would then inform the crew companies of my intentions and suggest to them that they might be better off going to Southampton.

“Naturally, the attitude of DHB changed and they agreed that a meeting with Dover Sea Angling Club was needed to see if the issue can be resolved.”

 

The Dover Sea Angling Club is close to Roy’s heart as he was a member for most of the past 50 years but with issues being discussed between the club and the DHB such as repair costs and security, Roy is hopeful that the correct changes can be made, he told us:

“They recently had an expert in anti-terrorism visit them and had frank discussions which resolved in the Harbour Board asking the Angling Club and the Angling Trust to come back with firm proposals on how they intend to enable fishing to take place on the pier again.”

 

With a rich fishing history in the town, I delved into the importance of fishing in Dover and just what it means to the locals to which Roy was happy to educate me in, he said:

“People have been fishing on the Admiralty Pier for nearly 100 years.

“As a youngster, I fished the beach and in 1964, the DHB went to the council and altered the bylaws so that you couldn’t fish on the beach between certain places. They changed it so that you couldn’t fish there between 1st May and 30th September which was quite understandable with all the people that hit the beach during the summer but eventually they just put a sign-up that read ‘no fishing at all in the harbour’.

“Just a little bit of history, the DHB closed the Prince of Wales Pier which was a place that was safe to fish for youngsters but particularly for disabled anglers because they could drive their cars onto the pier and fish out of their cars.

“DHB made some alternative plans that were meant to accommodate disabled anglers but those plans were shelved also and when they started the Western Docks revival scheme, they put billboards up and posters of what they are going to do and they showed all the places that you would be allowed to go fishing.

“There were all these new places that we had never been able to fish before but now all of a sudden, they’ve demolished the pier and completed most of the work for the Western Docks, there is no fishing allowed anywhere which is totally against what they originally said!

“There isn’t anywhere else you can fish apart from maybe 2 hours on Ramsgate arm but in CT3 you could fish all day! There’s always plenty of depth of water. There isn’t anywhere else that a disabled person can go and that’s one of the very upsetting things about it.

“It comes across that DHB appears to only encourage yachts and cruise liners but not worry about anything else, especially the locals.

“The Harbour Board have always just done what they like in this town and nobody can stand against them, but we’re trying now.”

 

Roy is the voice of many for Dover, although he knows that his protest ideas are clearly a worst-case scenario plan and he hopes the next steps will see change and more exciting news for the pier and fishing as he expresses:

“If the Harbour Board are in discussions and there are ongoing discussions to try and resolve the situation, I certainly would not want people to jump the gun and do anything silly.

“Apparently, one or two people have contacted some of the cruise liner companies, I have asked people not to do that and not to take any action at all, all the time that the Harbour Board are in discussions.

“I think we should give them the chance to backtrack or find a way around it and open the pier again.

“I am hoping that the DHB will come to a solution where the repairs can be made and people will be allowed to fish. That’s the scenario. If they turn around and say well okay, you can fish on another accommodation that would be okay but they haven’t, they’ve made no alternative and just said there will be no more fishing on Dover.”

 

To join the Facebook group, visit Dover people against DHB today.

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