Many of us enjoyed the recent centenary celebrations for the Bandstand. The music, singing and dancing in this historic venue showed all that is best about this much-loved community asset. However, the Bandstand - owned by Canterbury City Council - is falling into disrepair and rather than looking forward to another 100 years as one of our main seaside attractions, it risks a slow decline and closure.
Therefore, your Herne Bay Conservative councillors launched a campaign on the Bandstand’s centenary to demand it gets the investment it desperately needs from Canterbury City Council to protect it as a cultural icon for the future.
At present the Council has no action plan for the bandstand, which has an unusable stage and a whole corner section and retail unit which is in disrepair. Its condition is slowly deteriorating, as evidenced by the recent scaffolding put up to prevent its loose window panes falling and hitting a member of the public. Yet we know it is possible to attract investment, because the Bandstand received a major refurbishment 30 years ago, funded by a National Lottery grant.
We are calling on the council to establish a plan to attract funding, perhaps as part of a Seaside Board, covering the other council-owned assets on the town's sea front. However, the Council have told us that the Bandstand is not a priority for funding and it has stalled for 6 months on the question of creating a Seaside Board.
Therefore, we are asking you to sign our petition to show local support for the Bandstand and to call on Canterbury City Council to prioritise the Bandstand for investment. We shall present the petition at a future Council meeting to make the case for the Bandstand.
