‘Don’t Sell Dover Harbour’ Activist’s Barnet Visit Offers Lesson
Many residents up in High Barnet will no doubt have been slightly taken aback one weekend late last October to see a chap protesting along the High Street with a placard above his head proclaiming ‘Don’t Sell Dover Harbour’. What you might ask was all that about and frankly is there any connection between Barnet and Dover - apart from being in the same country?
Well, those local residents among us who were confronted by booming cries of ‘Will You Sign A Petition To Stop The Sale of Dover Harbour’ and signed the accompanying petition will have understood a little more. It also provides us with a lesson in how people can make difference on issues that matter to them, provided they are willing to get off their backsides and spend a little time campaigning. One only has to point to the campaigning efforts over potential library cuts locally - under the wing of Unison - to see just what I mean.
Let’s face it, Barnet council’s Tory leaderships has identified libraries, youth centres and even the Arts Depot in Finchley for cuts. Where next will the axe fall? And, nobody can be immune to the recent hikes in rail, tube and bus fares, the VAT increase and surging petrol prices. In fact, all round living standards for the average citizen in Barnet are on the way up - as they are across the country. This is why it’s all the more reason why we should applaud the Dover activist who went out of his way to visit Barnet.
The individual in question campaigning on Dover’s future was Dr Richard (‘Dick’) Rodgers, a former European election candidate for the West Midlands region, a qualified doctor and a Reverend. Dick, who I had spoken to whilst he was collecting signatures for his petition and subsequently, had risen at 4am that Saturday morning in October and travelled down to London by National Express from Birmingham, to the Chipping Barnet constituency of Theresa Villiers, Tory MP. As a Transport Minister she is also responsible for ports in the UK.
Dick runs a small party called ‘The Common Good’ (http://www.thecommongood.info/). And, in the space of a week he had collected around 6,000 signatures in petitions on the issue (c.1,000 amassed in Barnet alone) after visiting the constituencies of PM David Cameron (Witney, Oxfordshire), Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Transport, (Runnymede & Weybridge), and Theresa Villiers. To do this he had criss-crossed the country using his Honda motorbike and National Express. The petitions were then sent on to the Department of Transport.
According to Rodgers, it is Mrs Villiers, as Minister responsible for ports who will have a pivotal role in deciding whether to remove the current ‘trust status’ of Dover Harbour Board and five other UK ports (Harwich, Tyne, Poole, Shoreham and Milford Haven). At the time of writing the decision had not yet been finalised.
“Such a decision would effectively free Dover Harbour to be sold on the open market,” says Rodgers. “I don’t think that it’s a good idea. These ports are owned in trust for the nation and any profits should be ploughed back into making the ports more efficient. And, that’s the way it should remain.” If the ports need investment, Rodgers says: “Let’s do it ourselves out of public funds for the common good once we start earning our living again as a nation.”
Asked about the dangers of a sell-off, which could put a price tag of £300m to £350m on the docks and potentially put ownership in foreign hands, Rodgers painted the nightmare scenario of Dover Harbour being owned by the Chinese government, who might build a navel base on our doorstep. “I know that’s a bit far fetched, but that would really be ignominious for us and frankly stupid,” he added.
Apart from the low sale price, he contended that it would also “probably” be more expensive to export containers of UK goods, and it is anybody’s guess what impact it could have on the price of imports. Back in early 2010, Dover Harbour Board wrote to the then Transport Secretary Lord Adonis requesting that the port be privatised under the 1991 Ports Act. It was suggested then that it was highly unlikely that the application would be refused, as all the proceeds from any sale would go the Treasury.
One can read more about Dr Rodgers’ campaigning efforts on Dover and other issues via the links below. Whatever the final outcome, I would like to think we could learn a lesson from his initiative.
by Roger Aitken (guest blog)
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