The Leas Promenade's 36 Victorian Lampposts Are Part of Folkestone's Heritage. Folkestone & Hythe District Council Are Failing To Maintain Them.

 
Unbelievably, this issue with the Victorian Street Lampposts on the Leas Promenade has been ongoing since 2017, eight years or more. Possibly longer! Just more evidence that FHDC or Shepway Council, as it was previously known, hasn't got a Scooby Doo what it's doing other than just wilfully, all these years, starving the Leas Promenade of the funds to maintain its falling apart infrastructure.
We need better than this for the Leas Promenade because its heritage is being destroyed, along with its once-sweeping sea views of the English Channel.



These lamposts, all 36 of them, are Folkestone's Heritage; they are well over 125 years old now and have not had a lick of paint on them since 2014, when Prince Harry unveiled the Step Short Arch in a ceremony to mark the centenary of the start of World War 1 in 1914.

Cast-iron lampposts in seaside or coastal areas should be inspected annually and typically require repainting every 1 to 3 years to combat accelerated corrosion from salt and high humidity. While some cast iron can last longer, the high salt content in coastal environments significantly increases the risk of corrosion, requiring more frequent maintenance than inland locations.





Every 12+ years is not good enough, Folkestone & Hythe District Council.

The council even went cap in hand back in 2017 to the National Heritage Lottery for a grant, part of which was to commission a mould of the lampposts so that they could make more or replace missing parts. They lost out on a huge grant of £466.700 because they could not find the match funding of £140,220, which is 23% of the total predicted costs and long-term maintenance costs of the then council's ambitious Spirit Of The Leas Project.

It is unbelievable that these lampposts are not Grade II listed by Historic England, as their counterparts are on Brighton's beachfront promenade.


Kent Online article dated 25th February 2017















We believe that at one time all the lampposts might have been the same Royal Blue Colour as these 4 remaining planters on the leas, the colour being the official colour of the Shepway Council.





But we know they need to manufacture a mould for the 2 missing doors and 10 missing decorative side panels, no doubt stolen and are in someone's garden. 



https://www.kentonline.co.uk/folkestone/news/safety-fears-over-broken-lamps-121177/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQDnJNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBBbDhhMUVTSnhNa2ZSTGZmc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHiAuzG9uyMivQ02eWSKxlh0r873J0asHnI3QLB_8MUiEfocYFZwDiJXwqhHu_aem_iPoY1g4eGpz1EuPABUQT9A

Please do join us on our Facebook Group, Protect & Preserve The Folkestone Leas.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/746105824775303?locale=en_GB
Location: Folkestone, UK

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