Industrial Decline, Social Destruction

When ever I go to the UK there is a place that is, for me, a must visit. Dungeness in Kent.

It is unique in almost every respect and if there is a place that should NOT be judged on first impressions, Dungeness is it.Sitting on the 'corner' of Romney Marsh, it first appears to be a remote and desolate place. Numerous small shacks, many seeming on the verge of collapse, sit in the shadow of the colossus of Dungeness Nuclear Power Station that dominates this headland, the old and new lighthouses seem to add to the bleakness of a this flat, windswept landscape that is devoid of trees and, away from the single tarmac road, it is difficult to trudge across the loose shingle, scattered with redundant, decaying fishing boats and machinery, which the headland is made of.

However, Dungeness is a true place of beauty. It has a diversity of wildlife, both fauna and flora, much of which can only be found here. The RSPB nature reserve is a stop over for migrating birds and a winter shelter for many species.

It has a rich and colourful history including horror stories of piracy and smuggling and a tradition of the community making a living from the sea.

Sadly, the local community is in decline. The numerous shacks were home to generations of fishermen but are increasingly becoming weekend retreats and holiday homes, commanding prices beyond the reach of the local people.

The fishing industry, which this and many other coastal communities depend on for their livelihoods, has for years been dominated by big business and the decline of the beach launch fishing fleets has been exacerbated by catch quotas and controls imposed by politicians and bureaucrats. (A ridiculous strategy when one considers that any excess numbers of fish caught have to be thrown back into the sea, ridiculous because the fish being thrown back are already dead).

Many people across the Marsh are employed in the Nuclear Power Station, this is now in the process of closing. Its two reactors are being decommissioned, the first is already being subjected to this and the second will be shut down in the next few years.

The local 'born and bred' population want a new reactor built within the compound of the existing Power Station. There is ample room with in the Stations perimeter wall for this without any expansion. The 'incomers' and 'distant politicals' have objected to this proposal and many hundreds of people will be unemployed in the area.

What has been built on the Marsh is a Wind Turbine Farm. How the heck people have become believers and worshippers of Wind Turbines is an absolute gob-smacker for me. Hideous eyesores which are always erected in the most beautiful locations with an ugliness visible for miles around, that spend more time idle than working, incredibly inefficient, producing no where near enough electricity for current needs let alone the future demands that are increasing daily and do nothing for local employment, the local economy or the environment. The latter on the basis that raw materials are extracted from the ground with the associated environmental damage and pollution that produces. The transportation, the manufacturing process etc etc etc.

Another large employer on the edges of Dungeness is Lydd Airport, this airport is ideally located for flights to and from the continent and again, 'incomers' and 'distant politcals' fight against the locals desire for an expansion of services at the airport, essentially destroying employment opportunities for the local population.
Napoleon dismissed England as a nation of 'shopkeepers'. Wellington and Nelson disabused him of this notion, however, England is indeed becoming a nation of 'shopkeepers'. A nation of service providers who will soon have no one to provide a service to or for. This nation, or more correctly, this Island, has been kept afloat by financial institutions that have collapsed into greed and selfishness, kept alive only by money borrowed by the government against tax revenues of the future, a future that is looking increasingly bleak for those of us on the wrong side of the social divide, particularly when the tax revenues diminish due to greater unemployment and an ever increasing social support requirement.

Despite everything, Dungeness is truly a place a beauty, if one is an artist or photographer, Dungeness has a unique light, a unique environment, a unique beauty that will easily be found if one follows the principal rule of art... Look and See.