Kentish Express Ashford & District
Council staff take down charity banners
Council chiefs have been left red faced after the town centre action team was caught on CCTV removing banners which advertised charity events at Godinton House and Gardens.
Staff at the estate in Godinton Lane say they had been paying Kent County Council (KCC) to put up banners to advertise events for 10 years.
However, three years ago they noticed that the banners started disappearing, and their inquiries to Ashford Borough Council (ABC) and KCC met with flat denial of any knowledge about the problem.
In 2015 a group of banners lasted for just a week before disappearing. It left staff wondering if their events were being targeted by petty vandals or pranksters.
Godinton estate manager Nick Sandford said that the police were contacted, and officers then carried out checks including knocking on the doors of local residents.
Police also contacted both KCC and ABC to ask them if council workers were responsible for removing the banners, but to no avail.
The estate put up banners for events in March and May this year without any issues, but in June a set of banners went missing, prompting the estate to buy security cameras to keep an eye on them.
Then last week the riddle was solved when members of the town centre action team (T-CAT) were seen on CCTV taking down the signs and taking them away.
Mr Sandford said: “We use the banners as they are popular with our visitors and many people are only aware of events and special openings at Godinton because of them.
“The banners have been destroyed as we did not claim them. How could we? When we contacted the council no one knew where they were or who had taken them!
“It was obvious who the banners belonged to, having Godinton House printed on them. A phone call or visit would have saved not only a huge amount of police and Godinton staff time, but also the cost of the town centre action team.”