Questions grow over Dreamland’s Scenic Railway closure
A heritage row in Margate, plus planning news, a disputed car park, water woes, and more
Monday's Kent Current examines the sudden closure of Dreamland’s Scenic Railway and the growing political and public pressure for evidence behind the decision. We also cover council scrutiny, planning applications, local disputes, culture and property stories from across Kent, as questions about transparency, heritage and decision-making ripple beyond Margate...
Dreamland’s Scenic Railway closure leaves councillors demanding evidence
Britain’s oldest rollercoaster has been shut down with a social media press release on a Tuesday morning. In the days since, councillors, heritage bodies and residents have begun asking the same basic question: How did a ride rebuilt with public money, and expected to operate for years to come, suddenly become 'unviable' without the evidence behind that decision being made public?
The decision to retire the Scenic Railway at Dreamland has triggered protests, a petition and now formal political scrutiny. What began as a brief announcement about a single attraction has become a broader debate about heritage, transparency, and who should decide the future of one of Margate’s most recognisable landmarks.
Why this matters
The Scenic Railway is a Grade II* listed structure and Britain’s oldest rollercoaster, first opening in 1920. It is one of a very small number of historic wooden rollercoasters surviving worldwide, with national and international heritage significance.
Its closure is not simply the loss of a ride. It raises deeper questions about how heritage assets are managed once they become difficult or expensive to operate, particularly when they have been restored with significant public funding. At the centre of the dispute is whether the decision was unavoidable or simply not properly explained.
What Dreamland announced
Dreamland said last week that the Scenic Railway would “take well-earned retirement from operation as a ride,” following inspections which concluded it had reached “the end of its current life.”
In its statement, the park said it was “not the end but a new beginning,” committing to a long-term vision that would “reimagine” the structure so it could be enjoyed in a different way. The announcement was accompanied by a creative call-out for ideas and memories, as well as plans for a pop-up exhibition in summer 2026.
Comments on the announcement were turned off on Facebook, perhaps foreshadowing what was to come.
The funding question
The Scenic Railway’s most recent restoration was not a private project.
It was rebuilt and reopened in 2015 as part of an £18m rescue of Dreamland, supported by public funding and negotiated by the Dreamland Heritage Trust following the Save Dreamland campaign.
In a statement, the Trust said the funding it helped secure was explicitly intended to support the Scenic Railway’s ongoing operation until 2037. It said it was particularly disappointed that, despite repeated attempts to engage, it was not included in discussions about the ride's future before the decision to retire it was announced.
The Trust warned that keeping the structure while removing its function did not constitute preserving living heritage, and said meaningful consultation would be essential to any future plan.
Those concerns are now being echoed publicly. A petition launched by former councillor and Heritage Trust trustee Carol Messenger, calling on Thanet District Council to exercise its statutory duties to protect the Scenic Railway, has attracted more than 2,000 signatures.
The petition does not ask the council to force Dreamland to operate the ride. Instead, it calls for heritage oversight, transparency and public consultation before any long-term changes are agreed.
The unanswered question
Councillors say no context was reflected in how the decision was announced.
Deputy Thanet District Council leader Helen Whitehead, the ward councillor for Margate Central, has asked for Dreamland’s operators to be called before the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
She says councillors have repeatedly requested sight of the Health and Safety Executive advice, structural reports and external guidance relied upon by Dreamland, but have not yet been provided with them. In her words, residents need to understand exactly what advice has been given and how the extra maintenance has been assessed to determine that the ride is unviable.
Until those reports are disclosed, she argues, councillors are being asked to accept a permanent decision without seeing the evidence behind it.
Safety, maintenance and viability
Dreamland says continued operation of the Scenic Railway would require daily inspections lasting up to five hours, making the ride impractical to run.
No detailed technical explanation has yet been published showing how inspection requirements moved the ride from needing repair to being permanently unviable.
From announcement to scrutiny
The response has now moved from public reaction to a formal council process.
Thanet District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee is being asked to question Dreamland’s operators on how the decision was reached, what alternatives were considered, and why closure was announced before the supporting evidence was made public.
The Mayor of Margate, Katie Pope, has , and Reform councillors have all raised concerns about the decision-making process and the lack of publicly available evidence the move, saying scrutiny is needed to understand whether permanent closure is genuinely the only option.
The council cannot force a private operator to run a ride. But it can demand transparency, examine whether changes in use require listed building consent, and question whether the original basis for public funding still stands.
A cross-party concern
Support for scrutiny is not confined to one party.
Labour, Conservative, and Reform councillors have all raised concerns about the decision-making process and the lack of publicly available evidence. Some have suggested alternative operating models, including an independent trust or company running the Scenic Railway separately, protecting Dreamland from operational risk while preserving the attraction.
Former MP for the area, Roger Gale, has also , those involved to explore ways of keeping the ride operational, while recognising the importance of safety and maintenance.
Across the political spectrum, the emphasis has been consistent. Safety must come first, but a decision of this scale requires a full explanation.
What reimagining means in practice
Dreamland’s operator, Sands Heritage, is now majority-owned by Live Nation Entertainment, and the park says a new long-term vision for the Scenic Railway will be announced in due course.
For many residents and heritage campaigners, the concern is not whether the structure survives, but whether it survives as a functional asset rather than simply preserved as a static object.
What happens next
For now, the Scenic Railway remains closed, and the reports used to justify that decision remain unseen.
Dreamland says it is imagining a new future for the ride. Councillors, heritage bodies and thousands of residents are asking for something more basic first: The evidence behind why Britain’s oldest rollercoaster had to stop running at all.
Three big reads
1️⃣ The Times, along with every other media outlet, is very excited that Madonna visited Margate last week. The paper argues that it isn't hard to see why Kent attracts such stars, citing a 'raffish, transient quality' that draws artists and writers to our county.
2️⃣ Meanwhile, the Guardian takes a more nuanced view, writing on the gentrification struggle of Margate, which they suggest has left the town divided between the trendy art types and existing residents.
3️⃣ The Conversation looks to Kent’s early medieval past, after archaeologists uncovered four swords buried with children in 6th-century graves. Far from being practical weapons, the article argues these swords were powerful symbols of status, identity and aspiration, revealing how families used burial rites to express who their children were supposed to become, not just who they were when they died.
Council matters
Meetings this week:
- Dover: Cabinet gather tonight to receive a petition on sewage being pumped into the sea at Deal and Walmer, and to consider the draft budget for the coming year.
- Gravesham: Cabinet will tonight discuss the council's finances and progress to the next stage of a new Local Plan.
- Kent: Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meets on Wednesday to discuss integration of services, mental health provision, and a new group model for ambulance services.
- Gravesham: Planning Committee will decide the fate of the redevelopment of the Nuralite Industrial Estate between Gravesend and Higham.
- Kent/Medway: Police and Crime Panel on Thursday will see Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott deliver his latest report and set out his police and crime plan and council tax requirement for the coming year.
New planning applications:
- Medway: A request for a scoping opinion has been submitted for up to 550 homes, a primary school, and a local centre in Chattenden.
- Dartford: Application to install a mobile breast screening medical van at Bluewater for 18 months.
- Sevenoaks: Plan to demolish one property and replace it with 27 homes in Kemsing.
We can only put together these briefings thanks to the readers who generously choose to support our work. If you value our journalism, please consider joining them. A paid subscription works out as £1.15 per week, and helps us build a better way of telling the stories that matter to our county.
In brief
🚗 Kent County Council has been accused of spending £600,000 on a car park for council leaders, while charging staff £4 per day to park. Leader Linden Kemkaran responded that the plan to charge staff didn't survive an early conversation.
🗂️ 62 complaints were made about Kent County Council councillors during 2025, with 58 of those coming after Reform took control of the authority in May.
👕 Meanwhile, Reform has gone to great lengths to demonstrate its professionalism at KCC.
🏴 Searchlight reports that a prominent Kent flagger from Herne Bay has been convicted of violent disorder.
🧑⚖️ Dover and Manston border staff have appeared in court accused of stealing from migrants arriving in the country.
➡️ Former University of Kent professor and awful human being Matt Goodwin has been selected as Reform's candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester.
🏗️ The University of Kent has abandoned plans for a £51m student accommodation project that would have housed 1,000 students, but will proceed with plans to build 2,000 homes on part of its Canterbury estate.
🏘️ 435 homes on the edge of Maidstone have been approved, despite the efforts of anti-housing campaigners.
🏠 Tonbridge and Malling has given itself the go-ahead to build temporary accommodation in the middle of nowhere on the border of Medway.
🚧 Work is set to begin on regenerating the square outside of the former Nasons department store on Canterbury High Street.
🚲 Plans for a new headquarters for Brompton Bicycle in Ashford are 'on hold' despite the project gaining approval.
🐟 A fish processing and canning plant could be built at Ramsgate Port.
🚙 New speed bumps in Ashford will be rebuilt after they were built at too harsh of an angle.
🧖 The UK's largest beach spa is set to open on Folkestone Harbour Arm in March.
🏖️ Margate is set to receive a boardwalk across the Main Sands to improve accessibility.
🏚️ A pregnant woman placed in temporary accommodation in Chatham by Bromley Council has said she is "exhausted" by the experience.
🛍️ Rainham Shopping Centre has been sold to a mystery buyer for £1.5m.
🚌 A school bus service has stopped serving Five Oak Green near Paddock Wood because it regularly runs late, leaving pupils with no way to get to school.
👷 The Lower Thames Crossing is launching supply chain roadshows to engage Kent and Essex firms in the project.
🚚 While water issues in Tunbridge Wells are largely back to normal, the logistics of tankers refilling storage tanks are starting to annoy locals.
🫥 Meanwhile, South East Water's invisible CEO, David Hinton, has re-emerged to explain that he will address the level of service at the company.
🚰 In perhaps an unsurprising move, the Socialist Party is calling for the nationalisation of water companies following the debacle at South East Water.
Property of the week
This week’s property comes with a twist. The most striking feature is not the house, but the outbuilding, which is larger than the home itself. The property is a three-bedroom 1930s semi in Sturry, but it is the substantial detached space, fitted with insulation, a washroom and kitchenette, that really defines the listing and opens up a range of possibilities. The house itself retains plenty of period character, alongside a private garden in a village setting just outside Canterbury. It is on the market with a guide price of £500,000.
Events this week
🎸 Fri 6 Feb - Ash // Acclaimed 90s band best known for their classic Girl From Mars. Forum, Tunbridge Wells.
Footnotes
Follow us on social media! We’re on Facebook, BlueSky, and Instagram for now.
