Don't forget that we get an extra hour in bed tomorrow morning.

British summer time has officially come to an end which means that it is time to wind the old little hand back one notch.

What will you do with the "extra" hour?

Have you ever forgotten to put the clocks back and been early for anything?

Thanet District Council has voted to support a Government e-petition which calls on Parliament to reform laws regulating the export of live farm animals.

The motion presented by Cllr. Ian Driver was passed at a meeting of Full Council on Thursday 13 October, stated that the council would publish a link to this petition on the homepage of its website, and would publish a statement and press release which encourages citizens of Thanet and elsewhere to sign the Government e-petition.

As such, the council is encouraging local people to sign the petition which can be found here.

The petition seeks to have the government amend the law to allow port owners to refuse, on animal welfare grounds, the export of live farm animals. If this passes the 100,000 signature threshold, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons. At the time of writing there were 4,846 signatures.

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In order to save money Thanet District Council have announced that CCTV cameras will no longer be monitored at night.

While the cameras would be unmanned from 03:00 to 09:00 they will still be recording. According to the article by the BBC only 8% of crimes spotted by staff occurred during this time frame.

Conservative Councillor Chris Wells, (cabinet member for community services) is reported to be confident that people will understand why the council have made this decision. However Labour councillor Iris Johnstone (shadow cabinet member for community services) called the move absolutely crazy suggesting that this period will become a criminal free-for-all.

How do you feel about Thanet's CCTV being unmanned during the night?

According to kentonline.co.uk the Queen is to visit Margate this November.

Other than the fact that Her Majesty is scheduled to visit on 11 November 2011 there is scant other information.

The news has been greeted by a mix of enthusiasm and cynicism with sceptics asking what, exactly, the Queen could possibly want to see in the area.

Will you be booking time off work (or the seeking thereof) to come and welcome our monarch? What do you think of her visit?

The ongoing saga of planning permission to build a Tesco on Margate seafront has been referred back to the full council.

On the 19th the BBC reported that Thanet District Council were all set to rubber stamp the planning application which had been recommended for approval. However the planning committee has deferred to a meeting of the full council.

Top developer Matt Brown has been working silently on the Thanet News Network design to give it a face-lift.

The new design is almost identical to the old but it has been styled much more artistically. The background image was sourced from anaru at flickR and is the first of many background designs.

Being the super geek that he is Matt told us This first background is pretty cool but we're not done yet. The next stage will be to create a collection of iconic Thanet related images and set them in random rotation. My aim in this redesign was to make the website itself a work of art.

Matt continued Thanet News Network is pushing towards the time when it is more completely the news reported by the community itself. I'm not going to stop developing until every person in Thanet is able to contribute the news that matters most to them.

The Thanet Labour blog is reporting that Thanet District Council has failed to maintain the electoral roll, registration onto which is supposed to be compulsory.

According to the blog the Labour group is calling for an investigation after it emerged that more than 1,400 voters have disappeared in two of the wards its members represent – Margate Central and Cliftonville West.

The research was carried out by Cllr Will Scobie (Dane Valley) has apparently highlighted that the district of Thanet was the only one in Kent to experience an overall decrease in numbers. The number of people registered across the isle is reported to be down 4.2%. This is equivalent to just over one person in twenty-five disappearing over the last four years.

The Labour Blog is reporting that this amounts to a decrease of 1,400 at a time when other districts saw an increase suggesting that the number of households not accounted for might be significantly higher. (Read the full blog post here).

This is more than an embarrassment for the Conservative run council or a feather in the cap of the Thanet's youngest (and, unofficially, sexiest) Councilor. A number of notional and County wide policies are based upon figures produced from the register. This includes marking political boundaries and deciding how many councilors might be needed per ward.

With the numbers potentially under reflected to a significant degree Thanet may be short changed in both the voting and funding departments.

Perhaps more interestingly Thanet District Council recently complained in a press release of the cost of £4,320 that council have been saved if registrations had taken place over the Internet. Had they not lost close to one and a half thousand people the cost might have been more like £4500 so all-in-all perhaps the council saved some money. In the short term at least.

What might you suggest has gone wrong?

The latest round of decisions regarding the possibility of a Tesco store near the site of the Scenic Railway is due soon. There appear to be a large number of unanswered questions from the necessity for a store at that location to questions of bias and conflict of interest.

This Is Kent has a photo story of the situation to date, Big News Margate asks what the experts know, Margate Architecture blog is doubtful about how independent is the council's report?

What's your opinion on this?

StreetGames, a wet'n'wild session, and ten-pin bowling are just some of the sporting activities on offer to young people in Thanet this October half term.

The programme, from the council's Sport 4 NRG team, kicks off on Monday 24 October with football at Dane Valley, followed by ten-pin bowling at Bugsy's Bowl in Cliftonville the next evening.

Wednesday 26 October sees the Sport 4 NRG team heading over to Westgate for a session of StreetGames between 4:30pm and 6:30pm. It's designed to be a roaming session, with the team, in partnership with Pie Factory Music, aiming to engage with any young people who are hanging around. Some of the games on offer will include basketball and street football.

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Thanet Council have granted themselves permission to convert an eyesore property along Margate seafront back into a hotel.

The problem they now face is that they have to find someone who is actually willing to do the work and try and run a profitable hotel on the site.

A planning application from Thanet District Council to change the use of the Fort Road Hotel from bedsits back to a hotel was, unsurprisingly, agreed on Wednesday 21st September by the council’s Planning Committee. On Thursday 22nd of September, Cabinet Members also agreed that the council should continue to seek a developer that is both willing and able to deliver a high quality boutique hotel.

The council is currently asking for expressions of interest in the historic site, one of the few recognisable from Turner's day. The site was compulsorily purchased by Thanet District Council back in December 2010.

The resultant project, created to support the Turner Centre (according to the BBC), is now being promoted by Margate Arts, Creativity, Heritage – a partnership between Thanet District Council, English Heritage and the Arts Council.

Over the last six months, the site has seen the installation of a neon artwork, Iconic Site (estimate cost £5000 apparently).

Leader of the Council, Cllr. Bob Bayford, said: It's extremely encouraging to see the level of interest in this historic seafront site. The council has been keeping its options open on the Fort Road Hotel and we did look at demolition, but we’d much prefer to see it being brought back into use as a boutique hotel. Now, with planning approval given, that's already one step closer to happening. The interest we've had to date appears to be serious and we hope to see that being translated into work on the site over the next few months.

A brand new play about extraordinary goings-on in Thanet, involving gangsters, arson and a dead body, opens in Broadstairs October 19th. Gangsters In Thanet, a black comedy, tells the story of two people down from London who open their dream restaurant in the locality only to find two gangsters booked in for dinner and a dead body in their fridge.

Written by local film-maker Norman Thomas, the play contains lots of local references including hints of scandalous links between local politicians and corrupt property developers.

It’s all purely in fun of course, Mr Thomas said, It’s a wild, farcical, piece – a bit like Arsenic and Old Lace meets Fawlty Towers.

The play is stuffed full of well-known local talent from all over the isle, including Steven Todd from Broadstairs, Lisa Payne, as well as impressive newcomer Katharine Elvin from Margate.

The play came out of a piece of long-term research Mr Thomas has been doing into Thanet’s gangster past.

Over the years many people have told me stories about the darker side of life in Thanet, with stories of concrete overcoats, corruption and arson, he said, I’ve taken some of the juiciest bits from the stories and put them all together in the new play.

So there is a lot of truth in there, too, along with the laughs.

But it’s not all about the gangsters, said Mr Thomas, It also features a woman who turns into a dog, songs and one of the most extraordinary stripteases ever performed.

Mr Thomas added: Anyone who comes will hopefully enjoy a bizarre, scandalous and laugh-a-second night. But seating is limited so it’s a good idea to book early.

The play will be performed from Wednesday to Sunday, 19th to the 23rd October at 7.30pm every night at the Red Hall, 11 Grosvenor Road, Broadstairs. All tickets are £6. To book ring 01843 604 253.

Photo Credit: Bill Harris