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Join us - in person! - for this year's AGM
This year’s AGM is being held on Friday, November 19, at 10.30am at Lenham Community Centre.
Yes, we’re back and meeting in person!
After holding last year’s AGM in virtual form, using Zoom technology, we’re pleased to say we can get back to our regular Lenham venue and catch up with CPRE Kent friends, as well as deal with the more formal matters.
When these have been concluded, Lee Dance, head of water resources at South East Water, will give a speech entitled Can Nature Based Solutions help with our Water Challenges?.
Please let us know if you would like to appoint a proxy to vote if you are unable to attend, or if you would like to join us for a ploughman’s lunch after the meeting.
Both the form of proxy and intention to stay for lunch should be with us at CPRE Kent, Queen’s Head House, Ashford Road, Charing, Ashford TN27 0AD no later than Thursday, November 11. Both forms can be found here.
The charge for lunch is £12 per person, cheques payable to CPRE Kent, or via BACS payment at the details on the invitation form.
- Lenham Community Centre, 12 Groom Way, Lenham, Maidstone ME17 2QT
- For the invitation and form of proxy, click here
- For the agenda and officer nominations, click here
- For the annual accounts and trustees’ report, click here
- For the minutes of the 2020 AGM, click here
Monday, November 1, 2021
- A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
- There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
- There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.
The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:
- There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
- A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
- Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
- Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.
Concerns about the rush to submit the plan
The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.
As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.
Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.
Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.
The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.
Further information
