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Liz Akenhead, champion of the Tunbridge Wells countryside, honoured with volunteer award
Congratulations to Liz Akenhead, whose work for CPRE Kent has been recognised with a national award.
This year saw a record number of volunteers nominated by either their local group or the national charity and at last week’s national conference 35 were awarded a medal and certificate for their efforts.
Liz was, of course, nominated by CPRE Kent and in his nomination chairman John Wotton said: “Liz stood down in May 2021 after serving as chair of the Tunbridge Wells district committee for many years.
“Throughout this time she has demonstrated extraordinary skill, commitment and determination in contributing to the local planning process and responding to the many threats we have faced.
“This has proved to be a consistently challenging task in a borough that faces all the development pressures of a popular South East commuting town, with an area that is 70 per cent within the High Weald AONB and much of the rest either Metropolitan Green Belt or floodplain unsuitable for development.
“Liz has brought to bear her knowledge and experience as a solicitor in the field of planning law, which she has shared freely with colleagues. She has mastered every change in planning law and policy and scrutinised thoroughly each new local planning consultation and proposed new development of any significance.
“Once she has taken up a matter, she has pursued it relentlessly, skilfully and courteously, gaining the respect of countless councillors and officers. Her final project as chair was to mastermind our response to the Regulation 19 consultation on the new Local Plan, which contained more than 200 detailed submissions, many of which she drafted herself.
“Liz has been an inspiring and exemplary district chair, regularly hosting meetings in her home. She has been welcoming to new members and encouraging to us all. She has chaired the committee with consummate dedication and efficiency, setting a standard to which few of us can aspire. She continues to work at least as hard as any other committee member.”
Or, to sum it all up, Liz’s certificate detailing the reason for her award reads: “For outstanding service to CPRE Kent for many years, serving as Chair of the Tunbridge Wells District Committee with skill, determination and courtesy, bringing to bear all your knowledge and experience to the protection of the precious countryside of the Weald of Kent.”
And so say all of us!
Monday, October 25, 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.
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