Take part in our lottery and win some money. Go on, you know you want to!

Now we know you all love to have fun, you love to help raise funds for CPRE Kent… and you just might not be averse to winning a bit of money here and there.
Which is where our 400 Club comes in. Join it and you give yourself the opportunity to win cash in this year’s CPRE Kent Lottery, which is now open to you all!
The lottery is one of the main ways CPRE Kent raises money, so this is your chance to help protect this county’s ever-diminishing countryside while possibly making your wallet a little heftier.
And guess what! It will only cost you £12 for the whole year!
At least 60% of the lottery takings are used for charitable causes, leaving up to 40% for cash prizes!
Each share is £12 for a year and there is no limit on how many you can buy. It almost goes without saying, but the more you buy, the better your chances of winning.
And you can always give a share as a gift to someone special.
Draws take place each month until December 31, 2018.
Prize-winners will be contacted by CPRE Kent within two weeks of the draw date and their
names published in Kent Voice magazine.
To join the 400 Club and play the CPRE Kent Lottery, click on the link below, print off the form and return it to the address provided.

Click here to join the 400 Club

• 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

• Read more on the Swale Local Plan
• Read CPRE Kent’s detailed comments on the plan
• View the council’s consultation document