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The Stack Is Back!
Kent is suffering under Operation Stack once again, as heavy goods vehicles are parked up on the M20, forcing other traffic (including some wayward HGVs) to divert onto the county’s smaller main roads. The knock-on effect is increased congestion across Kent, with many people taking to rural roads to avoid the jams and delays. The estimated cost to Kent’s economy is £2 million per day. While some may argue that this is an unfortunate situation, due to very bad weather in France and therefore uncontrollable, the root cause is an inability by the ferry companies to be able to transport vehicles across to the continent. As Kent’s residents will know, there can be many other reasons for this, but the resulting chaos is always the same.
We recognise that Kent County Council are making efforts to resolve this problem, but unfortunately they still appear to be pursuing the singular solution of a huge lorry park at Aldington near Ashford. CPRE Protect Kent have always been opposed to such a scheme, as it would be a ‘greenfield development’ that would deface Kent’s beautiful http://bestacnedrug.com countryside. The proposed site is also agricultural land which will be in great demand as food security rises in importance in the future. This would be particularly disastrous, given the infrequent use such a lorry park is likely to get.
Protect Kent believes that the Port of Dover must be made to take some responsibility for the mayhem caused by Operation Stack, implemented whenever cross-channel travel slows. We have argued on numerous occasions that the unused Western Docks could be to provide lorry parking for periods when travel is not possible for whatever reason. We believe that a lorry park on agriculturally valuable land at Aldington would be incredibly flawed, especially when the real problem is still another 15 miles down the M20 towards Dover. It is the Port’s inability to cope with incoming traffic which leads to this situation, so they should be building a lorry park to free the M20 and the people of Kent from the burden of Operation Stack.
This is not a new problem, but a final solution seems to be as far away as ever.
- 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
