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Who cares about Dartford and Gravesham?
Developers only appear to care about their profits! So who really cares what is built near you? All too often councils only seem to care about their party being re-elected or hanging on power. So who cares if your children cannot get into their local school because they are oversubscribed due to excessive house building? So who cares if your journey to work takes longer because the transport system cannot cope with the mass of people living in the area? Civil servants, it frequently seems, are simply promoted to their level of incompetence. This frequently means that if a senior civil servant gets things wrong they either rise up the food chain or the mess they have caused gets covered up. So who cares if in years to come there are food shortages because we have more people than the country can feed?
The only people who really care about this area are people like you and I. The more local people who support these beliefs, the greater the impact we can have. This is why GRRG was formed so local action groups could share information and when required all speak with one voice.
In April there will be an Examination In public (E.I.P) on changes to the local plan forced on the council by the government appointed housing Inspector. The outcome of the EIP could be 1,000 homes built and some (or indeed all) of these will be on the greenbelt. If we are to protect our countryside it is vital that as many groups as possible are part of GRRG and are represented at the EIP.
I know it is wrong, but quite often by the time that local people find out about a development in their area it is too late to stop it. The EIP is your chance to stop development in your area. This is a call to action—don’t let the opportunity pass you by.
CPRE is a leading countryside protection, planning and environmental charity which works throughout England to stop damaging development and ensure that our countryside is safeguarded for future generations. As an active local member of the charity, I have been proud to head up its drive to improve sustainable transport provision. Throughout the Dartford and Gravesham area, we need more active members if its work is to continue at its current level. You don’t need to have experience in planning, as training can be provided. All you need is an enthusiasm and hunger to help protect and stand up for your countryside. As a charity, we are also always in need of new members; so even if you don’t want to help as an active volunteer, I would ask you to support the work we do by committing just £3 a month to ensure we are able to continue our activities.
If you are willing to give up a little time to make your area a better place to live please contact the office on Jamie@cprekent.org.uk and he will put you in touch with us.
- 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
