The following article was published in the August 2008 Sellindge Village News on the Meeting held on the 24th June.......
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The meeting at the Village Hall was packed tight. Many people just were not able to get in alongside the 240 that managed it. The voice of the village was unanimous - Countrystyle you can take you pollution and your heavy goods traffic and your poisoning of our water and air and your noise and take them to some solitary island far away. No one gave Countrystyle a moment of encouragement. Their presentation of their case was pitiful and if they operate as well as they spoke to this village we can really worry about their competence to do anything.
This movement to oppose has begun to reveal an idea held by some powerful interests to industrialise this beautiful part of Kent from Ashford to Dover. The details are hard to substantiate but there is enough to justify the following speech I made at the meeting. It is reproduced for those who were not able to hear it.
"With your permission, Mr Chairman, I would like to start by thanking you and the representatives of Kent County Council Planning Department for organising and attending this meeting, and for giving us the opportunity to express our views. I would also like to thank the committee and supports of Sellindge and District Residents Association (SANDRA) for their untiring work in organising the protest march in May which attracted over 600 people - a high proportion of Sellindge residents - all keen to express their anger at and implacable opposition to Countrystyle Recycling's proposals for the Quarry site.
The third thank-you goes from all the people of Sellindge to their committee members for producing the document that has been distributed this evening. This document summarises the points so far identified which we are asking our visitors from KCC Planning Department to consider and act upon. I should stress that this is a preparatory document - more detailed review is in preparation. However, there is plenty in the document you now have which deserves immediate attention. My colleagues will establish some points this evening, I want to raise a disturbing issue which has arisen as I have pursued various lines of research. Mr Chairman, it is a ling time since I had dealings with local authorities in a profession capacity. Back in the 70s I was very aware that such dealings often took place in a sort of miasma of mistrust and suspicion. Rumours and accusations of bribery and corruption were commonplace, and in some cases such accusations were sustained. This climate of mistrust arose, as I recall, from a kind of darkness - an absence of light and clarity, and a sense that things were being decided by powerful people fumbling undercovers towards undeclared objectives. This culture was changed by throwing back the blankets covering bureaucratic furtiveness and exposing the fumbling to the light of day. But I have to say that today there are signs of its return, and as I begin to approach agencies of local government I am again aware of a culture of darkness.
Let me make it clear that my dealings with Senior Planning Officer Angela Watts have been entirely harmonious and open. I am speaking more about the Local Authority world which lies behind the Planning interface with the public. For example, it is proving impossible to discover what is being planned, long-term, for the people of Sellindge and the other villages in the area. Why are we not informed of such plans and considerations? Why cannot long term proposals be discussed with those most affected by them - in this instance - us! Why is it that we are the last to know of plans and proposals capable of affecting our village and our quality of life in truly devastating ways? Why is it for example, that Countrystyle has had three years to prepare its proposals, three years to consult with the Boroughs and Districts, with the industries, the businesses and the commercial enterprises of Kent? Three years of access to KCC officials, by skilled people employed full-time to prepare proposals on Countrystyle's behalf.
By sharp contrast, the team at SANDRA all work full time in other employment, have busy lives and families to look after, and have had merely a few months to prepare a fully professional response (at their own expense) to the proposals submitted by Countrystyle. Most crippling of all, they have been allowed none of the easy access to County Hall and other interested parties which Countrystyle has enjoyed for so long.
It is my earnest entreaty today, Mr Chairman, in the name of equity and just government, that you urge those officials, politicians, planners and interested parties who have influence on such proposals as these - proposals which can have truly devastating effects upon vulnerable communities - to open their thinking and their plans to those most affected.
It is the absence of such openness that gives rise to that culture of darkness, real or perceived, which I mentioned just now. The culture in which rumours, suspicions and accusations flourish - as they are now flourishing, I am sorry to say, around the proposals before us today".
During the holiday months of July and August our activities may seem to quieten, but I can assure you that many in this village are continuing to work throughout the summer to ensure our case against the development of a waste treatment plant on the quarry and above the second most important source of Kent's drinking water will be defeated. I shall be bringing you all up to date in September when we shall begin to turn the spotlight on Shepway. Thank you for your attention and support.
Ronald Lello Chairman Sellindge and District Residents Association (SANDRA)
