Dear Residents,
A message from our friends and coalition partners in Hythe. We know, at the moment, our efforts are being directed to fighting off the Lorry Park, but if you can show a little support for our friends in Hythe in their fight against Shepway District Council it would be greatly appreciated.
S&DRA
Dear Friends of Princes Parade,
Sorry to fill up your in-box but as I mentioned in my last email events are going to get more intense during the autumn.
The first item to note is that Shepway's cabinet will be approving the arrangements for the next stage of the local plan consultation at their meeting next Wednesday, 14th September.
At this stage you don't need to do anything for the meeting itself, but as Prince's Parade is included in the "Preferred Options" as a development site you might want to take part in the consultation which is due to open on Sept 30th.
This is a democratic process and there is nothing Shepway can do to avoid it!
I will contact you again shortly after that date with instructions on how to take part in the consultation and ideas and guidance on the sort of comments you might like to submit. The consultation will be open for 6 weeks.
There is more information on the Save Prince's Parade website including a link to the draft Preferred Options document:
http://saveprincesparade.org/
If Prince's Parade is allocated as a development site in the final version of the Local Plan then that would effectively mean that the principle of development on the site had been agreed and any planning application submitted at that stage would just be a formality, this is why the Local Plan Consultation is so important.
Shepway, however are already working on a planning application ahead of the Local Plan, and at their next meeting on 19th October (5pm at the Civic Centre in Folkestone) cabinet will be discussing the nature and detail of the application which they are proposing for the development of 150 dwellings and a leisure centre on Prince's Parade, to submit to themselves in November.
My personal view is that governing through Cabinet is an un-democratic process and Shepway will do everything they can to keep it that way!
We won't know exactly what they will be discussing until the papers are released a week before the meeting but it would be very helpful if as many people as possible to join me and the other supporters in the public gallery to prove that it is not just a small minority of people who object to development on the site. The 19th October meeting is very important so please put the date in your diary.
If you want to make your views known to the Shepway Cabinet members there is a list of their emails on the SDC website.
http://www.shepway.gov.uk/
I look forward to seeing you at our photo exhbition in Seabrook Hall on 1 October 2-4pm when I will be happy to try to explain these two processes in more detail.
My view is that, although we can make a lot of noise about Shepway's decision to spend £700,000 of local people's money in arriving at a planning application, there is little we can do about it, if they are as determined as they appear to ignore the views of the people they represent. Where we might be able to stop them in their tracks is through the Local Plan Consultation.
Thank you for signing the petition 'No Development on Prince's Parade'. Can you help spread the word by forwarding the link below to your friends?
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/
Thanks
Jim Martin
