Dear Residents,
Please take the time to read the article below. Written by David Plumstead, it sets out the battles that we are all facing in this part of East Kent.
Here it be:
Another Brick in the Wall
If successful, Shepway Council's latest attempt to treat its residents and electorate like mushrooms by holding Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to discuss Otterpool Newtown behind closed doors may yet prove to be a mistake. Of itself an ill-judged decision but also another brick in the wall the Gang of (now) Seven and our sycophantic and self-serving member of Parliament are building around the Lubyanka in Castle Hill Avenue.
But we know what fate ultimately awaits walls erected to keep the public at bay.
The last wall I had anything to do with was in Berlin. 3mtrs high and made of solid concrete but that took residents on both sides just hours to knock big holes in once the politicians and the despots on the East side had been shown to be made of straw. Remind you of anyone?
So much is being done against the wishes of the electorate and residents of Shepway, now might be a good moment to remind ourselves of the growing list of outrageous, environmentally and socially unsustainable developments being foisted on us by our own despots, namely Alistair Stewart, David Monk, Jeremy Chambers, Susan Priest, Jennifer Hollingsbee, Susan Carey and Damian Collins. Here we go:
1. Otterpool Newtown - saying goodbye to the villages of Sellindge, Lympne, the Racecourse, Newingreen, Westenhanger, Stanford and West Hythe - 2. the M20 Lorry Park, 3. Princes Parade, 4. Shorncliffe Camp, 5. 1150 more plus shops etc etc at Nickolls Quarry and 6. another 8,000+ listed in the Local Development Plan or already approved/started and 7. umpteen disparate small and medium sized developments scattered across the District amounting to another couple of thousand at least.
8. Then there's the grotesque blocks of concrete flats at Fishermans Beach where the new occupants are already lobbying to remove the inshore Fishermen and the Seabrook Sea Anglers and their huts because they are spoiling their view and their nets are ugly. Pots calling kettles black here!
I participated in the proposed Jnc 10a Planning Inquiry ten days ago and learned that within three miles of Sellindge we and the residents of Mersham are faced with a new complex of 1. really huge Warehouses - the biggest in the SE - and 2. yet another lorry park 3. the disappearance of the C12th listed Sevington Church to be buried among the 4. Houses 5. Houses 6. Houses.
Thousands of them at 7. Cheeseman's Green soon to connect with an even bigger 8. Kingsnorth and bury 9. Aldington. The 1,500 houses of 10. the Finberry development continue all along the SE side of the Ashford ring road with Swans flying on the hoardings on the way to several thousand more at 11. Chilmington Green and 12. a further 950 at Court Lodge 13. 400 at Steeds Lane and 14. 150 at Pounds Lane making a total of 3,000 e & oe.
There are so many I have probably overlooked several and if I have counted any in twice they will make up for the thousands more we haven't been told about. I may not have one foot in the grave but I feel bound to say "I don't believe it!!"
Now Eddie Stobart management flew in by helicopter ten days ago during the Planning Inquiry to inspect the warehouse site rejoicing in the name of 'Stour Park' wouldn't you know it. If that huge international haulage company sets up shop at Jnc 10a it will be a 24/7 operation offering no peace for the occupants of the Pilgrim's Hospice dying immediately on the opposite side of the A20.
Officially the words 'Stour' and 'Park' may mean a river and a 'large public garden in a town for recreation' but they are new words in the English Planners', Councillors' and Developers' lexicon, where the definitions, with apologies to the compilers of the Concise OED at the bottom of page 533, need to be extended to include warehouses, industrial and housing estates, sewage pumping stations and roads.
We need to be very conscious of the use Local Authorities and Developers now make of pleasant words like 'Park', 'Green', 'Lane', 'Court Lodge' and (river) 'Stour' when naming once precious places about to be covered in concrete. Our language is being highjacked from under our noses along with our open spaces.
David Plumstead
Shepway Environment and Community Network
