Dear Residents,
One of our long standing and respected residents has emailed us again to follow up on 'The worm is turning' post which we published a few weeks ago. These are his personal views and we should say, similar to the views of most residents that care to contact us. Here be the views of Richard Lofting:
As a bit of a follow on from 'the worm is turning' and Councillor Cary's comments about how beautiful these new garden towns are, I would argue that the countryside is far more beautiful if nature and the farmers are left to get on with it.
Listening to the housing minister the other day on Peston On Sunday (ITV) talking about housing issues within the green belt; he claimed that there would only be new housing development on green belt land, providing that all other avenues had been exhausted ie brown field sites etc. Ok, I know the land at Otterpool is not green belt, but have a look at any map of this area and the words 'Outstanding Area Of Natural Beauty' are invariably written almost slap bang on Otterpool! Has anyone asked whether all the brown field sites have been used in the the Dover, Folkestone and Ashford areas?
This leads to another unanswered question; when it is discovered that the worlds largest lorry park is not viable as it may only be used once every two years or so, I can't see it being allowed that 250 acres of ugly concrete will be left standing, as I see it, once the first digger has scratched a line in the 250 acres of prime agricultural land it will have become 250 acres of brown field site! Perhaps I am a sceptic, but is this what the 12,000 houses are being built for? Houses on one side of the motorway and industrial complex on the other. Its all well and good Councillor Carey and Hollingsbee saying we need the housing etc. etc, I am no mathematician but that must equate to 20,000 jobs or so that will be needed, or are they all going to commute to London every day? And what about the infrastructure required?
I am probably sticking my head above the parapet, but I am sure there is a grand master plan that ordinary mortals are not privy too, does anyone remember the penny on the rates when the converter station in Sellindge was opposed - fat lot of good that was! And I understand that workers at the generating board knew it was going to be built in Sellindge in around 1965. Perhaps this is why our local Councillors are so hell bent on going against local opinion. Perhaps they are after some sort of gong for services to the local area or dare I say it backhanders from the developers!
Richard Lofting.
Richard: Our message to you and all of our residents that share your views is this:
At present, Susan Carey is our Elham Valley Councillor. She supports mass development within our communities. Come the 4th May, get out there and vote for the candidate that will support you. At present, the tail is wagging the dog. Let's reverse the trend and start making our servants work for us.
MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT
S&DRA
