Now to make the Local Plan deliver
Editor News editor Assistant news editor Last week, councillors voted through Maidstone’s new Local Plan.
The challenge now is to ensure this delivers for everyone in the town and across the borough, and we provide the appropriate infrastructure.
The Conservatives led Maidstone Borough Council when this plan was developed but since the Lib Dems took control of the council in 2015 we have had missed opportunities. They have voted against a mechanism for a LeedsLangley Relief Road, and have voted against improving air quality at the Wheatsheaf Junction.
It is clear to me as a relatively new councillor representing an area of our town that this plan will only be a success if delivered by the Conservatives.
We should remember this when we vote. Cllr Matt Boughton (Con) Fant Ward, Maidstone Borough Council
The newly adopted Local Plan is a plan for the rich, not those in real need of homes. They have stated the impact on air pollution and congestion will be significant.
This is an unsustainable plan for sub-urban mansions that will do nothing to help relieve the housing crisis for young people and those in need.
Just 10% of new homes are planned for the centre of town, yet this is where jobs and transport links are. People moving to the outof-town developments will need cars and will significantly increase the gridlock and pollution in the town.
Only around 20% of the homes are designated as affordable. The majority of these will be out of town where people will need to have the added expense of a car. This makes this a plan for the rich, not those in need.
We called for the vast majority of new homes to be high density, close to jobs and transport links and affordable. We have identified Senior reporter enough unused brown field sites in Maidstone to deliver new homes meeting the real need of people. Sadly we were not listened to when the Lib Dems, Labour and Conservatives backed this appalling plan. Stuart Jeffery, Maidstone Green Party, Buckland Road, Maidstone Before it gets more out of hand than it is already, is it possible for Maidstone Borough Council not to make any decisions on large planning applications before liaising with Kent County Council about the road structures?
Recently, bus journeys from Coxheath to Maidstone, a distance of about five miles maximum, have been taking as long as an hour and a half because of the volume of traffic, thereby making people late for work or appointments or missing a bus or train connection.
Also, are they aware that, just because they are a council, they are not above the law?
The law states that professional drivers have to take a certain length break after driving for a certain length of time but, because of these traffic problems, the decision has to be made whether the driver goes without his/her break, which it is illegal to do, or withdraw the bus that should have been on a journey, thereby leaving against the different strains of flu which evolve each year. If you are interested in having the vaccine then please do contact your GP. You can find out more about your eligibility for the free flu jab here: http://bit.ly/2yX95Dc
And let’s always be on the look-out for the most vulnerable in our communities, particularly elderly people, helping them through the challenges cold weather brings. More here from AgeUK: http://bit.ly/2hns4Ns