Blame government for homes building

Ashford has many fundamental problems currently and undoubtedly will have in the future too, so it’s very easy to put the blame at the council’s door although they are far from blameless.

There is without question a government agenda to build thousands of new homes in Kent, cheap land and good transport links are probably the main reasons why. Ashford in particular, some might say, is a beneficiary of the project but many others would disagree.

An example of this is the enhancement of a section of the A28 Chart Road, great news in the short-term but in 10 years time with the construction of Chilmington Green near completion the A28 from Junction 9 of the M20 to Tenterden will be a nightmare. Add to this to this the other numerous housing developments in the pipeline and also the new Otterpool Park garden town near Hythe, which is providing 12,000 new homes, and these developments will provide over 20,000 new homes in the future.

How on earth is the local infrastructure going to cope? It won’t, is the answer. Government budget cuts to hospitals, doctor services, social care, schools and roads are devastating. Some of these new developments say they will provide new schools and doctors surgeries but seldom deliver, and so it continues, with more and more pressure on fewer resources. It was not that long ago when housing developments were supposed to fulfil local needs, but those days are long gone. The Kentish Express encourages its readers to send in photographs of Ashford’s past! Now might be the time to start taking photographs of our green spaces and countryside because it will soon be a distant memory. J. Dunton Ashford