Taypayers kept in dark over council property ventures

I and I know many other ratepayers share the extreme uneasiness expressed by Matthew Peach (letters, March 7) relating to Ashford Borough Council’s foray into the treacherously volatile arena of property speculation.

There have been several serious downturns in property prices in recent times the most notable of which in 2008 caused banks to flounder, property companies to fold and a credit crunch which caused a worldwide recession.

The stakeholders of ABC, the ratepayers have been kept very much in the dark about the details of these property transactions on the seemingly nebulous grounds of ‘Commercial Confidentiality’, which further exacerbates the feeling of unease and worry.

Have no doubt about it that if this property speculation goes bad then the ball will bounce directly back to ABC and it’s ratepayers. Consequently we should and must be openly and comprehensively informed of all the details of these property transactions.

Thus far the rank and file ABC ratepayers have been kept very much in the dark on the details of these transactions and in the circumstances it would be most prudent for individual councillors and senior officers to take their own legal advice on any comeback against them personally in the event of anything going wrong.

In the light of the current dire state of High Street properties and little or no likelihood of any improvement, with an ever-increasing rate of unlet units such as the eight restaurant units attached to the new cinema complex, the ratepayers of Ashford must be given the full facts so that we can judge the actions of the councillors.

Resistance to come clean will only fuel the fire of uneasiness.

Kerrigan Bethel,

Wye unwanted apartment blocks everywhere roads in a worse condition than a Third World country.

Extortionate parking charges where the council say they want to regenerate the town centre, all they do is drive visitors away, just get a grip and listen.

Give two hours free parking at all car parks, finish charges at 5pm, stop building apartments and give us affordable houses with gardens and work on major roadworks like Newtown 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to complete in shortest possible time.

Phil Bulman,

South Ashford to antisocial behaviour out of sheer boredom.

I have read through the planning application for the Large Burton site and this problem is not mentioned.

Is it ever?

L.D. Goddard,

Lower Queens Road, Ashford

Drivers are preparing for another Newtown Road closure as work on the Ashford Designer Outlet extension progresses