More homes – but

Who would be a councillor, eh? Straighttalking Lib Dem Nick Eden-green tells how he has a watchful eye on what the future holds for the city he loves is

Canterbury is a small, tight-knit historic city with two world heritage sites, a brilliant range of shops, theatre, music, lectures and universities. It’s a privilege to live here and I’m passionate about where I live.

But why on earth be a councillor? Don’t local councils just take ages in endless committees making petty fogging decisions? Yes.

And sometimes we make big decisions which reshape our city – rebuilding Whitefriars, the Marlowe Theatre or planning 4,000 houses in south Canterbury and 1,200 in Thanington, for example.

Some good decisions and, in my view, some bad ones. Even our little decisions can affect your life more than anything Westminster does.

If the government buys a new battleship it hopefully won’t affect you, but if your bin doesn’t get emptied it certainly will!

I’ve always been interested in buildings and how they shape our community. In Canterbury it’s more than that. The historic city is our heritage. It’s also our single most important economic asset. It’s what attracts tourists, shoppers and universities. At planning meetings you often hear the words ‘conserve and enhance’. Never were they more important than for Canterbury.

That doesn’t mean we can’t build new modern buildings. Augustine House was a bold design. I spoke up for it and voted for it. Sadly, there was no site masterplan so the cramped student flats now being built next to it are less successful. Augustine House was a landmark building and the other buildings should be subservient to it. They are not.

I’ve spoken out against our Local Plan and the major developments in south Canterbury and Thanington. That doesn’t mean I’m against new developments. I’ve voted in favour of many. I recognise our changing demography – people living longer, the desire for home ownership, changes to the family unit, as well as a growing population.

However, we must build in the right places. The latest buzzword from the government is ‘sustainable’. That means adequate transport and social infrastructure.

Build where there are bus routes, shops, social facilities, doctor’s surgeries and post offices. For larger communities these facilities must be built in from the start. It means detailed planning of roads to deal with the traffic. We cannot seriously pretend that everyone will take to walking and cycling from a site in south Canterbury to Canterbury West station when it’s as far away as Sturry!

When I say detailed planning I do mean detailed. We must have detailed plans for the ring road, not a bland promise it is being looked at. The bus station is at capacity but discussions with