Sobering lesson in local democracy

The city council meeting which accepted the Local Plan last week was a sobering lesson in the limits of local democracy.

Almost all speakers of all parties condemned the plan as it does nothing to address the real housing needs of the area. It is a developer’s plan, and has been imposed on this area by the changes made by this government in planning procedures, making a mockery of local democracy.

Nevertheless, the councillors voted to accept the plan as the alternative was to have no plan and therefore no means to oppose future proposals from developers no matter how damaging to the local environment. Unlike Mrs May, the councillors felt that a bad plan was better than no plan.

What was instructive was observing how so many Conservative councillors are clearly very unhappy at the consequences of their own party’s policies over the last seven years. They are even talking up the need to address social housing, which of course the Labour party has consistently demanded. The Tories seem to realise that affordable housing does not mean what it says when the level of house prices is as high as it is in Canterbury. As one of the petitioners to the meeting made clear, the average price of an “affordable” house in Canterbury is eight and half times the average salary here.

Several excellent petitions were presented that called on the council to take account of major issues such as the level of air pollution. We need to ensure that the council within its limited freedom of movement takes note of these points and minimises the damage caused to our community by this inadequate plan. Huw Kyffin St Augustine’s Road Canterbury