Damage would be irreversible

We write in response to the statement from the Canterbury Council spokesman about the application to locate the expanded Wincheap Ride & Ride on the riverside meadows [‘Council ‘agrees to disagree’ over park and ride expansion’, Gazette, February 21].

He said: “The principle of moving the park and ride to its proposed new location has already been agreed in the Local Plan and was tested thoroughly at the public examination and considered acceptable subject to appropriate ecological and environmental mitigation.”

The key word there is “principle”. All that was agreed about the car park was that in principle it should be extended, and that a large area was “safeguarded” for this.

What was neither agreed nor “tested thoroughly” was:

* How much of the safeguarded area would be used, and which parts

* How any detailed proposal would impact on the Area of High Landscape

* How any detailed proposal would affect the views of the Cathedral and the World Heritage Site.

* What the environmental and ecological effects of a detailed proposal would be, and whether they were acceptable.

* What its effect on the landscape character of the meadows and the Great Stour Way would be.

These are not proper questions for a Local Plan, and there is no reason why they should be “tested thoroughly” at the public examination of the Local Plan. They are questions for the planning committee, when it considers the detailed application.

As trustees of Love Hambrook Marshes, we are deeply committed to protecting the unique character of the riverside meadows, an irreplaceable part of Canterbury’s green heritage, and a vital component of the riverside corridor.

We believe that the extension of the Park & Ride in the proposed location would do irreversible damage to this precious and much-loved element of the local environment.

Alternative locations on brownfield land are available in the vicinity, and they should be used. n In last week’s Gazette, you have an article discussing the expansion of the Park & Ride at Wincheap.

There are various pros and cons over the proposal, obviously. However, in the final paragraph of the article, spokesman Rob Davies states: “If the Wincheap expansion does not happen, the currently agreed alternative site is Faulkners Lane in Harbledown.”

How can he say “the agreed alternative” when the proposed Park & Ride at Harbledown, after much campaigning, was withdrawn from the Local Plan in 2015?