We should protect precious green lung PHOTO

READERS’ OF THE WEEK

The Canterbury to Chartham cycle track was an imaginative venture on the part of Canterbury City Council (CCC), only spoiled by the traffic thundering over the bridges on the outskirts of the city.

Furthermore, it ticks all the boxes on sustainable transport, public health and natural green space to be found in the Revised NPPF February 2019.

The extension of the Wincheap car park would ruin this precious green lung and be contrary to up-to-the-minute government policy. Furthermore, CCC could protect the Hambrook Marshes by declaring it a Local Green Space - a new planning designation which has the same power as the Metropolitan Green Belts which have long-protected our major cities. CCC would benefit from the support of its citizens and positive publicity in the popular and professional media. What’s not to like?

The solution to parking in Wincheap has to be a multi-storey car park. No doubt Wilmott Dixon would be happy to oblige.

Litter is an issue and I feel that is best-solved by putting in waste bins, emptying them weekly and also picking up any litter laying around at the same time. Litter does seem to attract more litter, and then flytipping. Keeping the district clean should be a priority. There is a cost associated with this but there is also a cost in not doing anything.

Dangerous parking in current lay-bys (vehicles hanging out or on verges or struggling to park etc) is a concern. But that is solved by making the current lay-bys fit for lorries to park in overnight.

Taking action to stop drivers parking in villages is the right thing to do but it needs to be a policy integrated into a solution to provide more appropriate parking and facilities. It’s a complex problem that is going to require several agencies to work together on a solution but the A2 is a route that brings goods to residents throughout the UK and the government should recognise this and find a solution.