Together we can save meadows

Cllr Eden-green is right (‘Abandon plans to expand car park on water meadows’, Gazette, January 23) to say: “We absolutely object to building on the water meadows.” I could not agree more.

There is mega opposition to the proposal on all sides. Overall, 775 objections have been received from the consultations. I’ve never seen so many.

Rosie Duffield MP (Lab), I the local Kent County Council member (Con), and city councillor Edengreen (Lib Dem) are in total opposition to this.

My favoured solution is a multistorey car park on the existing site. The idea of park and ride, to keep cars out of the city, is fundamentally sound, but we have to do it right. We can’t create desolation and call it progress. Late last November, on a dull dank misty late afternoon, the meadows had an inexpressible beauty. There was an air of wistful melancholy, as if they knew the looming danger.

The modified plan makes a few concessions. It says: “all mature trees of value to local amenity and the landscape and historic landscape setting along the river will be retained [...] with the trees to be lost being identified as of low amenity value.” How many is that then of the 127 trees proposed for removal? Who decides which trees are of value? We should save the whole area. It is all of value.

I would suggest that a crossrepresentative small group - say Rosie Duffield (or her rep), myself, Cllr Eden-green, someone from the Love Hambrook Marshes group, and others - go in a delegation to thrash the matter out with officials and maybe senior city councillors. We need to abolish these current proposals and find another, decent, solution.

Together we can work this out. We can save the meadows.

KCC Member for Canterbury South

■ Cllr Eden-green’s objection to extending Wincheap’s Park and Ride is to be applauded. It would be absolute vandalism to concrete over those beautiful meadows. However, can someone please persuade Cllr Eden-green to update his photograph? Every time he is pictured in the paper, the same tired old photo is displayed with Nick wearing an expression that one might expect to see on a man who has just lost his beloved dog. I know that it is not in the nature of Lib Dems to be joyful and humorous, but surely a picture of Cllr Eden-green with a nice cheery smile on his face would only serve to enhance and burnish his green credentials.

Spire Avenue, Whitstable