Hitting back at ‘naivety’ claims

In reply to Cllr Ashley Clark [Letters, January 21] that my letter was “indicative of a naivety that persists when it comes to planning issues”, could I please draw his attention to my point which was simply that a week after agreeing (not abstaining) to 4,000 houses on Grade 1 land he spoke of “the continual encroachment of development” as if it were someone else’s decision and then added that “the natural world is vital to our physical and mental wellbeing” after making that decision. I pointed out that his words rang hollow when it came to such an important issue as the loss of so much land - land that for four generations our family have been fortunate not just to walk on and to see its changing face through the seasons but to work on too. Land that is Grade 1 - the very best land, so rare now, needed

for growing food not putting houses on. Land that is not a “diversity desert” as he describes it, despite all the toxic chemicals that have been used (and I agree with what he said about the loss of pollinators and other precious life) but land that could still be used for future generations. No Cllr Clark, I am not naive but had hoped that councillors that represent us might really stand up for commitment to the land and the people that live here. The fact is, you decided, after all the evidence to the contrary was put before you, that this land should have 4,000 houses, businesses etc built upon it. Abstaining was an option. Quotas could be filled in smaller more imaginative ways. Or am I being naive again to think that it is possible to think outside the ‘developer’ box? Yes central government gives building quotas and developers select sites but councillors make decisions and that was my ‘naive’ point! Penny Tyler

Nackington Road, Canterbury

The recent exchange of correspondence about planning has highlighted the significance of the Local Plan within the

the Brexiteers. Kate Hoey says it betrays Northern lreland. Farage said (of the less bad 2018 deal) “it’s not the deal we voted for”. Dyson is moving his firm to Singapore, which recently signed a trade deal with the EU. Scots fishermen are finding the administrative red tape to France is so expensive, slow, and disruptive that their catches rot and are unsaleable.

As for last week’s letters, I don’t recall anything illogical or contradictory in Ms Duffield’s views on the EU; and yes, credit where credit’s due, Johnson’s vaccine procurement has been good, but there’s luck here too. The portfolios of firms that the UK and the EU have ordered their vaccines from have been different. No-one knew which vaccines would come out on top; both our and the EU’S choices have depended on factors other than scientific prescience, and we’ve been lucky in our choice of Pfizer and Astrazeneca - just as we’ve been unlucky to have Johnson as PM instead of Jacinda Ardern.

By the way, it’s nonsense that we voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in 2016, and it’s totally inappropriate to regard that vote as sacrosanct. Yougov keeps a running poll on whether folks think we were right or wrong to leave the EU. January 17, 2018, was the last time “right” ever had a lead - of just 1%! “Get Brexit Done” was evil genius. Folks were just fed up and never

hearing the B-word again was, for many, far more important than whether we left the EU or not. John Kemp

South Street, Whitstable

I write in response to Diana Turner, 'Lessons must be learned, indeed' [Letters, January 21]. I suggest she continues to brace herself for the profound economic shock and recession she was expecting. Now we have left, the real impact of Brexit will begin to show. Indeed, the early warning signs are already present. Fishermen in Brixham and Scotland are struggling to export their fish into Europe because we have lost frictionless access to the Single Market.

There is worse to come. The Government has deferred import checks for six months. So at the moment everything coming from the EU is relatively frictionless. This is partly because the UK hasn’t recruited and trained enough customs agents. It is also partly because it suited the Government to stagger the impact of Brexit. Expect summer scenes of queuing lorries at Calais, with the associated supply disruption. Furthermore, Johnson’s deal doesn’t address the 80% of the UK economy that is services. In the following months, the unresolved issue of access for British financial services to the EU market will come to a head. At stake are thousands of jobs and billions of pounds, including

substantial tax revenue for the exchequer. Johnson’s deal is only half-baked, never mind ‘ovenready’.

This Brexit story won’t just go away. The impacts are going to be felt for a very long time. So it’s good to see that some of our MPS are forward thinking, and look to the future when one day we might rejoin.

Ian Morris

Mickleburgh Hill, Herne Bay