Ignoring the views of local people
Assistant news editor Senior reporter Senior reporter After 10 years of preparation it is extremely disappointing the Maidstone Local Plan is still in a state that is barely fit for purpose, especially as it fails to reflect the strong views of local people.
I have lost count of the consultation exercises carried out in abortive attempts by Maidstone council to persuade residents of the necessity to concrete over green fields in totally unsustainable locations, such as at Woodcut Farm by Junction 8 of the M20.
The existing Maidstone boroughwide Local Plan 2000 contained policies to protect the setting of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which were a prime consideration in the government’s rejection of KIG and of industrial development at Waterside Park by Junction 8. Incredulously, the new plan deletes all reference to such vital protection. A better plan could have been produced several years ago if only the council had taken notice of infrastructure providers and the repeated views of local people to conserve this attractive countryside at the gateway to Leeds Castle.
Had the council done so, it would have produced a plan that: scaled back its housing target to a scale that is commensurate with Senior reporter Senior reporter the level of physical and social infrastructure that can realistically be provided; continued to protect the setting of the Kent Downs AONB by designating it as an Area of Local Landscape Value; and deleted Woodcut Farm by Junction 8 as an area suitable for industrial development.
This is what I intend to tell the inspector at the public examination into the Local Plan because MBC Digital reporter Reporter has repeatedly ignored the views of local people on these very important issues. Denis Spooner, Independent Candidate for Bearsted Ward, Shillingheld Close, Bearsted.