Are you for or against? It might make no difference

It’s just possible that you might, by pure chance, have noticed the question posed on the front page of last week’s edition of the KE. In suitably bold type, the question was, ‘Can our town take ANOTHER 700 homes’?

The editor invited us to say what we think.

I imagine that there will be three main lines of thought. Residents living in the Kennington area are likely to have pretty strong objections of the usual kind; hordes of strangers coming into their home district, disruption of traffic, increased strain on services such as schools and medical care and the destruction of yet another valuable greenfield site.

Those hellbent on turning Ashford into a metropolis will be all for the scheme on the grounds of increased cash dropping into council coffers, perhaps to be spent on still more eccentric projects than some of the recent fiascos.

The further argument might be that more people will spend more money in local shops, particularly the replacement High Street, ie: the absurdly expanded Outlet Centre.

The third line of thought will be the one so typical of the much quoted ‘Ashford Apathy’, ‘They’ll do whatever they want regardless and, with so many fields around the place, who cares about another one going anyway’?

Mrs B and I have been chatting about the forthcoming referendum regarding membership of the EU.

We have agreed to disagree. As things stand, she will vote one way and I’m inclined to vote the other way.

Does this cancelling each other out mean we might as well stay at home on polling day?

Of course not. Whenever we are given the opportunity to vote for one or another course of action, or for one or another political party in local and general elections, it is everyone’s civic duty to turn up and make their mark.

Regarding the referendum, I am of the firm belief that we, as cannon fodder, know far too little about the overall picture to make truly informed decisions; one set of businessmen want us in, another want us out.

One lot of politicians want in, another out.

Both sides and their public relations advisers will pull every possible stroke to persuade us that their way, and only their way is the right way to vote.

Whichever way it goes, it will affect all of us – even here in Ashford – so we’d better get it right.

‘She will vote one way and I’m inclined to vote the other way’