Anger over new homes project

I am a resident in Arlington, where Ashford Borough Council is looking to build four houses on a small plot of garages in Harper Road which are in use for various reasons mostly for parking.

Although I am for the building of affordable housing (are they really that affordable?), do they really have to try and shoehorn houses in the smallest of areas where it will not serve the community?

The plot is very tiny, and has 24 garages on there, 14 of them are currently rented, which means there will be potentially 14 additional cars on the road.

They have provided a bad alternative which given some of the garage users are in the

70s and 80s with mobility and breathing problems will seriously harm their quality of life.

The location of the alternative is not acceptable on many points.

Unfortunately the council is caring about the new residents, but forgetting to show any care or consideration for the current ones.

It will have a huge impact on the environment, community and people’s wellbeing.

With the response I had from my survey, it feels like this is a done deal and that anything they put in place will be considered to be acceptable without speaking with the people it impacts.

It will not matter what myself, or any of the residents have to say.

They are destroying the community!

Soon, we will not have any space, because of the way the squeezing of houses is becoming more regular.

I feel the timing of the survey was done on purpose, at Christmas and during Covid.

Ihave spoken with many people who, because of the Christmas post, put the survey down and left it on the side – the point of Covid means I cannot gather my neighbours to discuss as a community.

It has left me cold with the dysfunctional service system we have in place.

If the developers were in our shoes, I wonder whether they would object?

Why is the council not insisting that the big construction sites have more affordable housing, rather than the building on these sites, it will be more costeffective, and less interruption in the communities!

Donna Leeper