Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
MP should know more about law
It is disturbing to find that Julian Brazier, our elected lawmaker, demonstrates a limited knowledge of how the law and the prisons work (‘Thug Should Serve More Time For Boast From Cell, Kentish Gazette, August 22).
In the 1990s our courts decided prison governors do not make a properly constituted court and so they cannot have powers to impose imprisonment upon a person even if that person is already a prisoner.
If a crime is alleged against a serving prisoner it is a matter for the police and the courts to prosecute and sentence.
That would be a new sentence, not tinkering with the existing one as Mr Brazier seems to want. Imprisoning a person is a serious matter and, quite rightly, can be done only by a court.
If Sonny Barker has committed a criminal offence by having a mobile telephone and accessing the internet, this matter should be dealt with by due judicial procedure.
If the powers of sentencing are thought not to be strong enough, then it is up to MPs to change the legislation.
Mr Brazier seems to be confusing criminal activity and prison discipline.
In matters of discipline governors have considerable powers.
The legal minimum standards for prisoners are fairly basic and most receive more than the basic so the governor can limit association time, remove electronic entertainment devices and limit the amount of his/her own money that the prisoner can spend in the prison shop.
He/she can curtail the number of visits allowed, ban certain visitors or order closed visits. Telephone calls can be banned or limited.
The prisoner’s attitude and behaviour play a large part in a decision as to whether a prisoner is transferred to a prison of a higher or lower security rating. When appropriate, some prisoners are allowed to make outside visits; a bad attitude would put paid to this as it would to early release on home detention curfew (tagging).
All this, of course, assumes that the governor has adequate resources to do the job. Colin E Eyre Littlebourne Road, Canterbury
And it would be all year round, instead of the present frenzy of renovating student houses in the summer months to which Mr Morgan refers, followed by nine months of neglect and inactivity. Likewise the trade for shops and restaurants would be as great, and it would be more diverse and constant.
Mr Morgan estimates the number of HMOs in Canterbury as 3,000.
That is a staggeringly high number. Some estimates would put it nearer 4,000.
There is an obvious comparison to be made with the 4,000 new houses proposed for south Canterbury in the draft Local Plan.
As the Local Plan itself says, there is a need to make better use of existing housing stock and to release family-sized homes for occupation by families.
If that were done, we wouldn’t need this massive proposed development which will add to congestion in south Canterbury, destroy a large area of countryside and sacrifice valuable agricultural land.
We need imaginative policies. The universities must be required to provide more on-campus student accommodation.
In the case of the University of Kent, that means in the central area of the campus, not cheek-by-jowl with residential areas.
There is space for it on campus, but since the space is inevitably limited, we also need a firm commitment that there will be no further increases in student numbers.
There would then be some hope that a significant number of HMOs might revert to providing the housing which young families so badly need. Richard Norman St Michael’s Place, Canterbury
I don’t know John Morgan personally, but I know he has been a regular contributor on this subject during the time that this has been a serious issue for many residents of Canterbury.
Yet again his views are heavily biased by his own personal involvement in student housing and I would like comment on some of the points he has made.
Student council tax may well be reimbursed by central government to Canterbury City Council, but let’s not overlook who finances central government. It might be fairer for all if the owners of student housing paid the council tax.
What is the purpose of bringing waste collection and landlords pensions into this discussion? In this context, totally irrelevant. I’m not convinced that Canterbury receives that much benefit from the annual arrival and departure of this huge transient population.
I agree, the universities provide quite a lot of employment and other amenities, but Canterbury is fast becoming a oneindustry city. It is diversity that produces benefits.
If there were no student houses, would all the tradesmen be idle? Of course not, they would be employed repairing and maintaining all the family housing that has been destroyed by the need to create student housing.
For Mr Morgan to suggest that many businesses, including shops, restaurants, taxis and other industries would collapse without the student industry is pure nonsense.
The student population, with minor exceptions, must be a low-spending population and can never sustain a healthy local economy as can be seen by the regular closing down of high street establishments.
To describe the student industry as the “lifeblood that flows to the heart of the city” is a totally biased and irrational argument.
In the time that this has been a major local issue there has much comment in this newspaper but very little that really supports the case for allowing the universities to overwhelm large parts of the city.
If there really is a rational case, please let us hear it. Robert Keen St Stephens, Canterbury
I wish to correct some of the many student-related myths stirring up the rage for readers.
Myth one: Students are exempt from council tax therefore locals pay instead.
Fact one: Central government pays local authorities any exemption, so residents suffer no loss.
Myth two: Students give nothing to the community.
Fact two: As recently confirmed by Canterbury Christ Church University in the Gazette two weeks ago, students donate 1,000s of hours in voluntary service benefiting the whole community.
Myth three: Students do not benefit our city.
Fact three: Regeneration from the student economy impacts everyone in both good and occasionally bad ways.
One of the residents who wrote into complain lives in Suffolk Road enjoying access to a regular bus service and local shops kept alive by students.
One local long-term shopkeeper once