North School Farm and Democratic Participation

The Kentish Express failed to publish my letter this week, so I am putting it up for people's awareness.

Dear Sirs,

I find Damien Green's column on the North School Farm to be found wanting (Kentish Express 28th January 2010)

He failed to attend the demonstration on Saturday 30th January and has failed to tackle the root issues with the removal of the farm. A simple nod in the direction in the local paper is simply not good enough for those keen to protect an established part of the community and school's lessons.

The land desired by Kent County Council has been listed on the planning application as "not in use" which is simply not true. They have also referred to the development of the land as not endangering jobs, which again is simply not true. Damien Green seems to have completely ignored this gross misrepresentation of the purpose of the land, which I would have thought would have been integral to any challenge to the proposed development.

Damien Green's correspondence with Kent County Council lacks aggressive questioning that I would expect of a former journalist. He has, as many politicians do, looked at one issue and not the lateral application. If the farm is reduced, the school will lose much of the land required for maintaining large animals, therefore reducing the ability to study a full Animal Husbandry Course. If the buildings are relocated, the school will lose further ground for grazing and other activities. To utilise such a small space for 25 dwellings will result in disruption to the animals left sharing the space, not to mention the day to day running of the school and the impact on the local residents in an already congested area.

Further to this, with proposed development for Ashford for an additional 31,000 homes, one must question why Kent County Council will effectively be removing a fundamental part of the school when the homes could be added to the larger developments in Godington, Willesborough or Kennington without too much trouble. One can only assume a capricious motivation of Kent County Council to benefit from the sale of the land to the sacrifice of the farm.

We have a substantial lack of democratic participation in our local politics as it is, and I would prefer to see a more proactive representative in our national politics to ensure the public interest is upheld.

Regards,

Kelly-Marie Blundell