ABC Admits Plans are Set Before Consultation

This evening at the Kennington Community Forum, Ashford Borough Council planning surveyor Giles Holloway openly admitted to residents that their department applied to funding and allocated plans to relevant areas before they held public consultation.

Such a lack of democratic participation has become commonplace under the current Borough Council.

Responding to the audience's disbelief, the ABC surveyor offered no comfort residents of Kennington, Bybrook, Little Burton Farm and Bockhanger by insisting that although this was the case, residents were entitled to object and that the Council could change their minds.

There are far too many "crammed in" proposals being put forward by planning in an already congested area and the Borough Council's track record of overriding public opinion has created a cynical and discontent public.

Garage Sites

Towers View and Model Road residents will be losing the garage and parking facilities to be replaced by additional council housing.

The Planning Representative stated that the sites were underused, I'm slightly and suffered from vandalism. However, residents stated that they had never been informed there was aching garages available, and if they had been then they would have applied to release them.

Councillor Marian Martin pointed out the residents are contacted her considering parking issues in the wars in relation to the garage sites.

The loss of parasites may or may not reduce antisocial behaviour, the residents will suffer as well.

Car insurance will be set to rise for residents will have to park on streets

In addition to this, if, as Councillor Martin asserts she would like to see, the council introduces parking permits and feeds the residents, resident's purses will suffer even more.

While Ashford Borough Council has a significant lack of council tenant premises, there are plenty of sites that could be used that would not leave already deprived areas with even less space and more people.

Sheltered Housing Extensions

Gerlach House, situated on Beecholme Drive, has suffered greatly in recent years, with the removal of resident wardens which have effectively created a lockdown on the social of the residents used to enjoy and are now to be subject to further extensions.

Examining the plans provided by the planning department, it appears that the extension will result in two additional flats being added to the property. This will either mean that residents will lose their gardens or the car park.

After all, Sheltered Housing is designed to encourage older people to have continued independent living, why on earth would they need gardens or car parks?

One could also enquire as to whether this is a direct saving as a result of shifting Resident Wardens to a peripatetic scheme that involves the residents now in sheltered housing only being visited once every six weeks.

I cannot see how the council can be "saving money" by building additional flats, and it is likely, given the expensive of the planning, that after they had started charging rent to these premises, they will only just be breaking even.

In Conclusion

It shows the arrogance of our current Borough Council that planning officers are quite happy to admit that there is no democratic participation when it comes to people objecting to the development in their own neighbourhoods.

Only by continuously challenging, which takes time and energy, can we overthrows such a dictatorship of a Council and the effect that it is having on our local community.

If we're subjected to a Conservative Government later this year, their current planning proposals are to remove all consultation period on planning so that Councils will be able to build and build and build without any input from the public.