Local Plan: criticised for being developer-led

Residents' groups have united in opposition to the garden city vision for Canterbury, which they claim is "seriously flawed".

They formed a non-political alliance at a joint meeting last week, where every individual group raised concerns about the process, scale and speed of proposed house-building, which includes 4,000 new homes in south Canterbury.

Speakers questioned the motivation for the plan, its excessive targets, its lack of infrastructure provision and the timing of both its publication and the consultation period. Chairman Clive Church said:

Clive Church

"We share a common belief that this plan is seriously flawed. It is so obviously developer-led and it ignores the genuine long-term economic and social needs of the district as a whole. We also have serious concerns about the democratic process here in Canterbury since it allows a small number of councillors, 90% of who live well outside the city, to foist a series of completely unacceptable proposals on the city without allowing sufficient time for proper consultation.

We have no doubt that every part of the city will be badly-affected by these plans. The full scale of the extra housing proposed for Canterbury has yet to be revealed. We also have very grave concerns about the extent of the major infrastructure construction that will be needed notably the provision of water and sewerage services. We are concerned as well about the extra traffic congestion and air pollution which would ensue.

Equally we doubt the availability of the jobs needed to support the increase in population. Hopes that these can be provided by a 'silicon valley' style complex are, in our view, quite unrealistic for an area that does not have science-led universities.

Over the next few weeks individual residents groups will be examining the proposals in greater detail and will convene meetings of their members, at which council officials will be invited to speak. The new alliance will meet again in mid-June to discuss the views from these sessions and plan the next steps in its campaign of vigorous opposition."

HB Gazette 23rd May 2013