Local Plan: Herne Bay's 'Usual Suspects' call for Plan B

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There may not be any violence, drugs or crime, but Herne Bay's Usual Suspects are still hoping for an explosive impact.

The group of campaigners have stepped forward to produce their own proposals for the future of the town, claiming the council's draft Local Plan would prove as disastrous as the failed heist in the Oscar-winning film.

They came up with the name after councillors complained they always heard from the "usual suspects" and instead wanted to encourage as many people as possible to have their say on the council's vision for development over the next 20 years.

The original six – Dylan Hampshire, Jason Hollingsworth, Andy Lawrence, Phil Rose, Graham Cooper and Ros McIntyre – have already been joined by others who fear the council's draft Local Plan would mean Herne Bay residents would depend on the city for jobs and shops.

It includes proposals for five new housing estates, with thousands of new homes. Phil Rose, who is also involved with the Friends of the Downs and runs website Herne Bay Matters, said:

"The plan's mad. It's just houses, houses, houses with no thought for where all these people will work, shop, educate their kids, or spend their leisure time.  Worse, Herne Bay is being used as a cash cow to pay for improvements elsewhere.

We can't let this happen.  We think that a Local Plan should be by and for local people – the Local Plan needs to listen to local voices."

He said it was vital more residents had their say and got involved, and hopes the Usual Suspects theme will encourage them. Mr Rose added:

"We thought we would have some fun with the idea in the hope of encouraging others who care about the town to stand up for its future now.  The vast majority of residents have no idea what Canterbury City Council is planning for us."

The group is also concerned that the schemes put forward by the council would force people to Canterbury because of the lack of vision for Herne Bay's town centre. Mattress-maker Dylan Hampshire, of Cockett's Mattresses, said:

"This Local Plan will stop Herne Bay from having new major food retail outlets outside that area. We won't get Sainsbury's or Tesco if this plan goes through.  So where are we supposed to shop? Canterbury! Part of the money earned from houses built in Herne Bay will be spent on a new crossing in Sturry.  Canterbury will get new shops too. The idea is clearly that we're supposed to drive to shop in Canterbury, leaving our town without retail income."

The group say job creation should be included, as well as a new secondary school for the town, and say the two doctors' surgeries planned will not be enough to cope with the thousands of extra residents. Ros McIntyre added:

"We urged Canterbury not to build on greenfield sites, but all the major housing developments are on greenfield sites – five in Herne Bay alone.  The implications are huge. These five estates will have 2,990 new houses. If Herne Bay gets its share of the usual smaller developments on top of this, we'll end up with more than 4,600 new homes. There'll be more than 15,000 more people living here – that's a 40 per cent increase on our population of 38,000."

Council spokesman Rob Davies said the draft Local Plan was out for public consultation until August 30. He added:

"We look forward to hearing the alternative proposals for Herne Bay from this group in due course."

For more information on the alternative plan, e-mail LocalPlanLocalVoice@gmail.com or visit the Speciality Food Shop in Mortimer Street.

HB Times 4th Jul 2013

Barriers to progress

Years of waiting, thousands of pounds, and one snafu after another.

Following relentless pressure from Andy Lawrence, our councillors raided the Herne Bay Opportunity Fund for £3,000 to pay for the barrier across Mortimer Street (instead of getting KCC Highways to pay for it), and CCC put the job out to tender.

They awarded the job to a fencing company (!), who turned out not to have the right paperwork to allow them to work on Highways projects. Oops. Further delay while they find another contractor.

The next contractor installs the two gates that swing closed to form the barrier. A Council official comes along with the padlock that will lock the gates shut. Oops. It doesn't fit. More delays while they search for a padlock that's the right size. Ta-dah! A padlock is found that will fit the gates... everything is ready.

Self-promotion

Oops! There's still something missing, a magical ingredient without which the expensive new barrier cannot possibly be used - a photo opportunity for local councillors. There is an election coming, after all.

Our lovely new barrier will be unveiled today (23rd March), by councillors Andrew Cook, Joe Howes, Jean Law, and Peter Vickery-Jones, with the paparazzi in attendance.

Free parking - is it worth the money?

It's hard to tell whether this scheme is gibberish or not.​The money to pay for this free parking experiment is coming from the "Opportunity Fund" - £10k set aside by CCC for the Herne Bay councillors to spend on local projects.

I had fondly imagined that this would cover stuff that wouldn't easily be funded from any other part of the Council structure - the Christmas grotto at the Bandstand, a grant for the Umbrella Centre, that sort of thing.​

It appears, however, that it can be used for things that I would have thought came under the Highways budget (the new barrier in Mortimer Street) or CCC's traffic budget (this proposal). It looks and feels to me like the Council simply recycling the same money - CCC gives Herne Bay money which is then returned to CCC to cover the revenue that CCC loses through Herne Bay’s free parking experiment.​

Andrew Cook gave us a breakdown of where the money will be spent: £400 for advertising, £250 for recalibrating the machines, leaving £800 for the parking. I think his maths is a little out - £750 would be left to cover the cost of lost parking revenue.

One of the councillors, I think it was Peter Lee, revealed that the horrid little parking meters scattered across town are cleverer than I ever expected. They are linked in to some evil central parking brain, and chatter away all day long, boasting about how much money they’re taking.

Surely this takes all the guesswork out of estimating how much parking is making the Council, and how much free parking would cost them. Nonetheless, Andrew Cook says in the press article that it will give them "a clear idea of what it costs to do free parking". Peter Lee says the money being asked for is "a fair estimate of the income lost". CCC already know what the experiment is likely to cost - the parking meters have told them.

What they haven’t explained is how they will know if the experiment has succeeded, or what their criteria for success might be.

How is this going to be assessed? If someone arrives at 9:15am and leaves at 10:30am, how will anyone (or the parking meters) know they were ever there? Will there be a Council officer standing there every April morning, counting the cars in and counting them out again?

Peter Lee refers to the possibility of free parking being “self-funding” - what on earth does that mean? Presumably, he thinks that the £800 of lost parking revenue might pop up somewhere, somehow.

So what’s actually happening here - is our Council simply using some rather unsubtle money-shuffling to give the appearance of trying to help our town?

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Free parking trial for Herne Bay town centre approved by councillors

Shoppers will be offered free parking on weekday mornings next month in a bid to tempt them into Herne Bay. Councillors agreed to spend £1,400 on a trial of free parking between 9am and 11am, Monday to Friday, in the Kings Road car park where the market is held on Saturdays.

The money comes from Herne Bay Area Member Panel’s opportunities fund - a pot of £10,000 a year for community projects that benefit the town. It will pay for advertising, changes to parking meters and for any lost revenue from car parking charges.

Dylan Hampshire, of Cockett’s Mattresses, suggested changing the time and copying other town’s ‘free after 3pm’ schemes. Andrew Lawrence, who runs the Speciality Food Store in Mortimer Street, said both mornings and afternoons were difficult for traders:

“From 9-11am is a dead zone, as is the last part of the day. After 2.30pm, Herne Bay is dead. We are suffering then. We could probably open from 11am to 2.30pm and then close our shops and go home because we have so few customers.”

He said local people refused to pay anything for parking, and seafront charges also put holidaymakers off.

But West Bay councillor Peter Lee said parking was free for most of the year in Central Parade. Heron councillor Andrew Cook added:

“This is an excellent project that both residents and businesses have been pushing for. It will give us an accurate idea of what it actually costs to do free parking.”

Critics argued that the money was effectively going back into the council’s pockets, to replace the income lost from parking charges during the trial. But Cllr Lee, who is responsible for finance on the council, said it was important to be able to tell how much revenue was lost. He added:

“We can repeat it in the future if we can prove it can be self-funding. This is a fair estimate of the income lost.”

Officials also vowed to investigate another suggestion of extending the free parking in town centre streets from one hour to two. The Kings Road car park scheme will start in April.

thisiskent 12th Mar 2013

Happy Easter, Mr Lawrence

​It's been a long time coming, but local hero Andy Lawrence has triumphed.

Regular readers will remember that Mr Lawrence risked life and limb to highlight the need for a barrier across Mortimer Street to make it safe for shoppers.​ That was back in September 2012.

Six months later, it looks like our beloved Council has finally got its act together, and we'll be getting the barrier.​ In a sensible world, of course, it would be open in the early morning - for deliveries to the shops - and shut the rest of the time.

We'll have to wait and see how sensible our little bit of the world (well, our Council) is in practice.​

Andy Lawrence stops the traffic in Mortimer Street

Local hero Andy Lawrence has been putting himself at risk, trying to keep Mortimer Street safe from idiot motorists. Drivers who are too stupid to read the traffic signs, or too selfish to take any notice, are driving along the street when it should be treated as a pedestrianised zone.

There's a simple and cheap solution (a lockable barrier across the road) but our Council has been dragging its heels, so Andy has taken to enforcing the traffic regulations himself. One local councillor who accepts there's a problem - Cllr Andrew Cook - wants to make sure the majority of traders want the barrier.

Cllr Cook sits on the Council's ruling Executive and holds the portfolio for Community Safety, and for Health, amongst others. Community Safety, and Health, is being endangered because the traffic regulations are not being enforced. (Where are the police and the newly empowered traffic wardens when you need them?)

The law isn't being enforced - presumably the powers that be would plead budget cuts. I had thought the Conservatives were the "Law and Order" party. There's no need to carry out a survey to find out whether the law should be enforced - just make it impossible to break that particular law. Install the barrier. Now.

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Pedestrians are being put at risk by drivers ignoring traffic restrictions in the town centre, traders claim. And they have accused council bosses of stalling over a cheap solution that would make the town centre safer.

Officials are considering a plan to install a lockable barrier at the bottom of Mortimer Street, costing £1,500. It was suggested at the start of the summer, but no progress has been made. Meanwhile, a shopkeeper who was manning temporary signs reminding people of the closures says he is not prepared to continue because of the abuse from motorists. Andrew Lawrence, 43. who runs the Speciality Food Store in Mortimer Street, said:

"I did it for four weeks. but no longer for my own sanity. I’m not insured and I don't work for the council. So if there was an accident or I dropped the sign on someone, who would be responsible? People get very emotional when told they can't do something, and I've been told they are coming through whether I like it or not, because they have always parked there or driven up the road."

The dad-of-five, who has run the shop for four years, met councillors and other traders to discuss the problem and councillor Peter Lee came up with a design for a lockable barrier that could be lifted and lowered. He said:

"Four shops would hold the key it would be locked upright at certain times and lowered to provide a physical barrier. Deliveries could still get through, and it could easily be opened in an emergency. The best bit is that it would only cost £1,500 - a tiny amount for a council that has £1 million of taxpayers' money sitting in the bank. But it seems they don't care about the people who are in danger from the cars whizzing up here at speed - only about keeping their cash."

Town centre manager Chris West was due to present a report on the issue to Herne Bay councillors at a meeting on Tuesday night, and said he planned to consult businesses before proposing a more permanent solution. Councillor Andrew Cook said it was important to get all traders’ views before proceeding. He said:

"I don't think there's a single councillor who would be against this, but we need to make sure it is what the majority of businesses want. I stood out there with Andrew for ten minutes and saw six cars go up there, and none had a legal reason to do so. But everything has to go through the correct procedures and the bureaucracy that goes with that."

Cllr Cook suggested an interim solution may be possible if someone else could be found to take over responsibility for the sign.

HB Times 13th Sep 2012

Seafront Parking Petition

The new parking meters are a mixed blessing, but it appears to be a mixture of bad and very bad...

Anyone who feels the that CCC have short-changed the people of Herne Bay and its vistors, I have a Petition in my shop at 91 Mortimer Street. Please come and sign it.

Kind regards,

Andrew Lawrence, Speciality Foods.

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By the end of July, CCC had collected about £18,000 in fines from the evil robots. I think it's safe to assume that locals will be irritated, and visitors may be discouraged, by the diligent meter-watching and enthusiastic fining. It's important to remember that the money collected from the meters is "ring-fenced" and can only be spent on parking-related stuff - more meters for instance.

Local shop-keepers have a pretty shrewd idea of the footfall they could have expected over the last few months. Some are finding that it just hasn't happened, and are blaming the ill-considered parking restrictions for leaving them seriously out of pocket.

We need more information on this. We need to know from CCC whether this scheme is working as they planned and expected. We need to know from local shop-keepers, restaurateurs, publicans, B&Bs, etc whether business is up or down. Then we can weigh up the costs and benefits, and decide whether the scheme is worth keeping.