Local Plan: Council must listen to the people

The city council is preparing to kickstart the public consultation on its blueprint for the future of Canterbury - at a time when concerns about the building of thousands of new homes remains high.

Members of the ruling executive meet tonight (Thursday 30th May), when they will be asked to formally begin canvassing people's thoughts on its plan for the district over the next 18 years.

It has already sparked huge controversy with its projection of 15,600 new homes across the district and a garden city on farmland on the outskirts of Canterbury. The public consultation is the first stage of the council's effort to realise its vision for the years up to 2031.

Among those questioning the draft Local Plan is the Oaten Hill and District Society, which is holding a public meeting next month to discuss housing development. Former Lord Mayor and society member Fred Whitemore said:

"We do not oppose some increase in building, especially if this is to build more affordable housing which will enable our young people to get on to the housing ladder. But a modest number would achieve that. And if the council pressed the universities to build more student housing on campus, that could and should allow the release of some of the general purpose housing currently occupied by students.

What matters most of all is that the voice of the people in Canterbury should be heeded by the city council. I hope that a great many people will come to our meeting."

Elsewhere in the Local Plan are proposals for the closure of the Sturry level crossing and the creation of a relief road linking the A28 Sturry Road with the A257 Littlebourne Road near Howe Barracks. Around 8,000 of the new homes are planned for Canterbury, with the rest in Hersden, Sturry, Herne Bay and Whitstable.

The Oaten Hill and District Society's meeting takes place at Kendall Hall behind St Mary Bredin Church, Nunnery Fields, at 7.15pm on Monday, June 10. Tory councillor Jeremy Bellamy and Lib Dem Paula Vickers, who both represent the Barton ward, are among those who have agreed to attend.

Consultation on the Local Plan is scheduled to start on June 20 and will last ten weeks.

HB Gazette 30th May 2013

Local Plan: That's too many new houses to be built

Councillor Paula Vickers and I have sat on the Local Plan steering group for the past several years as Lib Dem nominees. We fundamentally disagree to the proposal to increase the rate of house-building to 780 per annum from the recent level of around 550.

Consequently some of the site allocations are unnecessary, in particular the 4,000 houses in south Canterbury. We have insisted our objections be minuted during meetings at which both Conservative and Labour representatives agreed the higher figures.

This plan has been flawed from the start. It should have taken its cue from the public responses to the earlier and abandoned Local Development Framework. This gave us our best indication of what local people wanted.

We should have first openly consulted with local people about the dilemma between the need to build on greenfield land (we have almost no brownfield left) and the need to build new homes for our changing population. We should have considered the "garden city" option advocated by the government's new planning framework. And we should have done this years ago.

However, we do agree with Cllr Gilbey on one thing. The Local Plan is indeed the most important document ever about the district's future. The population of Canterbury district has grown almost 50% faster than the South East average according to the 2001-2011 census figures. The published draft local plan calls for 15,600 new houses to be built between 2011 and 2031 or 780 a year. For the last few years we've been building around 550 houses a year. This means building 42% more homes a year when we have already grown faster than the south east average. This is unsustainable and a figure of 500 houses a year, or 10,000 over the plan period, is right.

The figures are complex and are explained in the plan. Because we have some sites allocated, because we are ahead of target, and because some new ‘windfall' sites will be found, a 15,600 target will mean 9,916 houses on new, mainly greenfield, sites. On the other hand our 10,000 target will require only 4,316 new houses.

We agree that many of the sites put forward in the draft plan should be considered but that the south Canterbury site for 4,000 houses will risk the historic setting of the city, our main attraction and economic generator. It will cause intolerable levels of traffic and use largely Grade 1 farmland which forms a key green buffer between Canterbury and Bridge. If this site is removed from the plan there is still plenty of choice between the sites left which should indeed be publicly debated.

There is also a major brownfield site in Hersden that was taken out of the plan at the last minute on Cllr Gilbey's insistence. This must be reconsidered together with the Howe Barracks site giving much more choice over where we should build. These two brownfield sites alone could mean 1,000-1,500 fewer houses on farmland.

This plan was promised in November. It was then delayed to January, then February. Latterly we were told by Cllr Gilbey it had to be delayed until May for new traffic modelling data to be included.

This new data has not been given so the reason to delay it for publication late on the day of the local elections does seem extraordinary. It was not a date ever discussed or agreed by any of us on the working party. and clearly a decision he alone made.

Cllr Nick Eden-Green (Lib Dem. Wlncheap Ward)

HB Times letter 16th May 2013