Deferral on Kingsmead land decision

Excellent news - Kingsmead has won a brief reprieve, thanks to the sheer number of written objections, and the huge support for the online petition.

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Discussion by Executive members of council proposals to appropriate land at Kingsmead for planning purposes has been deferred until the meeting on Thursday 21 June.

Originally the Executive was due to consider the plan at its meeting on 31st May.

However, the council received 246 comments during the appropriation public consultation, many of them containing detailed information. Therefore, the council has decided to defer a decision to allow for full analysis of all the issues raised. Council Leader Cllr John Gilbey said:

“This is an issue that has caused concern locally. We do not want to make a rushed decision and miss something important, so deferring for a meeting will mean we can give this full consideration.”

Additionally, the e-petition created on the council website by local people who oppose appropriation of the land has now passed 1,500 names. Reaching this figure automatically triggers a discussion at the council’s Overview Committee, and this has been scheduled for Wednesday 13 June.

The initiator of the petition will be allowed to ask a number of questions in advance, and the background to the issue and answers to the questions will be provided in a report that councillors will then discuss. Arrangements for this are being put in place at the moment.

CCC 28th May 2012

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Schoolchildren Orla Lineham Fox and Timmy Pettman took on the might of the city council in a battle to save their playing field. The pupils from St Stephen's Junior School stood in front of the Canterbury Area Members Panel on last Monday night at the city's Guildhall in a last-ditch bid to save Kingsmead Field from being used for housing. Orla, 10, told the meeting:

"It's not just for me and my friends but for all the people of the area who live and breathe better because there is a lovely empty green field nearby."

Timmy, 11, added:

"Often in the evenings, I go to the field and play football with my dad and brother. It's very easy to stay indoors and watch TV or play computer games. Please leave our field alone."

Labour councillor Alan Baldock (Northgate Ward) said:

"The passion of the campaigners is phenomenal. It shows they really care and have realised the council has been a little bit sneaky. They have inspired these two children to become involved in local politics. If we lose this space, how can we trust a judgment made in similar circumstances again?"

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Alex Perkins Tweeted the following day:

"Very impressed by the two brilliant young people who so professionally addressed Canterbury Council last night."

At the stormy meeting, residents accused the council of not consulting them – but council chief executive Colin Carmichael said consultation was carried out in 2004 when a primary school was planned for the site. The plans fell through when Kent County Council pulled out of the scheme and the land was earmarked for housing instead. He insisted that the decision had already been made by the council's executive but the move had to be rubber-stamped at the end of this month.

Residents have organised an e-petition – which has already attracted 1,603 signatures – on the council's own website. The petition closes Friday 25th May but has already been signed by enough people to force a debate by the council's overview committee. The 16 city and county councillors voted unanimously to send the plans to the committee for debate, effectively delaying the scheme.

County councillor Graham Gibbens (Canterbury City North East) demanded a fresh consultation to include health and traffic implications after GP Dr David Pratt from St Stephen's warned that more houses would lead to more traffic pollution. 

Liberal Democrat councillor Ida Linfield challenged the council's decision to reclassify the area as "development land" when it was originally classed as recreational land under the Local Government Act. She said that selling the site to Berkeley Homes in 2006 could have breached the act and suggested that there could be a case for a judicial review.

Mr Carmichael said a report would be prepared for the overview committee on Wednesday, June 13. After the meeting campaigner Sian Pettman said:

"The resounding 'no' vote to residential development from Canterbury's own councillors will place a huge pressure on the executive to respond to public opinion and rethink plans for Kingsmead."

The council has been sent 246 letters of objection, a written petition of more than 650 signatures and the e-petition.

thisiskent 26th May 2012

The great British tax scandal

The nice people at AVAAZ.org do their best to make the world a better place. One of their current online campaigns aims to encourage the British government to ensure that the largest and wealthiest corporations pay their dues.

You may have heard recently about the cosy deals that have been struck between Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (a.k.a. the taxman) and Vodafone in particular, allowing them years to pay their overdue taxes, and with no interest charges. This is in stark contrast to the way they treat small businesses and individuals.

Here's what AVAAZ say about it:

Our tax chief had secret lunches with Vodafone and Goldman Sachs and then handed them billions in tax breaks – while keeping Parliament in the dark!

MPs are outraged, claiming we are owed over 25 billion pounds in back taxes from these and similar dodgy deals. But the tax agency has blocked an inquiry into the scandal and refuses to release documents to shed light on why these tax breaks were ordered in the first place.

Cameron is ignoring the outrage from MPs, but he can't ignore a call from thousands of voters across the UK. Sign the petition to David Cameron making it clear that it's his job to get us the money we are owed from his corporate cronies -- then tell everyone about it to grow our call.

Click here to sign the petition.

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.