Don't shoot the messenger!

Easy to attack messenger over meeting over housing

I would like to respond to the letter in last week's paper about the public meeting at Beltinge village hall on Kitewood's plans for housing development (Letters, Herne Bay Gazette, October 27).

I too am a resident of Beltinge, but unlike the letter writer, I chose to organise a meeting to bring residents together to express their concerns. I put an agenda before the meeting which was accepted.

You will always will have some individuals who seek to attack the messenger rather than the message. I would have thought that this individual would have better spent his energy on pointing out the pitfalls of the project.

As I had paid for the hire of the hall, printing some 50 eight-page documents, and distributed some 250 meeting notices, my budget could not run to a sound system, nor a state of the art communication system.

It is obvious that this individual does not read local newspapers or follow local issues in the Beltinge area where I have been active on many issues.

Michael Britten, Osborne Gardens, Beltinge

HB Gazette 3rd Nov 2011 Letters

Seems that not everyone enjoyed the meeting, then...

"We even had to ask who speaker at meeting was"

The meeting in the Beltinge village hall was by far the worst meeting, public or private, that I have ever attended (Villagers Vow To Fight £240m Housing Plan, Heme Bay Gazette, October 20). After an almost unending speech stressing that this meeting was non-political, 20 minutes in, my colleague was forced to ask for details of who was addressing us. The speaker, speaking from the body of the hall, was unknown to us.

Later a vote was sought without a clear mandate on whether we were voting in favour or against the proposed development. This possibly brought about the soundbites that “no means no” and “...we have to fight this lock, stock and two smoking barrels”.

During the meeting, we felt Michael Britton failed to accept all offers of help which included details of traffic flow etc across Blacksole Farm bridge and an offer of free leaflet printing. He failed to arrange a PA system or display equipment for what appeared to be a well-crafted report by Laura Calder and continuously talked over her report.

With his lack of leadership, we wondered if he was a Trojan horse for the developers as it seemed by the time they submit their planning application we will be at such a severe disadvantage, the proposal will be passed with no credible opposition.

There is an urgent need to mobilise all of villages in the area and exploit the required talents of the residents to make an effective cohesive force to oppose this application or we will be detrimentally affected.

Rohan Deane, Selbey Close, Beltinge

HB Gazette letters 27th Oct 2011

Villagers vow to fight £240m housing plan

More than 100 people crammed into Beltinge Village Hall to unanimously oppose a planned £240 million housing development.

The lively crowd gathered to voice their anger at a controversial scheme to build up to 1,375 homes on land in Hillborough. Everyone voted to fight the proposals, choosing to form a Beltinge and Reculver Residents’ Association to help the cause.

Michael Britton, who lives in Reculver Road, organised the meeting and voiced his fears about the plans to those who turned out. He said:

"As residents we have to fight this lock, stock and two smoking barrels. This is going to destroy what we consider to be ‘our place’. Any application to build houses on that land has to be opposed in its entirety."

The proposal - put forward by Kitewood Estates - would start at the end of next year if a planning application is successful. Building work would be staggered over three phases and include as many as 1,375 homes, a shopping centre and a foot crossing over Blacksole Bridge.

But fears have been raised about the size of the development and the infrastructure in place to cope with it. There are also concerns more houses would lead to traffic problems in the surrounding area. Laura Calder, who gave a presentation at the meeting, said:

"I want to try and help residents articulate their concerns. Should something like this get the go-ahead, it needs to be done in the right manner, with the local community being consulted on what they want to see."

Kitewood boss Mike Dolan welcomed the meeting, adding that he hopes revised plans for the development will be complete in the next 10 days. It is thought a planning application will be submitted early next year after the council has revealed areas for development in the new Local Plan.

Mr Dolan said:

"In addition to the meeting, I hope as many people as possible will visit our website and read what is actually proposed rather than rely on the uninformed urban myths that are starting to spread on this topic."

HB Gazette 20th Oct 2011

Action group resists development plan

More than 100 residents turned out at the first meeting of a new group opposing a giant development planned for Hillborough. But it got off to a rocky start after chairman Michael Britton turned away Reculver resident and former independent council candidate Phil Rose, claiming the meeting was for people from Beltinge only.

Mr Rose, who has been campaigning for the Downs to be given Village Green status, told the Times he had attended to offer his help with a website. Former Thanet North Labour candidate Mr Britton said:

"This is non-political. I've asked him to leave tonight. He wants to bring his political philosophy in here."

Those inside the hall voted unanimously to oppose the planned development outright after Mr Britton made an impassioned appeal. He said:

"No means no! If we say 'maybe' then that opens the door. There is no evidence that existing infrastructure would support the site. There is no evidence that the vitality of the town would improve. We have to oppose it, lock, stock and two smoking barrels."

The planned development would see up to 1,000 new homes built by 2026 in three phases. The first phase, if approved by councillors, would see 375 family homes built on land between the railway line and the Thanet Way. But residents, including Brian Squires, said the development was out of proportion. He said:

"GPs, dentists, local services will be absolutely overrun. It will exhaust the area."

And organiser Laura Calder, an IT business consultant, said:

"There is no evidence whatsoever that any money will go into the local area. The road structure around Reculver school is already appalling. Is it going to take a child getting run over for that to change?"

But some residents urged organisers to accept all the help that was offered, regardless of where it came from. Arthur Campbell-Walter, from Hoath, said:

"This shouldn't get personal. We're all working on the same track so I think in future a greater degree of organisation and a more collegiate approach are going to be necessary for our opposition to work."

HB Times 21st Oct 2011