GForces wins parking fight ‘We must be able to trust
WEB consultancy GForces has been given planning permission to expand its car park near Thurnham, against the wishes of planning officers. Maidstone Council planners
urged the planning committee to refuse the retrospective pro- posal for another 44 spaces (re- sulting in a total of 94 spaces) at the company’s Caring Lane base.
Officer Peter Hockney said
the car park was an unsustain- able use of open countryside. He also pointed out that when an application was passed two years ago to allow the com- pany’s expansion, one of the key conditions was a travel plan that would encourage car shar- ing and bicycle use among em- ployees. This application appeared to go against those aims, he said. But strong support from coun-
cil leader Cllr Chris Garland, a committee member, encouraged members to overrule officers and allow the car park expansion. It
THE council could have faced claims of maladministration over the application, had offi- cers notmade a late change to the contents of the agenda. When the document was made public a week earlier, it stated that council leader Cllr Chris Garland (right) had “called in” the application to the committee. However, only local ward members, local parish coun- cils and group spokesmen on the planning committee can demand that planning appli-
Band concert THE East Peckham Silver Band will perform at St Mary and All Saints’ Church, The Street, Box- ley, on Saturday, October 27. The concert, in aid of church funds, will be led by conductor Garrie Harvey, and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10 for adults and £2.50 for children under 12, and include a drink, programme and “nibbles”. For details, call Gill Munson
on 01622 630231 or Frances Coomber on 01622 758638.
Thurnham correction IN THE August edition of the Downs Mail, we incorrectly stated that Richard Hodges was a member of St Mary’s PCC, Thurnham, for 18 years. He was, in fact, a member of the PCC at St Mary’s Goudhurst, and has had no connection with the administration of St Mary’s, Thurnham.
28 East
was stated that the applicant’s travel plan was a success, with five-year targets reached in a year and a ratio of 0.55 parking spaces per employee. It was argued that the com-
pany’s success had outgrown the travel plan’s targets. Two years ago, GForces predicted the provision of an additional 50 jobs within the offices, but it has, in fact, created 86 jobs. The applicant said the expanded parking area, which had already
Last-minute change to agenda
cations are heard by the com- mittee. Cllr Garland was none of
those, so the original agenda suggested the council had de- fied the terms of its constitu- tion.
However, on the day of the meeting the council circulated an urgent update, which acts supplementary to the main agenda, stating that Thurn- ham Parish Council had also requested it should be heard by the committee. Had it not gone to commit-
tee, officers would have used their delegated powers to re- fuse the application and then started enforcement proceed- ings against GForces.
GForces’ car park at their Caring Lane base
been built, was needed to pre- vent overflow vehicles parking in Caring Lane. Thurnham Parish Council had backed the expansion for this reason. Cllr Garland said: “GForces is
an extremely valuable contribu- tor to Maidstone’s economy. The degree of their success has outstripped how they thought they would do themselves and there is a need formore parking. “A travel plan has been really successful. There is exceptional screening and no views of this from nearby fields. If we accept the officer recommendation, their growth will be curtailed or there will be parking on Caring Lane, which is unacceptable.” Cllr Tony Harwood agreed the
car park could be enlarged, but not in its current form. He said: “They have gone for a wall-to- wall black top.We have allowed car parking in many sensitive locations and have taken the reasoned approach but have looked to maintain the rural outlook by going for grasscrete and that sort of surface. “It is very unfortunate that we
have been given a fait accompli with the large area of Tarmac. It was a very insensitive approach by the applicant.” Members voted to allow the
car park, as long as the surface was coloured green.
Greening investigates rail link FORMER Transport Secretary Justine Greening has visited Holling- bourne and Boxley as part of a fact-finding mission into the impact of the high speed rail link. Ms Greening, whowas accompanied by Stephen Joseph, chief ex- ecutive of the Campaign for Better Transport, and Shaun Spiers, chief executive of the Campaign for Rural England,wanted to study the nature and effectiveness of mitigation measures put in place following the construction of the High Speed 1 link, prior to work commencing on HS2 connecting London with theMidlands. Ms Greening was still Transport Secretary when she made the
visit, but lost her position in the cabinet reshuffle on September 4, after voicing opposition to a third runway at Heathrow. She is now secretary for international development.
Bowls area for caravan site A PLAN for an indoor bowls facility at the Pilgrims’ Retreat car- avan site in Hogbarn Lane, Harrietsham, has been accepted. The scheme will see the construction of a single-storey exten-
sion to a clubhouse to provide an indoors bowls facility. Itwould have a ground footprint area of 123 square metres and be posi- tioned within the central courtyard by the grouping of existing buildings. A separate application to build a shop, reception area and of- fices nearby is yet to be determined.
developers’
THE manner of the application proves the importance in being able to trust promises made by developers, according to onemember of the committee. Cllr Ian Chit- tenden (right) said the goal- posts appeared to have been moved from two years ago, when GForces was given permission to expand its premises on condition of a travel plan designed to limit the amount of traffic using Caring Lane to access its offices. Hesaid: “Iamconcerned about
wherewe came from. Therewas no mention of doubling the size of their car park originally. “We hear tonight that the travel
plan is working wonderfully. It can’t beworking wonderfully. “We have got to trust what peo-
ple put towards us.We have got to believe what they are saying is right and I do questionwhatwas put forward in the first place. “This travel plan either hasn’t worked or the submission in the first place was wrong.We’ve got to trust developers and if it is proven thatwecan’t trust them it is going to be a problem for us and for those who put in appli- cations.” Cllr Clive English, another committee member, said: “If we are saying to our officers that travel plans don’t matter, plan- ning policies don’t matter as long as it aids economic development, weare going to have a lot of trou- ble maintaining control of plan- ning policies and applications. “When we get to the stage that
any form of Core Strategy is adopted, it is going to make things difficult.”
Cricket licence AS the cricket season draws to a close, Bearsted Parish Coun- cil is still attempting to settle the question of the licence and/or lease. The council’s lawyers, White-
head Monckton, ceased work- ing on behalf of the parish when it transpired the council was £3,000 in arrears, dating back to February andMarch. The unpaid bills were settled
in the summer and work on drawing up the terms has now been resumed, the parish coun- cil was told. Chairman Cllr Richard Ash
said payment of the bills had been an oversight. Paul Black- more, who had been spear- heading the council’s talks, has now resigned from the council. It was suggested another mem- ber might like to take on re- sponsibility for sporting matters.
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