downsmail.co.uk Election candidates announced


CANDIDATES are emerging as parties begin to choose who will stand against ConservativeMP Helen Grant for the Maidstone andWeald seat in the General Election of May 2015.


Eddie Powellwas selected by UKIP members at a hustings event in East Farleigh, attended by about 70 mem- bers. He beat rival candidates Colin Nicholson and Roy Philpott. Mr Powell, one of four UKIP bor-


ough councillors elected to Maidstone Council inMay, promises to campaign against Maidstone Council’s “exces- sive” housing targets and promote the need for more grammar schools and extra funding for the NHS. Cllr Powell,whorepresents Harriet-


sham and Lenham, says withdrawing from the EU would save the country £53m a day, which could be used to plug the gap in NHS funding. Former GP Dr Paul Hobday will be standing for the National Health Ac- tion Party, which was launched in 2012 by healthworkers and those dis- illusioned by NHS reforms. Dr Hobday, who retired last year


after 30 years as a GP in Sutton Va- lence, is calling for a halt to NHS pri- vatisation, an end to the housing crisis and for parliamentary reform. Hetold theDowns Mail: “Tragically, we have seen deaths from clostridium


UKIP’s Eddie Powell, NHAP’s Dr Paul Hobday and Labour’s Allen Simpson


difficile when past management tried to run down Maidstone Hospital to pay for thehospital atTunbridgeWells. “We lost the fight for our maternity


unit despite 95% of GPs (and the pub- lic) being opposed to its closure—this is totally inconsistent with the Gov- ernment lies of giving GPs and pa- tients power. “There are many more examples


and this will be the future unless this damaging and dangerous policy is changed.” The party’s co-leader Dr Clive


effect on the local population. Developers know the British can afford more expensive houses, so prices go up and Spanish people can no longer afford to buy homes in areas favoured by British citizens. There is also great pressure onwater resources. Butwhen our environment is destroyed, British citizens just have to find another sunny country.  I never understood people who complain about immigrants taking local jobs and then buy foreign products. Anybody whowants to favour local jobs should start by buying local products – I do. Ana Fernandez, by email


Homes claims fictitious


Dear Sir – Parish councillors from Broomfield and Kingswoodwould like to respond to the leer fromMr K Cooke of ECO Build Partnership UK that appeared in the August edition of the Downs Mail. The suggestion ismade byMr Cooke that residents of this parishwould prefer 650 houses at Broomfield Park rather than the limited development proposed by the parish council via a neighbourhood plan. Mr Cooke’s conclusions are wholly fictitious, cannot be substantiated in any way and are contrary to almost all responses given during numerous public consultations. The petition that has been mentionedwas


never presented to the parish council and therefore cannot be commented on, regarding numbers or relevance of the signatures. However, each public consultation that has been carried out during the neighbourhood plan process continues to reinforce the fact that parishioners are totally against any large


Peedell, who is running against Prime Minister David Cameron in Witney, said: “Paul is a very serious candidate, with strong local support, who has a real chance of causing an upset and ousting ToryMPHelen Grant.” Labour announced earlier this year


that a former Maidstone Grammar School pupil will be its candidate. Allen Simpson (31) is originally from East Malling, but currently lives in Dulwich, south London andworks for Barclays Bank. If elected he plans to move back to Maidstone, where both


scale development in this parish. It is councillors’belief that ECO Build


Partnership UK is completely unawarewhat our parishionerswould prefer in their parish.


Broomfield and Kingswood Parish Council


Housing target myths Dear Sir – Councillor Val Springe (September edition) quotes past omissions andmistakes of previous planners as justification for repeating the urban sprawl of Maidstone from Bearsted to Harrietsham and on to Lenham. Maidstone Council is being led by its unelected officials and is ignoring the duty of individual members to instruct the officers on housing targets. The council repeats the myth that central Government is dictating numbers, despite a clear leer from communities secretary Eric Pickles, and leers and a video from Sir Hugh Robertson stating this is not the case. These leers are published in full at www.savelenham.org. Maidstone Council has ignored the comments of KCC about its original dra plan, which argues that “the housing target should be lowered to a figure of approximately 14,500. Taking into consideration already approved/completed sites, and an appropriate allowance for windfall sites, a revised target for new sites would be a more realistic 8,640.” The document adds: “As urban selements have grown larger, ‘edge of urban area’ extensions such as those proposed in northwest and south east Maidstone are now located a significant distance from the town centre. KCC’s view is that this approach is unsustainable in


of his parents live. He supports Maidstone Council’s emerging local plan, which calls for 18,600 new homes in the borough be- tween 2011 and 2031. Stuart Jeffery, the leader of Maid-


stone Greens, says he will not be standing for the seat in Maidstone, but will assist in finding a candidate. Mr Jeffery represented the party against Helen Grant in 2010, coming fourth with 655 votes.Hewill stand for the Canterbury and Whitstable seat next May. In the meantime, he will continue to


work with Maidstone Greens as secre- tary. He added: “We will have a candi-


date in place by the middle of October following an internal election. There are at least two excellent candidates.” Former journalist Jasper Gerard has


long since declared that he will stand for the Lib Dems in the forthcoming election. Among his pre-election promises is


a determination to fight for a reduction in the number of houses being pro- posed for the constituency.


infrastructure and planning terms.” Also, it has become apparent to KCC that Maidstone Council has not listened to the parish councils concerning the development of housing allocations in the dra local plan. Parish and town councils, aswell as residents’ groups and other similar organisations, can play a key role in developing the local plan. These groups are oen best placed to know the issues relating to their area/village/selements. Readers are urged to make up their own


minds on the evidence and not perpetuate myths. Mike Cocke, Save Lenham campaign


Mike, Maidstone Council’s housing target – previously 19,600, now 18,600 – was based on findings fromconsultant GL Hearn, which was employed by the borough to help produce its local plan.


KCC leader Paul Carter disputed this figure


and commissioned a report from Peter Bre Associates to prove him correct.Despite a cost of £15,000, this report was never completed, although former Maidstone Council leader Chris Garland claims to have seen some of its contents, and that they agree with the GLHearn figure. At the same time, there is a strong view that


the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework has effectively forced local authorities into allocating greenfield land for new housing. This is all worth remembering when politicians and authorities from the outside round on the borough council. If it was so easy to prevent housing on


greenfield land, then perhaps Sir Hugh Robertson, who was a senior minister until recently, would like to explain why 27,000 houses on greenfield land have been given the go- ahead on appeal by Government-appointed planning inspectors in the past two years. Response by Stephen


Maidstone South October 2014 27


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