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Striking a balance with new housing


AS YOUR local MP, I get letters and emails on just about every subject, from bin collections to Brexit.


Whilst supporting people through Coronavirus takes up most of my inbox at the moment, housing is always near the top of the list of people’s concerns.


Last month, I met housing secretary Robert Jenrick to discuss the Government’s reforms to the planning system and the challenges we face in Kent with new development. People feel strongly about housing, and rightly so. Housing developments can change the look and feel of a community, and potentially mean more traffic on our roads and more pressure on local services. But I also hear from constituents desperate to get on the housing ladder. Clearly, there is a balance that needs to be struck between looking after what we’ve got and giving the next generation the chance to own a home. This is particularly true for Maidstone and the surrounding villages, where we’ve already seen a lot of new housing and face the prospect of more big developments like the Lenham Heath “garden village”. Our councils have stepped up to the challenge of providing homes for the next generation better than many other parts of the country, but too often new developments have not had the infrastructure to support them. Concerns from local residents about new


By Helen Whately MP for


Faversham and Mid-Kent


developments should not be dismissed as NIMBYism. People who live locally know the impact of new housing in their community better than anyone – which junctions will become a nightmare, why that green space is so important, or where GP surgeries already have long waiting times. These concerns need to be listened to by people making decisions. The Government has a role to play by creating a planning system that is simple and transparent, with realistic targets for new homes. The housing secretary assured me that the planned changes will cut red tape, not standards, and place a higher regard on quality, design, and the environment than ever before. I’ll continue to work with local councillors and colleagues in Government to help keep the number of new homes in Kent at a manageable level, make sure we build in the right places, and put local democracy at the heart of the planning process.


Village plan undeliverable


THE Heathlands garden village scheme dreamed up by Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) is un- economic and undeliverable. I was contacted in mid-June, 2019, by a firm of


architects working on behalf of the council. They informed me that my home and land was in- cluded in their plan for a development of 5,000 houses in Lenham Heath. As one of eight so-called principal landowners,


I was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement and invited to a number of closed meetings where the council officials outlined their scheme. It was soon evident that the project was poorly-planned, uneconomic and undeliverable. It ignored the costs of major capital items, un-


derestimated the total cost, and contained seri- ous errors. Several of the landowners had serious misgivings, and none have publicly agreed to sell. These factors mean the MBC-led project would lose hundreds of millions of pounds. Senior council officials know the development


will not deliver the forecast returns, or the roads, stations and schools required for a new town. This is one of the reasons why a town does not already exist in the area. It is astonishing that MBC can propose and


By David Smith Lenham Heath landowner and farmer


plan a massive development on land they don’t even own, with money they don’t have. Their whims have blighted hundreds of homes, and of- ficials ride roughshod over any objections. Such a risky development raises many ques-


tions. The council officers’ solution is to either ig- nore or brush off the questions, or exclude the landowner from the process. When the facts don’t fit the costings, they invent the facts. I understand it could be illegal for a council to


pursue a project that is uneconomical, and the proposal for Heathlands Garden Village is clearly uneconomic, unviable and undeliverable, yet ratepayers' money continues to be spent on this project. I appeal to the elected councillors to do their


own due diligence with realistic facts and figures, engage with those affected, and not to rely on glossy brochure spin from unelected officials.


Opinion


O THE Palais De Justice, where I nd an informative leaet from HM Prison & Probation Service, titled: “What can I bring with me into prison?” Acceptable are cash, books, medicine, clothing, writing paper and pens. Not allowed are drugs or alcohol, mobile phones or dangerous weapons. As one lawyer jested: “No need, they’re freely available when the prisoners get there.”


T T


HIS reminds me of the time a Londoner was arrested for lobbing a package of suspected contraband over the walls of Maidstone prison. When a reporter asked Kent Police’s media team what was inside the gift, a press officer replied: “I hardly think it was knitting patterns.”


Adlington, is by day a digital manager at South East Water in Snodland. Married to police worker Matt, Laura (31) is a keen am-dram queen who volunteers for The Samaritans. A colleague condes: “What you see on screen is what you get with Laura. She’s lovely.”


G M


AIDSTONE’S newest knight, former Kent County Council leader Paul Carter, tells me he has not quite decided whether or not he will stand for election next May. News to one Tory colleague, who says he has submitted his forms and attended an interview. Meanwhile, in another part of the Tory kingdom, Maidstone rural south, I hear Eric Hotson has been gently nudged aside for the decorous Lottie Partt-Reid.


T SEEMS I rather jumped the gun in saying the selection of a new county council candidate for the Maidstone rural east division has resulted in the charming and, indeed, effective Shellina Prendergast winning the right to ght. The report should have read her virtual election contest against Patrik Garten is actually taking place on November 11.


I A


MONG the 222 Twitter devotees of Alison Broom, the borough council


chief executive, is the Liberal Democrat Jasper Gerard who tried to oust Tory MP Helen Grant. Mr Gerard still has his Twitter account, which trumpets he is “battling tirelessly for Maidstone and the Weald”. Sadly, that tireless battle stopped abruptly in 2015, his last contribution being six days after being trounced in the general election.


WILL not embarrass by naming the Tory borough councillor who refers to the ruling Liberal Democrats as the “Fib Dems”.


I Chin chin! 47


REAT British Bake Off news. I hear that one of the stars, Laura


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