Thanet Council's Draft Local Plan which designates four
large greenfield sites for housing is an open invitation to developers to add
to urban sprawl to the detriment of local communities, says Thanet Green Party
in their public consultation submission which can be found on Green Councillor
Ian Driver’s blogsite at the link below.
In their submission the Greens oppose plans to allow nearly
5000 new homes to be built at Birchington, Westgate, Manston Green and
Ramsgate, and the Party calls for
priority to be given to given to building on brownfield sites. “Building on
brownfield sites in towns and villages helps to sustain local shops and public
transport,” says the Party's official response to council's 16-year plan for
Thanet.
It points out that although the owners of Manston Airport
have not yet announced their detailed plans for the site, they have indicated
that they want housing and commercial development. “The owners' intentions
could greatly affect the proposals in the Draft Plan, particularly those for
housing, as the Manston site has space for a substantial number of homes on
brownfield land.,” says the Party.
The Greens reject the time-limited “top-down” approach to
the area's economic and social development and call for continual dialogue
between planners and the local community. Plans should be flexible according to
how the area develops in the future.
“Planning must be organic, responding to needs
as they arise. This does not mean that there should not be objectives -- but
there must be flexibility in the path to achieving them. Designating large
areas for housing on greenfield sites is not only environmentally unfriendly,
it is putting the cart before the horse,” says the Party.
More forward thinking is needed to meet the challenges of
global warming through the provision of zero-carbon and zero-energy homes. “Such homes in environmentally-friendly areas are good for
the world, good for the country, good for people. Why shouldn’t we have them?”
the Party asks.
On the need to reduce traffic in our towns, the
Greens propose park-and-ride schemes, better public transport, 20 mph limits on
some residential roads, and more dedicated cycle tracks and paths for walking.
The Party says: “For too long, motor vehicles have dominated our cities. Our
streets need to be reclaimed for the majority of people who do not own cars.”
It rejects the proposal for the new £14 million
Parkway Station which, it says, is likely to attract future applications for
housing developments in the immediate surrounding greenfield areas. “Car users
from Discovery Park and the wider areas of South Thanet should use
park-and-ride linked to the better-serviced Ramsgate Station,” says the Party.
To attract more tourists to our seaside towns
throughout the year, more imaginative planning is needed , such as indoor pools
and other leisure facilities which would be havens against bad weather. The
Party also calls for development of a Ramsgate marina to replace the struggling
Port, based on studies of successful marinas in other parts of the country.
Commenting on the Plan, Green councillor Ian
Driver said: “The Green Party is the only political organisation in Thanet to
have a held a public meeting on the Local Plan and to have submitted comments
to the public consultations. The other political parties have sat on their
backsides and have done nothing!”
The Green Party, along with thousands of local residents,
believes that Labour’s Local Plan will lead to the massive overdevelopment of
Thanet. Although we need more housing, we are of the view that 4-6,000 units
will suffice and that the proposed 12,000 is way beyond what is really needed.
At least 1,500 of these homes should be social rented properties and none
should be built of greenfield sites. We also share wide public concern about
plans for a Parkway station at Cliffsend. The station is being proposed to
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