ASHFORD RURAL TRUST

AUTUMN REPORT 2002

Circulated minutes of this year's Annual General Meeting recorded the change in chairmanship approved by the membership, to happen on the departure to residence in London of the present incumbent. His successor is in the process of moving here from London. As neither move is yet complete, there is as yet no requirement to change the Trust's letterhead.

The Consultation Process. At the invitation of the Ashford Borough Council, Committee members have spent many hours in attendance at a series of recent consultation meetings, all to do with planning aspects of Ashford's future. Laudably, the Borough Council is very keen to secure maximum public participation in decision-taking about the numerous contentious facets of the expansion of Ashford, expansion that central government says is to take place. Attached with this Report, assuming we can obtain adequate copies from the Borough Council is a copy of their latest leaflet entitled Ashford's Future, together with Development Update Issue 5. Do please study them, complete and send the Freepost tear-off questionnaire to the Council. Your Committee suggests ticking questionnaire Box 3 in Paragraph 2 and Boxes 2, 4 and 7 in Paragraph 4. The cynic would say, however, that the public is being told "now is your chance to state your preferences but if you don't, then don't blame the planners if you don't like the result!". But can we assume that the local authorities listen, learn and take action on the views they are so diligently soliciting?

An Ashford Borough Community Conference, to convene in the Julie Rose Stadium on Saturday 14 September, is a first meeting of a Local Strategic Partnership comprising invited key representatives from the community's voluntary, private and statutory sectors now set up to oversee the construction of a Community Strategy. The Trust Committee is already involved; other Trust members wishing to volunteer attendance should phone the Council's Community Planning Co-ordinator on 01233 330336.

The Big Issues. Increasingly frequently, the Trust is being asked to involve in issues of very public concern. Recent examples include the proposed state-of-the-art wind farm on Walland Marsh, near Rye, not actually within our bailiwick but within the vision of a lot of it. A proposal made by us in response to initial information provided has already been adopted by consultants to the project.

We were asked at very short notice by borough councillors worried about the public outcry for a view on the Willesborough Windmill development brief under discussion. Our response took the form of a compromise proposal to the Borough Council's Scrutiny Committee, subsequently reported but distorted by the local press, allowing for up to 30 affordable homes on the gradient part of this urban greenfield site whilst preserving the adjacent part of the site the size of a football pitch for community use, to be equipped with perimeter lighting & vehicular access. This is an on-going issue.

The Trust is continuing to pursue the Chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority for information on precisely when fast track commuting in modern trains to London can realistically be expected to commence. We believe that buyers of new homes in Ashford could be purchasing on the false assumption that fast track commuting will commence as early as next year.

The Annual Coach Tour. Scheduled for Thursday 31 October, this year the tour includes a visit to Charing village, with its as yet uncluttered panoramic landscape views and 127 listed buildings. Charing is a village on the Borough Council's list for expansion. So is its attraction endangered? Those who care are worried. We are.

Tour participants lunch this year for a subsidised £8 per head at the Old Stacians Cricket Club, Kingsnorth and will learn from a professional presentation the facts about Renewable Energy by Wind Power & just what is being proposed for the Marsh.

A detailed Tour Programme & Itinerary is attached.

We expect a full coach so book your seat and your lunch early by phoning Charles Wilkinson on 01233 662249 or email him on charles.wilkinson@btinternet.com

Membership. We are always in need of more members. We are particularly short of members from the West and North of Ashford town, not surprisingly as we only latterly embraced those areas by dropping the word East from the Trust's name. New members are best recruited from amongst members' friends and neighbours So why not ask the people next door to join us at £6 or £10 a year for a couple?

Kingsley Padfield has retired as Membership Secretary after many years of sterling service. Michael Lancaster has taken over. His phone number is 01233 731019; his email address is mjgllancaster@aol.com