AUTUMN 2007 NEWSLETTER

PRODUCED BY THE CHAIRMAN: IAN GRANT E-mail :  Iagrant@aol.com

FOREWARD
It has always been the policy of this Trust to avoid being involved in politics, but so many issues to-day evolve around political decisions that the time has arrived when some note must be taken on the effects these are having on rural matters.

The most important is the changes taking place in our relations with Europe and the threat that the present Prime Minister is proposing to hand over to Brussels the sovereignty of our country. The EU Commission consists of and is run by unelected bureaucrats, and many of these see their role as getting as many benefits as possible for their own country whilst at the same time garnering as much power for the Commissioners as possible. The goal of achieving a 'one hat fits all' Europe is an aim that will reduce Britain's role both in government and in ranking as a European power to such a degree that we will simply become a satellite state being milked of our assets and forced to hand over the bulk of our earnings, be they from industry, financing, or our own earnings. That this decision should be made by just one man, the Prime Minister, without any referendum authorising this from his countrymen is selling the country down the river. Without a whimper he intends to hand back all the benefits that Mrs.Thatcher fought so hard for and hung onto for so long.

Already the neglect of the land and the reduction both in farmers and their income has been brought about by a  misunderstood policy that we can buy food abroad cheaper than we can produce it ourselves. Why? Because the bureaucrats have imposed so many new rules, often to comply with EEC regulations, that the cost of food production has risen far beyond what it needed to and exceeds that in other lands where red tape is far less and the climate more favourable.

Shackled by even more rules and red tape enterprise will be stifled and our standards of living dramatically eroded.

Let us hope it is still not too late for common sense to prevail and for new policies to be introduced to effect a better balance in what we spend and what we receive.

Here in Kent we have seen a 'volte face' by Kent County Council, who now believe that building new housing on Greenfield sites is perfectly acceptable. That this decision stems from a Conservative Council with a Conservative leader is all the more worrying. We can only hope that Ashford Borough Council do not follow this worrying trend, as already there are vacant brownfield sites within the town that have been left open whilst Greenfield sites are built on. There might have been some excuse for this whilst Prescott was breathing down the necks and demanding targets of new buildings were met, but with that pressure reduced we would like to see more work commencing on the available brownfield sites.

                                                            2006-2007

So let us turn to what developments have happened in the past year, taking them in order.

1. JUNCTION 10. We have seen the lanes on the two bridges above the M.20 widened to give an extra lane, and this has greatly eased the traffic flow. If the lights, re-instated to allow cyclists to cross, can be taken away, many believe the congestion that does occur would be alleviated. At least we have progress and work completed in the expected time and more or less within budget.

2. THE STOUR CENTRE. Completed at last a year over time and double the projected budget cost. It is operational, it appears to be clean, functional, and well built and equipped, and is already seeing regular use by local people, both the swimming pool and the gymnasium.

3. THE RING ROAD. Perhaps inevitably ongoing work was criticised. Complaints of delays, signals too high to see, lack of indication arrows, and a minefield of cones, abounded. Whether it was needed will always be a question, but if the town centre was to be integrated with the rest of the town something had to be done and the feeling was that these proposals were the best available. In an ideal world the Victoria Rd. by-pass should have been built first, but with the government only releasing money when work progressed there was fear that if the more important work was not undertaken first there might be no money available when the less important had been completed. Judgement can only be made when the project is completed and the traffic lights fine tuned. What is inexplicable is the  budget doubling up to £15m. for a job which must have been at least 80% labour with relatively little materials costs. Surely moving cones cannot account for such a sum, and how did those preparing the budget and those approving it get their figures so wrong? Both this project and the Stour Centre seem to have been grossly underestimated.

Time will show whether the shops in the high street and those on the periphery have benefited, and whether the integration has succeeded.

4. STANHOPE. Here again the demolition of some buildings and construction of others has hopefully benefited this area of Ashford, and the 'clean up' improved the living standards and amenities.

5. KINGSNORTH. The area between the more recently constructed houses in Kingsnorth to the east of Tesco's and the main road to Rye has been the scene of much activity. It would appear that progress has been slowed by lack of space to deposit materials and machinery, but from what I saw of the site I would class this as an excuse. It may apply to the last part, but there was plenty of vacant ground for most of the time. I would expect building to commence on the other side of the main road next year.

6. REPTON PARK. Part of the site viewed last year on our tour has been finished, but there is little, or no, sign of work commencing on the site of the former barracks. Again one would expect to see some work beginning here soon.

7. THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN. This plan was produced approx. 5 years ago in conjunction with the local Council to show all the areas of Ashford town designated for building on over the next 20 years. Due to an influx of Planning Applications by developers who have bought land that includes areas both inside and outside that shown on the plan, an Inspector has been appointed to look into these. Ironically a decision which he finds is contrary to the Plan was apparently made by his boss when he worked under him in another capacity!! Belatedly the Council has now employed the services of one Q.C. to represent it against the army of no less than 7 Q.C.s appointed by individual developers. One can only hope that the Council are not browbeaten into submission to agreeing many or all of these extensions that are being sought.

8. A NEW ARENA. Information leaked from the Council indicates that proposals are being put forward for the construction of a new Arena for cultural events. Certainly there is a lack of a building for such events and demand exists within the town and the area. But at a mooted cost of £25m. how can this be justified? The plot is still very secret and information scant, but in the light of tightening budgets, frightening overruns on other projects, how can the Council possibly afford another building that might be seen as a 'folie de grandeur'? - and be run at a substantial loss!
 
9. EUROSTAR. So both Ebbsfleet and St.Pancras will be open by the time you read this, with increased services and special cut price offers. For Ashford residents and commuters however the good news is that the first of the new engines for the commuter service has been delivered and subject to satisfactory testing could go into service in late 2008 or early 2009. However it will undoubtedly be more expensive than the current service, and the gain in time from Ashford to St.Pancras will be wiped out for those passengers who need to go to Waterloo area, since the time taken to get from St.Pancras to Waterloo by tube will result in a travelling time the same as the slower service direct to Waterloo via, or directly to, more useful stations such as London Bridge and Charing Cross. More importantly for those travellers wishing to go to stations in Europe the good news is there will be more destinations but the bad news is they all leave from St.Pancras or Ebbsfleet.

You can obtain a free rail ticket from Ashford to either of these if you pre-book a ticket, but there is no connecting service. To park your car at Ebbsfleet will set you back £11.50 per day, and of course there is no parking facility at St.Pancras. One hopes Eurostar will address these deficiencies by
introducing rail or bus connections.

10. WIND FARMS. Permission has now been granted following a failed Appeal for the erection of pylons for a wind farm near to Rye. To reach the site entails building a new six mile road from the main Rye road, and the blades of the propellers are so long that roundabouts on the route will have to be enlarged. Whilst the increase in electricity produced will be welcome, it will come at a high price and the efficiency quoted at working 35% of the time is seriously questioned by experts who predict nearer 20-25%.

You either like or hate the appearance of these masts, and one has to ask had successive governments not put off tackling the production problem over the years, but planned for it in advance, would such expensive structures have really been required? Side effects have been forecast as detrimental to bird life and other ecological concerns have been voiced. We shall have to wait and see.

11. WYE COLLEGE. Following the defeat of Imperial College's attempt to build over their farmland a new group of local farmers have agreed to rent the land and we hope they will succeed in keeping the agricultural parts going and find ways of restoring and making use of the sundry buildings around the periphery.

12. WATER. Once again the major supply company, Southern Water, has been sold to another operator, and we have to discover yet what effect this will have on future supplies and prices.

13. LOCAL TRANSPORT. The Council are proposing to introduce 'SMART' buses that will run every 10-15 minutes from various points around Ashford bringing shoppers and commuters into the town centre. They estimate there will be a 40% usage, but this is being queried,  as in Oxford, which provides a similar service but has a far greater catchment area, the average is a mere 11%, which would not be economic. A bus ride to or a high parking fee in the centre will more likely send more drivers in their cars to the local supermarkets outside the centre and with free parking.

14. IMMIGRANTS. Much has been said about the effect of so many immigrants coming in to the country. Many arrive with little knowledge of the language, but in fairness those with skills have readily found employment and are hard and efficient workers. Absorbing so many in the past two years has placed a burden on all the services, and those that are not able to communicate or find work have stretched our Council to accommodate them. Dealing with those with different religions, culture, and from ethnic groups has not been easy.

This will be an ongoing problem and a burden on both public services and other bodies for some time to come, but we need to find ways to integrate them and wean them into our culture and ways of life.

15. OTHER WORKS. The bridge under the railway close to the 'Tank' roundabout is scheduled to be 'raised' - a misnomer in this case for 'deepened' - to permit buses to pass beneath it and run straight through to South Willesborough, and I believe the 'bottleneck' bridge over the railway is to be widened to permit two way traffic with direct access from the Ring road leading on to the A.28 south.

16. THE WILLIAM HARVEY HOSPITAL. Hopefully the increased parking area will have helped visitors. The hospital has been expanding it's services and happily is not part of the devastating reports of uncleanliness etc. that have been laid at the doors of hospitals in nearby Maidstone  and Tonbridge. The staff, under ever increasing pressure as Ashford expands, seem to have coped somehow and I have read many letters from patients praising the treatment they have received there.

17. CLIMATE CHANGE. The media have headlined the many arguments and fearful prognostications put forward of the dire consequences that will descend on our heads as a direct result of Climate Change. I have no doubt that some of their forecasts are credible, particularly as concerns the effects of melting ice in the North Pole. However some of these forecasts seem to predict too severe consequences. I was taught in my youth that as the earth circles round the sun it has periods of years when it tips slightly, and in this instance I wonder if it is not the slight movement bringing the sun more strongly to bear on the North pole that is causing this change. In perhaps 100 years or so the earth will tip back again and the north become colder.

Anyway only time will show and meanwhile we should keep up our observations and not panic. This however does not mean that we should ignore steps to reduce pollution and build ever more eco friendly houses and seek new fuel sources that emit less pollution.

18. FOOD. Out breaks of 'foot-and-mouth' have long since sent shivers through the farming community whenever there has been an outbreak. Now we have a new threat titled ' blue tongue' that affects sheep. This will hit the sheep farmers on Romney Marsh particularly hard, and we sincerely hope the recently announced outbreaks can be contained and stamped out.

19. CRIME. Despite the efforts of our Police force crime is still far too high in our county and in Ashford itself. Much is the direct result of drug or alcohol abuse, and sadly with the increase in Ashford's residential population it is beyond the limited manpower in our local force to control. Only by strictly controlling the supply - impossible in the case of alcohol - can any meaningful reduction be expected. The many warnings in the media go unheeded, and rehabilitation courses seem to have only a time limited effect.

Burglary and theft will always be with us, and we can only hope that new measures to control it adopted by the Police and stiffer court sentences will serve to effect any reduction.

20. RETIREMENT HOMES. The construction, now started, of 36 new retirement homes at Hopkins Field in Ashford is good news. Many people are living longer in retirement and the need for support on those becoming increasingly unable to look after themselves is a welcome move forward. That the KCC have set a budget of £72m. for this project across the county is to be applauded.

21. SPV's. On a less happy note it is disturbing to read that our local Council has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle for in part sub-contracting to a delegation it's own powers in the planning of future developments. By forming a committee  of 8 persons, 4 being Councillors and 4 being from the private sector, and probably developers, the Council is giving away 50% of the votes on new
developments to parties with a vested interest. Is this really democratic and should the Council use it's powers in this way? One Councillor has rightly challenged it and we hope more publicity will be given in the media on this very dubious decision.

22. ELWICK PLACE. Going on from the above at last we learn of plans for the re-development of Elwick Place, the site between the Ring Road and the railway currently used as a car park. The Council will seek a partner in the private sector to assist in designing, financing, and building on this site, which it would appear will be largely, if not entirely, given over to commercial interests. With new and enlarged parking facilities in course of completion within the town centre complex the parking facility here can now be dispensed with and this large (6 acres) site in the centre be developed.

23. POST OFFICES. The imminent threat of large scale closure of rural Post Offices comes as a blow to rural communities. The loss of the important services provided by the Post Offices including communications, stamps, licenses, pensions etc. will have a big adverse impact. Whether poor management at the top is to blame, trade union actions, or governmental cap on postage rates lie at the heart of the problem remains to come out. But the local Post Office for years has been a focal point in rural areas and we can only hope that a new body will be found to step in in it's place.

24. COUNCIL TAX. With the exception of a few glaring glitches most people accept that their Councils do a good job and the  money they pay is not wasted. But over the past few years the sums given by the Government to our Councils have been unfairly balanced with ever more going to northern areas at the expense of the South East. Yet again the Council funding for KCC has been cut by a further £40m., just at a time when inflation is pushing up costs and when Kent in particular has borne the brunt of dealing with immigrants and ever increasing heavy traffic on our Motorways. Inevitably some programmes will have to be cut and others axed or postponed. Clearly our local Councils soon will have to increase local taxes if services are to be maintained.

25. LORRY PARK. Pressure is mounting for action to provide alternative secure over-night parking for trucks to Orbital Park. This issue is a burning one and some action is needed, and needed quickly, to prevent all our lay-bys and odd corners, and indeed whole streets, being taken over at night by drivers who have used up their permitted hours and need to take their rest period.

In addition there is no progress to report on a new lorry park when trucks are forced to stack up due to closure of ports or terminals. Using our Motorways is a most unsatisfactory way of handling the problem.

26. PUBLIC TRANSPORT. This is a permanent chestnut that will not go away. We all know that public transport is virtually essential to our communities, yet it is only viable if it is used sufficiently. Recent headlines state that expenditure in Kent is 5 times below the National average, but no Council can afford to run it at an enormous loss. The number fare paying passengers has shrunk with many opting to use their car or share a car with others. The Supermarkets provide limited transport to and from homes to their premises. The bus service from Canterbury to Ashford takes 1.25 hours as against 20 mins. by train or car. Trains from Ashford to Canterbury run regularly from 6.0a.m. to midnight, yet when they pass me as I walk through the fields beside the railway there is hardly a passenger to be seen!

In London, where the Mayor has flooded the city with buses, these can only run thanks to a £50m. a year subsidy, despite having many more passengers than would be the case in any rural community. No, better public transport is only practical where the demand justifies it and where subsidies are not required.

FINALE.
I have tried to touch on those subjects that I felt affected our Trust most, but there is not space to cover many more in the realms of art , galleries, theatre, music, schools, to mention but a few. Your Committee have been active on a number of areas where we felt we should and could intervene. We are at this moment concerned with the proposed developments in Chilmington Green and the Ring Road amongst others. We do thank you for your support and hope that you will continue. Since there was no suitable objective for an organised coach visit this year we have decided instead to host a drinks and canapé party in the Julie Rose Stadium to which all members are invited in addition to some Council operatives and other persons concerned and please bring along anyone who would like to join us and we can sign them up at the door.

Ian Grant - Chairman

LIST OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS   2007