Kent Green Party - One World. Once Chance.

Recent letters to the press by Kent Greens

KIG rejected
Sun, 08 Aug 2010
Letter to Kent on Sunday: Dear Editor,

While it was kind of KoS to describe Kent Green Party as being 'heavily involved' in the battle to stop the Kent International Gateway in last week's edition, I would suggest that more credit for defeating the plan should be given to StopKIG, the joint parishes, Maidstone Borough Council and Protect Kent.

In particular, the local campaign group, StopKIG, provided tireless opposition and ran one of the best campaigns that I have seen! They deserve true thanks for their excellent work.

The defeat of KIG was a team effort with united opposition from many groups. It was an honour to play our part in such a successful campaign.

Stuart Jeffery

LibDems call for PR has failed
Mon, 17 May 2010
Letter to: Kent on Sunday

Dear Editor,

While I completely agree with Peter Carroll's call for proportional representation rather than the archaic and undemocratic system that we currently suffer under (KOS 16 May), it was a real shame that the LibDems agreed to have a national referendum on a new voting system that is not proportional. Sadly the Lib Dems seem to have thrown out their key policy of proportional representation for the chance of power.

The Con-Dem coalition is one that many Lib Dem voters, especially those in Maidstone who voted for Mr Carroll to simply stop the Conservatives, will find hard to accept. Of course, when you scratch the surface of Lib Dem economic policy you find just how close it is to Conservative economic policy so it is perhaps of little surprise that they got together so easily.

Fortunately there is a growing force in politics, one that is principled, truly green and committed to social justice. The Green Party now has its first MP and has established its place as a real alternative to business as usual politics.

Stuart Jeffery

Candidates demand apology
Sun, 21 Mar 2010
Letter to: The Courier

Dear Editor,

In one swift move, Helen Grant's team has managed to move the election in Maidstone and the Weald from one focussed on policy and issues into one of insults and a slanging match (Courier 19th Mar). So much for her pledge of a clean campaign!

The patronising claims levied at us are both wrong and pathetic. We are more than happy to debate and discuss issues in public without Ms Grant and it certainly is not the case that "the others wouldn't have turned up if the main candidate was not there". There is no main candidate in the election and Ms Grant should remember that she is not above other candidates or above the people that she may or (hopefully) may not represent in a couple of months.

Furthermore, we were all party to the excellent communications and organisation by Ben Carpenter, the sixth former who arranged the debate in Cranbrook. The negotiation and discussion on dates was clear and unambiguous. It is disappointing that Ms Grant seemed unable to engage with the process, but to insult Ben after his hard work is dreadful. Ms Grant should be ashamed of herself and Ben deserves an apology.

Yours faithfully

Peter Carroll (Lib Dem)
Stuart Jeffery (Green)
Rav Seerthrun (Labour)
Parliamentary candidates for Maidstone and the Weald

Save the V Team
Sun, 14 Mar 2010
Letter to: Kent Messenger

Dear Editor,

Like many of your readers I have been shocked to hear that the V Team will end for the want of such a small amount of money. Local councils have a duty to improve the well being of the people and they can surely find £20,000 to keep this essential service going. The V Team provide such an innovative service across Maidstone, supporting people with a range of problems by enabling them to become volunteers and therefore to help even more people. This fantastic service must not be allowed to close.

Kent County Council and Maidstone Borough Council need to consider the impact on the volunteers if they allow this service to close. With such a small amount of money needed to keep it going, I have written to both organisations to urge them to ensure the continued sucess of the V Team by providing the extra cash and I urge others across Maidstone to write too.

In the meantime, perhaps the KM could lead the campaign to raise the funds to keep the V Team going? With the KM's wide readership, £20,000 would not be hard to raise - after all it is only about 50p per reader. This is a great charity and should be supported - if our councils won't do it, then we must.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

OPERATION SLACK?
Tue, 09 Mar 2010
OPERATION STACK

Operation Slack? MEP Catherine Bearder is correct to identify Operation Stack as a problem, but we already knew. In both reports last week, she identifies attendant problems, the prominent one seeming to be money, but offers little in the way of solutions. Nothing, in fact. Chris Took, Lib Dem PPC for Ashford, did actually offer a solution, albeit short term, a few weeks ago, including using existing lorry parks and service stations, during times of channel crossing frustration. But a longer term, and more permanent solution is required and the Green Party proposes, as we have for some time now, getting cars and lorries off the roads.

The noise and pollution from the M20 even during quiet periods is enough to justify moving freight movement to the railways and improving rail services for domestic tourism whilst reducing fares, and to achieve this we further propose bringing the rail service back into public ownership. Like the NHS it should be a service, not a business, something the Lib-Lab-Con club no longer seem to recognise.

Steven Campkin PPC Ashford Green Party 37 Beecholme Drive Kennington Ashford Kent TN24 9AA
01233 634 246 http://stevencampkin.blogspot.com ...Thinking Allowed?

CHALLENGING EVIDENCE-FREE APPROACHES TO ENERGY, TRANSPORT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Tue, 09 Mar 2010
To: Kent on Sunday - letters pages
From: Steve Dawe, Press Officer - Kent Green Party

21st February 2010

Dear Editor,

Ian Taylor, (letters 21st February) is as usual, wrong.

When the Dartford Tunnel was being promoted, it was to relieve traffic congestion; when the Dartford Crossing was being imagined, it too was to relieve congestion. And now Kent County Council wants to spend £1 billion on a highly polluting additional crossing. If steps had been taken to improve public transport in the past, this immense waste of money would never have occurred. New road building does generate more traffic and longer journeys, as the Government's Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment has shown.

The Zero Carbon Britain report, available online, demonstrates that a combination of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies can deal with the UK's energy demand. Since this report was produced, supporters of old and polluting technologies have not been able to fault its conclusions.

Contrary to Mr Taylor's belief, local planning authorities have no role in making planning decisions about solar water heating units or solar panels on any roof. So long as they are below the roof line, there is no planning issue to address. And prices for these units are dropping steadily.

And, once again, the scientific consensus remains that human-induced climate change is a serious threat to the Planet. Thirteen of the scientific academies of major countries have indicated this, including our own Royal Society. Opinion cannot refute this, only alternative scientific evidence that is hardly likely to be accepted by scientific bodies - like the UK Met Office - which have made their concerns about Climate Change abundantly clear.

Yours sincerely
Steve Dawe
PRESS OFFICER - KENT GREEN PARTY
01732 355185 - 07747 036192 - 27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF

COUNCIL RIDING ROUGHSHOD OVER ITS CITIZENS
Sun, 28 Feb 2010
23rd February 2010 "Gorewell" Selling Road Old Wives Lees Canterbury, CT4 8BD
The Editor Kentish Gazette
Dear Sir, From reading last week's Gazette it is glaringly obvious that there is huge public disquiet over the manner in which local and national governments are treating its citizens. So the museums are threatened with closure, new or expanded Park & Rides are planned for Harbledown and the Dover Road, a gypsy encampment that will put paid to the largest brownfield site in the District is planned for Hersden, Polo Farm wishes to greatly expand and 4,000 homes are proposed for south Canterbury.
Some of this disquiet arises from a Labour government which uses baffling and ludicrous planning laws to impose housing developments via their unelected quango (the South East England Regional Assembly), but most of the blame lies with the Tory-controlled City Council and its officers who completely fail to open up a discussion before they have made up their minds. So, although the Council has produced a "Statement of Community Involvement", where are the surveys, questionnaires, discussion forums, information stalls, leaflets, public exhibitions, etc, on any of the above? There is lots of evidence that the Council will discuss and indeed encourage planning applications with developers so that they can get their applications sewn up, but almost no evidence of prior discussion with the residents who will be affected.
Can I remind local citizens that there are national elections within three months, and local elections next year. When you stand in front of the ballot box, think again whether you really want to carry on with the tired old parties.
Sincerely Geoff Meaden Green Party Parliamentary Candidate.

PRAISE FOR NEPALIS CLEANING UP THE WARREN, ASHFORD
Sun, 28 Feb 2010
LETTER TO Your Ashford:

CLEANING UP THE WARREN IN ASHFORD
I would like to applaud the efforts of the Sagarmatha Gurkha Nepalese community in Ashford in cleaning up the Warren. Only the week before I was telling a friend of mine (Jade, 4) that the little people were watching us to make sure we weren't the bad people who drop rubbish in the forest, and that the little people have to clean up the mess after the bad people were gone, with every intention of doing it myself. It would seem I was pre-empted by these wonderful, magical people, with their amazing sense of community, their religion of peace and environmental responsibility, and I fully intend to join them should they wish to do this again, though I wish we didn't need to.
There have been concerned mumblings recently concerning a Nepali invasion, but if this is what they get up to in their spare time they are more than welcome to our formerly green and pleasant land. I would also like to take this opportunity to oppose the Park & Ride scheme planned for the field adjacent to the Warren. Previous schemes in places such as Canterbury have proven to be more trouble than they are worth, and the building and use of a Park & Ride would have a detrimental effect on the Warren itself. CPRE's Election Manifesto, which I support, calls for protection of our green spaces and tighter laws on littering and fly-tipping. Green Party policy states that we shall "...retain and rigorously strengthen Green Belt legislation..." (CY561) and I intend to uphold both.
Once again, a huge 'Dan Ya Bad' to the Nepalese community, and I hope to join them next time,
Steve Campkin - PPC Ashford Green Party 37 Beecholme Drive Kennington Ashford TN24 9AA - http://stevencampkin.blogspot.com

BATTLE OVER THE BURKA
Sun, 28 Feb 2010
Letter to Medway Messenger:
I cannot be the only person appalled at Bob Oakleys recent letter in this paper where he reveals perhaps a bit more of his own paranoia by suggesting the UK follow the French governments decision to ban the burka. Please, sir, don't speak on my behalf by referring to "our ways" as an excuse for your own personal narrow attitude. The only thing that should be up for debate regarding the way anyone of us dresses is whether it is through choice or pressure. I do not have the cultural background to comment on the burka but I would suggest that if this was ever passed as law then perhaps we must consider banning beards, long hair, and peruvian hats for fear of....actually I am not sure exactly what banning the burka would achieve except play into the hands of the small minority of people who will use any excuse to stir up racial hatred. Hate crimes against ethnic minority groups have increased in recent years, we don't want that in the tolerant, multi-cultural place that is Medway. We should celebrate diversity and encourage difference, something the Green Party believe enriches us all, if UKIP are against that then be honest and don't hide behind some other country's decisions.

Trish Marchant - Green Party PPC for Gillingham and Rainham 23 Canadian Ave Gillingham
01634 313482

SAINSBURYS? Not for Faversham
Sun, 28 Feb 2010
Letter for publication in Faversham News Re Sainsbury's development

Swale councillors from all of the three major parties supported development of an out-of-town supermarket at Faversham on the grounds that it will improve the vitality of the town. This view defies national planning guidance, all of the available evidence and Conservative Party policy.

Government research, placed before all members of the planning committee, shows that out-of-town supermarkets reduce the vitality of market towns. The net impact on employment is negative. National planning guidance makes a presumption against development of out-of-town supermarkets. Even Sainsbury acknowledges that the development will have a negative impact on the vitality of the town centre shops. Conservative Party policy is to 'save our local shops' by making it more difficult for out-of-town supermarkets to be given planning permission.

Every project of a certain type and size must be screened in law to see whether an environmental impact assessment is necessary. Without doubt, the Sainsbury's site is a project which must be screened. Swale Borough Council did not obtain a suitable screening opinion and therefore the Council's decision is unlawful. It is in everybody's interest for our elected representatives to make decisions that are lawful, and preferably based on evidence. As the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Faversham & Mid Kent, I am proud to support the 'Keep Faversham Special' campaign. Revisiting this decision provides an opportunity for local residents and traders to hold their councillors to account before it is too late.

Tim Valentine
Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Faversham & Mid Kent - 8 Selling Court Selling Faversham
Kent ME13 9RJ 01227 752802 t.valentine@gold.ac.uk

Letter to KM on CPRE manifesto
Sun, 21 Feb 2010
Letter to: Kent Messenger

Dear Editor,

It was great to read in last week's KM that the Campaign to Protect Rural England is calling candidates to back its own election manifesto. Their four policies, putting democracy back into planning, developing brownfield site rather than greenfield ones, supporting alternatives to car travel, and supporting communities and local services, are all policies close to my heart.

Green politics has finally gone mainstream with the ideas that we have been pushing for many years now becoming widely accepted by campaign groups and the public in general. With the other parties lagging far behind public opinion on green issues due to their allegance to big business and their business as usual approach to life, the Greens are set to make significant progress in May by electing our first MPs to Westminster.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

Response to Ian Taylor
Sun, 21 Feb 2010
Letter to: Kent on Sunday

Dear Editor,

In last week's Kent on Sunday, Ian Taylor kindly points out a key difference between the Greens and all the other major parties, i.e. we don't think that building even more roads through our beautiful, but increasingly tarmaced county is the way to deal with congestion. It is quite clear that voters will have an easy choice on this issue in the General Election: new roads that will encourage even more car travel or smarter policies to encourage people to travel less by car.

Mr Taylor then goes on to talk about climate change, suggesting that there are lots of reports challenging climate change which haven't been published by peer reviewed journals. However he suggests that this is due to a world wide conspiracy that even the oil companies can't overcome. I would suggest that the reason they haven't been published is because the science in them is seriously flawed and the peer review process has worked in weeding them out.

There is an overwhelming weight of evidence supporting the fact that burning fossil fuels is having a massive impact on our climate. It is our duty to future generations to tackle the causes of climate change. We must not let them suffer climate change's dire consequences such as those that the people of Darfur and Bangladesh are already experiencing.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

A21 DUALLING WILL NOT STOP CONGESTION
Fri, 12 Feb 2010
To: LETTERS, the Courier

From: Hazel and Steve Dawe, respectively Green Party candidates for Tunbridge Wells & Tonbridge and Malling

8th February 2010

Dear Editor,

A21 WILL NOT STOP CONGESTION

Concerning letters last week (5th February, 2010), sober reflection on the history of adding transport infrastructure in Kent is needed.

Did the Dartford Tunnel bring traffic congestion in north-west Kent to an end? Did the Dartford Crossing achieve that objective? Did the M25 relieve congestion or did it earn the label of the '..largest moving car park in the world?' Did the Newbury by-pass relieve congestion, or did traffic levels in Newbury return to their pre-bypass levels within three years of that very destructive bypass being built?

As Kent Green Party has long argued, building new roads and adding capacity to existing ones does not relieve congestion, it accommodates it. Within a few years, more road building is demanded as congestion returns. Even the Highways Agency predicts future rises in traffic levels on a dualled A21 and roads nearby. Since the Highways Agency is notorious for under-estimating future traffic levels and Kent's population is growing far faster than the national average, a dualled A21 will cost £125 million for perhaps as little as 2-3 years of congestion reduction. This is not cost-effective and neither is the County Council's preference for an additional £1 billion Thames Crossing.

If we are serious about stopping congestion rather than accommodating to it, we have to introduce traffic reduction measures which 'intercept' sections of the existing traffic. This was demonstrated to be highly effective by the current Government's Sustainable Travel Towns programme. In the case of the A21, £125 million would be better spent on:

- Improved bus services
- Introducing charging for foreign lorries using Kent's roads
- Ensuring a larger number of journeys to and from school are made using public transport, by working with schools to encourage this change
- A campaign to increase teleworking from home
- Enhancing walking and cycling routes to reduce short car journeys
- Resisting any new warehousing developments on greenfield sites, to push long-distance freight on to rail

Yours sincerely
Hazel and Steve Dawe, Green Party candidates for Tunbridge & Tonbridge and Malling - respectively
01732 355185
27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF

VISIONLESS RAILWAYS?
Sun, 07 Feb 2010
VISIONLESS RAILWAYS?
To: Isle of Thanet Gazette

Dear Sir or Madam, Your correspondent highlights the inconsistency in the penalty fares policy of South-eastern trains.(Flagship at half-mast, Feb 5th) He points out the impossibility of purchasing an on-train ticket from a conductor who is limited to only half of the train and cannot access the other half. Unfortunately things are about to get even worse. South Eastern Trains is currently consulting on completely stopping the practice of issuing on train tickets. In future they intend to fine anyone who has boarded a train without a valid ticket for the journey they are on. Therefore anyone who, like your correspondent, has to travel early before the ticket office is open and finds it impossible to get the relevant ticket from the automatic machine will find themselves fined a penalty fare whatever the particular circumstances.

The consultation lasts till end of February. Please do write to South Eastern protesting at the imposition of such an unfair system. How are people to be encouraged to use public transport when they are faced with such unreasonable and unnecessary obstacles to the use of trains?

Hazel Dawe, Chair
Kent Green Party

LIB DEMS AND CONSISTENCY
Sun, 07 Feb 2010
TO: kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk
FROM: Steve Campkin, Ashford Green Party - 7th February 2010

LETTERS PAGES

Dear Editor,

I note that the Liberal Democrats have launched their general election campaign with much emphasis on fairness and greener policies. So far so good, but:

Isn't this the Party that wants us to join the Euro? Apart from being a deeply unpopular idea, this currency and poor management of it is currently threatening the Eurozone with a return to recession. And the UK is threatened by economic problems amongst our trading partners in the Eurozone. This illustrates the key problem of sharing a currency that cannot be managed by the actions of individual Governments according to the circumstances in their countries. The results will be deeply unfair, as cuts in public spending in Europe - just like such cuts here - often penalise those who are in no way responsible for the recession, and particularly the poorest groups with regard to declining public services.

And just where does the claimed 'greenery' of the Lib Dems stand as far as new road building is concerned? The Green Party opposes any new trunk road building, road widening or capacity improvements of junctions or motorway slip roads anywhere in Kent. The expense, environmental damage and accommodation of extra traffic cannot be justified. The best way to fight congestion is to take measures to reduce traffic such as charging foreign heavy goods vehicles, improving public transport and enhancing walking and cycling routes. The Lib Dems stood on a County manifesto including road repair, but it was silent on the road schemes they would support. And while we do know that the Lib Dems are opposed to the expansion of Lydd Airport, their silence on Manston expansion is intriguing.

Fairness and greener policies? I doubt it…………
Yours sincerely
Steve Campkin, Green Party candidate for ASHFORD

CLIMATE OF MISINFORMATION
Sat, 06 Feb 2010
To: letters page, Sevenoaks Chronicle
From: Steve Dawe, Press Officer - KENT GREEN PARTY
6th February 2010

Dear Editor,
Martin Coath offers little to support his views about global warming (letters, 4th February). The website he refers to does not appear to audit its signatories so there is no evidence that 32,000 scientists have signed a petition about global warming. And 32,000 out of 6.72 billion of us on the planet is not much.

It is much more significant that our own Met Office, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and NASA have presented substantial evidence about human-created global warming. It is also very important to note that the scientific academies of 13 countries including our own have issued a common statement that Climate Change is a real and existing threat(1).

Denial is easy. But energy efficiency, expanding the use of renewable energy and changing our transport technologies will be a Green Industrial Revolution offering a wide range of new employment both public and private. Let's get on with it!

Yours sincerely
Steve Dawe
PRESS OFFICER - KENT GREEN PARTY
27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF - 01732 355185
1. SEE: http://www.nationalacademies.org/includes/G8+5energy-climate09.pdf

KCC's vision
Sun, 31 Jan 2010
Letter to: Kent on Sunday

Dear Editor,

Kent County Council's 'ambitious vision' for Kent, revealed in the Kent on Sunday (31st Jan), shows once again the Conservative's passion for concreting our countryside with roads. Their new plans will push more cars onto the roads, more planes into the air and ensure that Kent increases its carbon footprint to way beyond its already ridiculously high level.

It also seems that the Tories simply don't understand that when you build more roads to 'ease' gridlock, the roads simply fill up with cars again. It should be obvious to anyone that the only long term solution to gridlock on the roads is to get people traveling by other means and to leave their cars at home. A third Thames crossing will do nothing but devastate the land it crosses while encouraging more traffic.

Equally, their support for expansion of Manston airport demonstrates their complete lack of care about the environment. Air traffic is the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions and climate change is set to devastate our Kent coastline unless serious action is taken. The Conservatives are never going to do this while increasing air and road traffic.


--
Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, NO FUTURE FOR NUCLEAR OR COAL
Sun, 31 Jan 2010
To: editorial@kosmedia.co.uk

From: Dr Hazel Dawe, Chair, Kent Green Party

31st January 2010

Dear Editor,

Iain Tiltman is quite wrong (letters 30-31st January).

He thinks the future is nuclear. Not in Kent, where Dungeness C will not be built because the site is unsuitable and subject to rising sea levels due to climate change. Not easily in the UK at all, since the energy industry wants the Government to pay for new nuclear power stations and the Government says it won't (1).

He thinks the future will involve coal use. Not in Kent, where the indefinite delay to a new Kingsnorth coal-fired power station is in part because of requirements that it capture at least a quarter of its carbon emissions. Since the technology for large-scale carbon capture and storage does not exist yet, and 100% capture of emissions is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this power station may well never be built.

However, both the present and the future include the wind farms on Romney Marsh and Kentish Flats (already built), the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm and the massive London Array wind farm in the Thames Estuary. Our future includes greater energy efficiency in Kent's buildings to cut energy bills. The solar water heating units and solar panels for electricity steadily appearing on buildings will quickly become as common as satellite dishes.

Mr Tiltman dismisses human-induced climate change - without evidence The consensus opinions of our own Met Office, the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, NASA, and the scientific academies of 13 countries including our own are that Climate Change is a real and existing threat.(2) The evidence is compelling.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Hazel Dawe, Chair - KENT GREEN PARTY
27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF - 01732 355185
Published and promoted on behalf of Kent Green Party by H. Dawe at 27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge TN9 1XF.

Notes:
1. SEE: . Telegraph 22nd Jan 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7046958/National-Audit-Office-raise-prospect-of- public-subsidies-for-nuclear.html ADVFN 21st Jan 2010 http://www.advfn.com/news_UK-Auditor-British-Energy-Sale-No-Guarantee-Of-Nuclear-Build_41212578.html ITN 21st Jan 2010 http://itn.co.uk/6f9d6f04d4193fadbfbba71f8b865380.html AND Energy Collective 22nd Jan 2010 http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/57202 Government spending watchdog says it is still not convinced new nuclear power stations will be built without public subsidies. Ecologist 22nd Jan 2010 http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/402780/nuclear_power_may_still_need_taxpayer_help_says_watchdog.html Energy Business Review 22nd Jan 2010 http://nuclear.energy-business-Review.com/news/british_government_may_have_to_subsidise_nuclear_power_plants_national_audit_office_100122/

2. SEE: http://www.nationalacademies.org/includes/G8+5energy-climate09.pdf

TARMAC TORIES
Sun, 24 Jan 2010
Letter to:Kent on Sunday West Kent edition

FROM: Dr Hazel Dawe, Chair - KENT GREEN PARTY
& Green Party Candidate for Tunbridge Wells

24th January 2010

Letters pages

Dear Editor,
Concerning the A21, MPs Greg Clark and Sir John Stanley are quite wrong to assume widening the A21 will lead to lasting benefits. Apart from the loss of agricultural land and ancient woodland about which they appear unconcerned, even the Highways Agency's own figures suggest future traffic increases on the new road and nearby. In short, rising traffic levels will quickly slow down a widened A21 and restore the traffic congestion it already has. This is exactly what happened with the M25. A more effective use of £125 million would be to ensure the County Council, currently consulting on its Kent-wide transport strategy, used all available measures to seek traffic reductions instead of using our money to accommodate them. Kent is more than just a place to drive a car. Measures could include congestion charging, charging foreign lorries for using our roads, prioritizing walking, cycling and the use of the new Bus Quality Contracts, changing weight limits on some routes to reduce access for heavy goods vehicles etc.

The Standing Committee on Trunk Road Assessment, reporting back in 1994, noted that new roads caused more journeys of greater length. With increasing population, any relief of congestion on the A21 and the A26 will be temporary due to increasing numbers of vehicles on the road. In the case of the much contested Newbury by-pass, traffic levels in Newbury were back to pre-by pass levels just 3 years after the by-pass was built.

Supporting any new trunk road building is inappropriate on environmental grounds. But it is also a highly inappropriate priority given the size of the Public Sector Deficit. The 'old thinking' of our local MPs also means that neither of them are actually concerned about climate change - to which vehicles contribute. So much for a 'greener' conservatism: it seems to be giving way to 'tarmac Tories' who value roads above Kent's environment.

Yours sincerely
Dr Hazel Dawe, Chair, Kent Green Party
27 Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF
01732 355185