Newsdesk
Housing not Community development in Prescott speech
5th February 2003John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, has told Parliament that Ashford will be significantly expanding(1). His speech appears to pre-empt the consultation on rail services in Kent being conducted by the Strategic Rail Authority, which offers 6 options concerning CTRL domestic services in Kent, which runs until 15th April 2003(2). These options contain clearly different implications for parts of Kent, in terms of the potential for expansion. Steve Dawe comments:
"Mr Prescott said that greenbelt land will be both maintained and increased in area in each English region. At Ashford, this would require the abandonment of the planned mammoth estate at Cheeseman‘s Green. Also, as he suggested, expansion does not occur as a result of new transport infrastructure alone. Achieving sustainable expansion requires a diversity of properly-funded, integrated policies with effective local control (3). New resources for infrastructure at Ashford appear to be no more than £55 million (4). Also, Ashford Borough Council is still constrained by Government rules on spending which would mean retrospective cutbacks if the Council tried to spend to meet growing local needs. In short, the housing-led expansion dreaded by people in Ashford, turning the town into a dormitory settlement, is still likely to take place.
"The one option no one has consulted people about is London‘s regeneration. The exodus from London reflects the decades of neglect, mainly by Labour councils. Why should Kent have to absorb massive population increases because of Labour‘s failure to make London liveable?" ends c250 words
FURTHER INFORMATION: Steve Dawe on 01233 645167/07904 382203. Contact address: 10 Hillbrow Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4QH Notes: 1. Speech to House of Commons, 5.2.03, see www.opdm.gsi.gov.uk for speech text, when checked against delivery. 2. The full consultation document, which contains details of how to respond, can be found on the SRA website at www.sra.gov.uk under Publications / Consultation Documents. 3. Steve Dawe Business and Environmental Group influences upon the Trans European Transport Networks, Chapter 5: case study on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, thesis, 2001. 4. John Prescott, speech of 5.2.03, referred to £164 million divided between Ashford, Milton Keynes and Stansted areas. 5th February 2003
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