A better way to forge
a future for our isle
I FEEL that many of the major
decisions in the Thanet council
consultation document Shaping our
Future � Thanet Local Development
Framework are presented as almost
a fait accompli, for example the
development of Manston airport for
commercial flights, China Gateway
and housing on fields at Westwood
Cross all seem decided.
I say this because attempting to go
through the endless online pages of
the consultation all seems to revolve
around enabling the airport.
There are no alternatives, so the
consultation seems to be an empty
PR exercise.
I believe that for the council to
avoid alienating residents and
increasing the cynicism in the
political system, a new consultation
should be sought.
I do not accept this is a proper
consultation as the online documents
are far too long to engage the public
and the general attitude is that of a
tick-box exercise on a done deal, as
there are no alternatives.
The development of Manston
airport and extension of night
flights will have a detrimental effect
on the quality of life of Ramsgate,
increasing noise,air and crop pollution.
It will create a negligible number
of jobs compared with more
sustainable industries such as
tourism and a knowledge-based
economy.
It is also a bad investment as the
air industry is in difficulty due to
fuel cost rise. This is presumably the
reason the current Manston owner,
Infratil, is concentrating on its New
Zealand energy business.
If Infratil were to sell Manston,
the infrastructure around it would
be left to decay at massive expense
to the taxpayer and be a blight on
the landscape.
As for the building of yet more
properties at Westwood, other council
documents stress the negative
effects of 880 empty properties in
Cliftonville West and Margate
Central. Renovating the empty
properties would seem a much better
way of achieving urban renewal.
After the devastating impact of
creating a shopping centre at
Westwood Cross, Margate Old Town
is reinventing itself, with five new
shops having opened recently.
As we get nearer to the opening
of Turner Contemporary and
Dreamland, the interest in taking
up shops will increase.
The plan for massive warehousing
facilities such as China Gateway is
another disaster with no vision for
or sensitivity towards the area in
which it is proposed. It would
increase heavy-goods transport on
the roads and destroy the
environment.
We must support the promotion of
the countryside, seaside and the
built heritage for tourism, leisure
and as a beautiful place to live.
We now have a chance to turn
things around. Instead of
concentrating on the deprivation
that has been engineered over the
years, investing in infrastructure
that works against the assets we
have, we should work on those
assets.
We need to sustainably exploit the
natural environment and the built
heritage we have inherited.
Overdevelopment of cheap mass
tourism made Thanet undesirable.
Social engineering (actively
attracting benefit claimants to fill
empty hotels and guest houses)
made the place undesirable to live
in. Bad town-planning ruined key
areas.
Turner Contemporary and
Dreamland are big steps in the right
direction, but we need to believe in
the change and invest around these
projects or they will end up as white
elephants at the edge of an
industrial estate.
Lynn Jackson
Margate CAAG
yourthanet.co.ukTelephone editorial: 01303 817200 Email yourthanet@kosmedia.co.uk 19
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