News of thousands of expensive houses to be built on much needed farmland and woodland has prompted calls by both Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidates in Maidstone for a moratorium on house building on greenfield sites around the town.
Stuart Jeffery, Green Party PPC for Maidstone and the Weald: “Nothing is more important than land to grow food and land that converts CO2 to oxygen, we must not let our farmland or our woodland be turned into housing estates for executives. If the farmland is not needed then it should be rewilded rather than built on.
“We will stand with those fighting development such as in Marden, we will stand with them against those in Maidstone Borough Council and in central government who think we need more large houses around Maidstone.
Hannah Temple, Green Party PPC for Faversham and Mid Kent: “The proposals in Lenham are very worrying. 5000 houses represent an enormous development and one that will drastically affect the culture of this community. Further, we have not seen any evidence that a development of this size is actually needed, by anyone other than the developer, or that adequate thought has been given to the infrastructure required to support the new inhabitants or the impacts of the development on the environment.
“We need to be building affordable homes and social housing close to jobs, transport links and other services for those people in real need and in ways that are socially and environmentally sustainable.”
