Maidstone Greens have called for the consultation on the Local Plan to be scrapped and restarted in their submission to the Council. They point to a variety of deep concerns that question the legality and validity of the draft Local Plan as well as the failure of the consultation to be accessible to all people across the Borough.
Claire Kehily, Green Party campaigner in Coxheath: “The planet is facing the twin emergencies of climate change and ecological breakdown. The Council has acknowledged these emergencies and the Local Plan should be the key document that ensures that Maidstone plays its part in hitting zero carbon by 2030 while drastically increasing biodiversity. Sadly the plan proposed by the Council fails to achieve either.
“Many existing villages are suffering the loss of services and the feeling of community and with the town gridlocked as the need to travel by car to shops and employment has been built into our Borough, a new Local Plan is needed to provide a clear strategy to foster community and a sense of wellbeing.
“From a lack of provision for affordable homes, housing targets that are more than twice the population forecasts, unnecessary building on green spaces, road building rather than support for public transport, walking and cycling, and the complete failure to meet the needs of the environment, this plan is a disaster.
“With documents that are over 700 pages, just a short time to respond and almost no attempt by the Council to engage with local people, the consultation is a sham too.
“The draft Local Plan was an opportunity to bring in a radical new approach for the Borough, one that meets the needs of the future but the one being presented by the Council simply fails on all accounts.”