I have to thank 'Thanet Treehuggers' for sending me some annotated CGP plans from application F/TH/08/0400 to save you wading through hundreds of pages of stuff. You can peruse in greater detail by clicking on any picture.
The drawing above shows the main area of TDC earmarked 'employment opportunity' land in The Thanet Plan that is Phase 1. The shaded area is believed to be outside the land earmarked and is hardly an 'encroachment; more like a doubling as it surrounds houses in Alland Grange Rd, The Riding Stables and backs up to the MOD Quarters and ex-quarters at Manston!
This is what CGP intend to put into the site in 3 phases from 2008 to 2012. I draw your attention to the number of buildings/wharehouse sheds etc etc(50+, count them if you wish). You may wish to look at the north west corner by The Cummins Site. Those two warehouses are 50' high and will reflect the sun brighly in their white livery and will hardly blend into the landscape; they are seriously huge as the drawings below show.
You might just start to feel sorry for the residents of Acol, Alland Grange Rd and Manston when you realise they will be in or beside the biggest industrial complex in Thanet shortly. You might also like to bear in mind a few points from CGP:"24 hour operation" " light spillage" (light pollution) " vibration and noise"
" 1,839 parking spaces in Phase 1" " 3,737 parking spaces for all Phases"
"extends beyond the employment land designation into adjoining land DESIGNATED AS A LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREA" (my capitals)
It was interesting to read that a full FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT(FRA) has been carried out despite no rivers or sea anywhere near but the run-off from the site (to avoid flooding neighbours in Acol) will be into drainage trenches and underground storage tanks.
It was nice to read that CGP intends to "Provide a sustainable approach to the movement of employees and freight." How, you might well ask? Here's how according to the 'Newspeak' from CGP: " A sustainable approach to travel will be encouraged with a well connected network of cycle and pedestrian routes across the site and beyond as an alternative to car travel."
Do they mean cycle and walk along the narrow country roads on the Birchington/Acol side of the site? There is one bridle path and footpath into this site from Westgate! What an amazing work-force they will have if they are prepared to risk life and limb on bike or foot on the roads surrounding this site. It's in the middle of country-side (nowhere in Thanet terms) with no decent bus-service so those 3,737 car parking spaces will have 3,737 cars driving into and out of them, wont they!
What I couldn't find anywhere in CGPs application was exactly how many 40 ton HGV lorries are expected to be trundling into and out of this site throughout the day and night for 24/7? Will such traffic and all construction traffic for FOUR YEARS be banned from all other approaches other than from the south ? (off the Thanet Way at Mount Pleasant Roundabout). I somehow doubt it.
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Just where will all the workers come from? Even light, high-tech factory work (if that is what it will be)is not going to attract the unemployed here who would prefer the service sector or the dole. Oh, I've just thought. Perhaps the housing opposite Westwood Cross is going to be earmarked for the massive influx of workers required who will flood in from all corners of the globe. Remember when Grupo Antolin started there were complaints from the management there that they couldn't find enough locally-based workers with skills or workers willing to betrained. It's the old mantra 'jobs' that has allowed TDC to be seduced by this development but no-one seems to have thought about the impact on local services, roads, housing etc or how it will affect the area environmentally.
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