THE LEADERSHIP MISLEADS ITS OWN COUNCIL AND THE PUBLIC

 The Ezekiel Party and Leadership at TDC has been trying to promote the idea of  600 luxury homes on the Eurokent Site for almost 2 years and now wishes to re-designate Eurokent from Employment Land to 'Residential' within The Core Strategy. Because they would thus create their own shortfall in employment land, they have stuck Policy 25 into The Core Strategy,  which means any development that promises 'loads of jobs' will be able to be approved and ride over all other policies protecting Thanet's open countryside.

Before Christmas we had 'Mauwice' in Council saying ' You tell me where we are going to build 600 houses if not on Eurokent ' and the same phrase repeated by Ezekiel Party Cabinet Member, Cllr Moores on BigNews Margate.

Have they forgotten/failed to read/ did not understand The Annual Monitoring Report April 2008 - Mar 2009 that was Annex 1 to Item 4 on the Agenda for TDC Cabinet on 4 December 2009 that they all attended and were given documentation for? It was only 5 weeks ago!

What game is going on at TDC and why do 'Mauwice', 'Woger' and Colin Fitt continue to claim that Eurokent needs to have luxury and executive housing on it to meet the requirement imposed on TDC by The South Esat Regional Plan 2009?  Here are some extracts that were part of the 'brief' prepared for 'Cabinet' by hard working TDC Officers, that clearly have not been grasped by The Ezekiel Cabinet or have been completely ignored:

'The Regional Spatial Strategy ‘the South East Plan’ was adopted in 2009. It sets total provision forThanet District at 7,500 net additional homes (375 per annum) over the period 2006-2026. The remaining requirement over the period 2010-2015 (calculation as per Annex 4) is 834 net additional homes.

In conclusion, the supply of deliverable housing over the period 2010-2015 exceeds the

requirement for that period by 293%.'

'The levels of actual and projected dwelling completions over the full period are such that it would not be necessary to aim to deliver more homes in any year above the set annual rate. Indeed, projected dwelling completions in the next few years beyond this AMR period substantially exceed housing requirements.

This, in turn is manifested in a reduction in the quantity of homes needing to be delivered year on year to meet the total requirement to 2026 (the ‘manage’ line). On the basis of this trajectory the total requirement to 2026 would be satisfied 8 years ahead of that date, and by 2026 projected delivery would exceed requirements by 714 dwelling units.'

'Indicator 11 

Projected net additional dwellings up to the end of the South East Plan Period

Monitoring and Comments

In the current monitoring year (2009/10) 1164 dwellings are predicted available for delivery. Over the remaining period to 2026 a further 5067 dwellings are predicted available.

Notional target met and exceeded.'

The Officer preparing the report makes the point that the figures only cover large sites with 5 or more dwellings and 'make no allowance for windfall permissions , which historically, have represented a very significant proportion of supply (of dwellings) delivered in the district.'

If you would like to read the report and grasp what it says in detail, try the link below:

http://tdc-mg-dmz.thanet.gov.uk/Published/C00000151/M00001644/$$ADocPackPublic.pdf

So Officers are reporting  ' WE WILL EXCEED THE 2026 TARGET BY 714 DWELLINGS AND HIT TARGET 8 YEARS EARLY' and yet 'Our Leader' and his cronies claim otherwise. The only conclusion is that not only are TDC's Councillors being misled over this nonsense at Eurokent and the need for it to be 'housing' but through comments in the local press, the public is also being misled and misinformed by TDC's Leadership.

WHEELIE BIN CONFUSION NOW REIGNS!

The latest PR blurb from TDC about waste collection has now utterly confused me. Whilst I accept that a little bit of snow in Thanet has affected Collections, it is interesting to see that last year's Christmas & New Year Programme, (see pic above) had less days of no collections and at least took blue (recyclable waste) away with black bins. Mind you TDC did come in for stick about treating recyclable waste as the same as land-fill waste!

This year in contrast has been reduced to a fiasco by a number of factors. More time off for the waste collectors ; no Sat collections nor on Wed 30 and  Thu 31 Dec which to the best of my knowledge are not public holidays; no blue bins with black bins and of course a smattering of snow.

TDC's PR team and its Press Releases have become risible and perhaps the staff are superfluous to requirements as they invent fatuous quotes for cabinet members. The latest offering today about bin collections is contradicted when you ring TDC. So when will the debris of the Biggles Household's Festive Season be removed?  Well it seems that my blue bin might be emptied on Fri 22 Jan (last empty was Fri 18 Dec) and that my black bin will be emptied this Friday 15th Jan; or it might be emptied sooner, so do I leave it on the pavement?; and any overflow of household rubbish wont be picked up according to PR 'blurb' but customer services says it will if I leave it out. All very confusing.

We can always blame a smattering of snow,I suppose, for this chaos and be charitable about Cabinet Member Shirley Tomlinson who clearly spends too much time as a member of The Planning Committee, instead of keeping a closer eye on her own brief.!

UPDATE - 14 JAN 2010

My thanks to Clrr Chris Wells for this update.

For those on  Thursday/Friday collections its BLACK BINS this week; next week and put your BLUE BINS out on Thu 28th and Fri 29th. (With a bursting Blue Bin that was full on 26th Dec the Biggles household has had to suspend recycling for a whole month, until Fri 29th)

AN EZEKIEL PARTY COUNCILLOR GETS ROASTED IN TORY HEARTLAND

A 'Strife' team member attended a meeting on Saturday last, in St Andrews Church Hall, Reading Street, Broadstairs called by residents fed up with traffic hurtling through their village.

Here is his report.

Cllr Crispin Crotty, Conservative, Beacon Ward came under fire from a very irate female resident following his short address to the meeting. Here is what led up to her outburst.

A hundred residents had made their way cautiously along un-gritted roads and ice-covered pavements to the church hall to voice their concerns over the continuous traffic dangers in the narrow village streets. A thriving community with its church, post-office and pub and two schools close by, Reading Street has been the scene of damaged property, wrecked cars, near misses from cars mounting the pavement, cyclists upended and recently, an elderly pedestrian taken to hospital having been knocked off her feet by a car whose driver claimed he'd 'only being doing 10mph'. As the front of the car was seriously damaged, some doubt was cast on the alleged speed.

One resident has had her garden wall demolished SEVEN times in four years by speeding vehicles and HGVs. (see the picture below!)

Many residents gave accounts of how they saw the problem and the possible solutions. Some graphic accounts were heard and one speaker criticised The Planning Department and Committee at TDC for allowing more development without taking into account the resulting increased traffic. There is no continuous pavement and in places the pavement is at the same level as the road thereby giving no protection to pedestrians.

Dr Stephen Ladyman M.P.spoke from the floor saying what he would now do, who he would speak to and how he saw the situation could be dealt with. So what caused the anger from the fur-hatted female resident?

Cllr Crotty, the only elected Conservative Councillor present ( his fellow Beacon Ward Conservative Councillor, Cllr Lawson, is on extended winter holiday ,in Gibraltar, not Panama and neither Conservative KCC Councillor attended) said he 'would try to speak to the relevant people'.

"I'm disgusted with you" said irate female resident. "I want action not words". Round of applause from the audience. As one member of the audience said, "I thought Cllr Crotty was going to burst into tears."

Could it be that Cllr Crotty hasn't faced an angry public meeting before or did he assume that being in a Conservative stronghold he could fob off the locals with empty promises?

(Ed: Although a South Thanet Ward, it is interesting that here we have yet more traditional 'conservatives' unhappy with the lack of representation and support from their Conservative Ward Councillor. Why on earth did he not call in his Conservative KCC colleagues to attend? Highways are a KCC responsibility after all!)

TDC's 'CABAL' SQUIRM UNDER PRESSURE FROM IOTG

My congratulations to Saul Leese and Rebecca Smith at IOTG for putting the spotlight this week on TDC's Core Strategy and Policy 25. In the process they have highlighted the obfuscation, confusion and squirming about issues by 'Our Leader', 'Woger' and TDC's lead officer on the matter, Colin Fitt.

For those who are not upto flying speed on this issue, a brief reminder is needed. TDC's current Local Plan was completed in 2006 and allocated more than enough employment land for Thanet for the next 20 years at Eurokent and Manston Business Park. The situation concerning Thanet's designated employment land is supported by The South East Plan. However, even before Thanet's new dwellings figures were increased from 6000 to 7,500, TDC (together with its own little 'quango' without democratic control, EKO LLP) has been trying to change the designation of  the Eurokent site from 'employment land' to 'housing' and began this process in April 2008. There are numerous paragraphs in the new 'Core Strategy' devoted to changing Eurokent's designation for 'housing for aspiring people' (expensive housing out of the reach of most in Thanet) and a Policy 25 is introduced that effectively states that any site on farmland can be developed in Thanet by 'over-riding' all other TDC policies if it 'promises' lots of jobs. Now forgive me but my understanding is that 'jobs' on offer has nothing to do with whether a Planning Application should be approved or not and is not part of The Planning Protocol.

Anyway, back to the IOTG article.I can imagine the situation where intrepid reporter Saul Leese went into to the luxuriously carpeted 'Ezekiel Towers' in Margate  last week to 'interview' Colin Fitt and perhaps found a little 'cabal' of  'Mauwice', 'Woger' and Colin awaiting his questions?

Let's highlight some nonsense from 'Our Leader':
 Obviously riled that Save Kent (CPRE) has criticised Policy 25 and a change to Eurokent, this is the petty nasty comment elicited: " People at Protect Kent have nice jobs and homes......."  (How many houses do you have in Thanet, Cllr Ezekiel? Your  Cllr declaration of interest in 2008 at TDC showed  a finacial interest in 4 or was it 5?)
"I love the countryside ..............."  ( There is no evidence of this as Thanet Earth, an industrial estate in every sense blots the landscape and huge warehouses given planning consent almost up to Acol, could do so shortly.)  " Thanet Earth is a good example that showed benefits for the people in Thanet" ( Importing Spanish tomatoes and employing exactly how many local Thanet people? The facts are that most employees are foreign EU workers. So who is benefitting from Thanet Earth?) " We have had a lot of debate over the policy ( Policy 25) and it doesn't open the floodgates to building on a large scale." (What nonsense. He knows perfectly well that CGI owns some expensive farmland for China Gateway Phases 2 and 3 and you could hardly describe their declared proposals as other than building on the large scale! Mr Colin Fitt gives as an example, justifying Policy 25, just such development on the large scale!)

Lets now see even more utter tripe from our twice discredited Leader's,  Deputy;  'Woger'(whose 'jumping like a salmon ' antics at Edinburgh Woollen Mill make him discredited also;  let alone his antics concerning housing in Berkeley Rd):  In answer to a question whether Protect Kent's concerns were justified he replied,
"  This is just the first stage. They must submit a planning application." Of course they have to Cllr Latchford but if your Policy 25 says they can develop on agricultural land ,they will cite Policy 25 as justification for an appeal if you say they can't!) In answer to a question about ensuring jobs for people in Thanet,  'Woger's reply was " China Gateway can only employ 10% Chinese." (So despite numerous unminuted meetings with CGI, a visit to China organised and hosted by CGI, Cllr Latchford denies the 'Concierge' Proposals for Chinese Managers/ key workers and their families and the initial idea that 500 homes would be needed. for them. Each employee and family would be subject to British Immigration requirements any way, would they not?.)

Now to Mr Colin Fitt.
He seems to justify Policy 25 with the specious argument that it is there to 'catch the eye of planning consultants of major companies'. He  said, " For example, if a company like Sanyo suggested a 'green wedge site' like Dane Valley Margate to build a factory, we would suggest somewhere else. These types of companies send out planning consultants and we believe that if this policy (Policy 25) was not in our core strategy they will think we're not open for business". ( Mr Fitt knows perfectly well that there is no way any company would even consider development on a protected by TDC Policy site in a 'green wedge'. What he assumes already is that he will not be able to say, 'we have just the site you need at Eurokent' which is the present situation,  because Ezekiel, Latchford and EKO LLP are hell bent on making sure that Eurokent has housing on it (more lucrative) instead of employers employing workers.)

When asked by Saul Leese about how TDC could ensure that a Policy 25 development on farmland would lead to jobs for people living in Thanet, Mr Fitt replied, "There is the possibility of putting in place a legal agreement stipulating a percentage of jobs for people living in Thanet." ( Pray tell us how TDC can do this , Mr Fitt, in the face of EU and UK Employment Law?)

When asked about Housing Targets set by Govt, Mr Fitt replied, " We're told by the Government to ignore existing planning applications......" ( Really Mr Fitt? Where does it say this? Could you substantiate this extraordinary statement? He fails to mention that completions are already 2 years ahead of target , according to TDC's own Housing Audit and that it is not TDC ( other than EKO LLP who want to build houses on Eurokent) but private developers who have lead the way in exceeding the Govt's targets in thanet and will continue to do so.)

When pressed to explain why Eurokent (in the Core Strategy) should have 600 houses instead of being used for commercial development, Mr Fitt replied:  " We designated the land at Eurokent for business 15 years ago. Its a good location for housing. They can walk to shops and schools." ( Notice how the question is not answered. He ignores the fact that Eurokent was included in the Thanet Plan 2006 for commercial  development and that The South East Plan states that TDC should maintain it for that. It's a good location for housing for EKO LLP and Rose Farm Estates' profits, Mr Fitt, whilst you have failed to attract and have even actively discouraged development there for employment?)

I am flabbergasted with most of these comments by this ' long past sell-by date' Cabal at the top of TDC. As previous  'Strife' posts have tried to illustrate, TDC does not having a 'housing requirement deficit' even with the 2009 change in goal posts. There is no sound justification for housing on Eurokent and Policy 25. I hope all our TDC Councillors view these proposals for the sham they are. If Policy 25 is incorporated into The Core Strategy, stand by for industrial sprawl all over Thanet's remaining open and highly productive farmland as it is a 'charter' for development and ensures that China Gateway Phases 2 and 3 can proceed or any other development that CGI or any one else has in mind. Profits for developers like  Rose farm Estates and CGI appear to have a greater priority with the present  leadership at TDC,  than helping to feed its population in 20 years time. I wonder why? To paraphrase Protect Kent's, Brian Lloyd, 'what an unusual approach to employment development.'

WHEN WILL WE HAVE A GAS SUPPLY CRISIS IN THIS COLD SPELL?

An interesting problem with some modern gas boilers has come to my attention in the past 24 hrs as the 'Big Freeze' continues. As mains gas pressure drops, as it did yesterday, many boilers close down and do not fire up again. Fine if you are at home but leaving an empty house with bolier setting on low heating as you jet away from temperatures of -17C could lead to some problems awaiting your return!

Despite this Government being in power for 13 years, it has failed dismally to address strategic gas supplies that are needed for electricity generation, home heating and cooking. We have only about 14 days worth of reserve stored in Centrica's Rough Field in the N. Sea and in a number of underground salt storage areas in Yorkshire. Most sensible countries aim for 80 days of strategic gas reserves and the Chinese set themselves a goal to have 90-100 days of oil and gas reserves.

'Sound- bite' Government and 'the just in time' mentality could give us all a major headache in the next few days or so. While the media has been concentrating on the'white stuff' with all its pretty pics, how many of us realise that there was a crisis in late December when electricity generators had to cut back on gas use to maintain mains pressure to householders? We are now in the middle of at least two weeks of some of the lowest temperatures recorded in the UK  for over 20 years and what is striking is that almost the whole country is affected, unlike in  normal hard winters.

Gas main pressure went down yesterday again and I have a pessimistic thought that our strategic gas reserves are going to be found inadequate. Should the worst happen look out for power cuts and your boilers and gas cookers not having that welcoming blue flame burning to heat your house or cook your food. What will be a Labour Government's chances in an election in a few months time if this happens?  As low as the temperature at RAF Benson?

LET ISLAM4UK MARCH THROUGH WOOTON BASSETT

I am perfectly happy, as an ex-serviceman, for Anjem Choudary of Islam4UK and any demonstrators he can organize, to march through Wooton Bassett. We either live in a democratic, multi-cultural society or we don't. Where more Muslims attend Friday prayers at mosques up and down the land, than do C of E members at church on Sunday, then perhaps it is time to realise how this country has changed. They are fellow Britons are they not?

We must not allow our respect for our dead servicemen and women,  who died serving their elected Government's political wishes in Afghanistan, whilst under equipped, under-manned and ill supported by that very same Government, blind us from the reality of war. The 'enemy'  dead and severely wounded were Afghans fighting on their own soil; the many hundreds of innocent civilians caught up in the conflict who have lost their lives or who have been maimed , were just ordinary people trying to eke out their lives in the best way they could. Are they not all victims? In an odd way, Mr Choudary reminds us of this dismal reality.

Of course Islam4UK are being deliberately provocative. So how should we respond? We stoke the fires that give warmth to racism in this cold land if we demonise our fellow Muslim subjects of Her Majesty, however misguided we think some of them are.

Yes, let Mr Choudary carry mock coffins through Wooton Bassett to remind us that the victims of war are not just 'our own brave heroes'  but let him do it in a town that has empty streets as the good people of Wooton Bassett shut up their shops, close their doors and draw their curtains closed.

A far more emphatic comment is thus made than the pathetic posturing of a Prime Minister who as Chancellor and then Prime Minister has under-manned, under -equipped and under- paid our young men and women sent to Afghanistan to die and be maimed, purely to satisfy his predecessor's posturing on the world stage alongside a  discredited US President called Bush.

AN EYESORE IN ST PETERS NEEDS ADDRESSING BY TDC

This eyesore of a dangerous,  flytipped and insecure site at 85 Albion Rd, St. Peters, Broadstairs needs to be sorted by TDC and quickly. It is close to the recent problems in Victoria Rd where houses are falling apart as a result of settling from chalk workings.

It does beg the question as to why the three Ezekiel Party Cllrs for the ward, Cllr Ken Gregory (Chair of Planning), Cllr Zita Wiltshire (Cabinet member) and Cllr Jason Savage have not spotted the problem and done something about it! Do they walk around their ward?

It has insecure fencing as the pictures below show and is accessible by children who can gain access and fall into the deep excavation in the site. Surely TDC , at the insistence of the 3 Ward Cllrs can make the owners clean up the site and put secure fencing around it?

This should be easily done as this site has just been the subject of a planning application. ( Please go and look at F/TH/09/0941 dated 22 Dec 2009).  E-ssured Cars UK Ltd, would like to infill and cover the site in tarmac to make 25 car parking positions for car storage, with access through Livingstone Road. This has got to be good news, as the idea of housing on it might not be sensible given the problems in Victoria Rd. What Albion Motors next door think about this, will be interesting to see.

I am often accused of  being cynical but I find it interesting that E-ssured highlight the fact that the site is presently a fly-tipped mess, in their application and  thus locals would support any improvement!

Well, Ward Cllrs and TDC, over to you. You might like to make sure that E-ssured clean up this site and make it secure quickly before a child has an accident; particularly after neglecting this eyesore for so long and to do so before you are prepared to support their Planning Application.!