We need the right sort of housing and planning policies to resolve the housing crisis that blights the lives of many under 40s. We need new, genuinely-affordable homes for first time buyers and also social housing at fixed affordable rents on longterm tenancy agreements. But so many new developments within 2 miles of Deal, and in Dover district generally, do not offer this sort of housing, although we welcome the council housing that DDC has been able to roll out, for example 48 homes in Wingfield Place, Deal. 

Developments on what was ‘best and most versatile’ arable land (which may have been conveniently down-graded) got into the Local Plan, despite words in the National Planning Policy Framework NPPF urging their protection. But the climate emergency worldwide means that yields of staple crops that our UK could until now expect to import, will be in shorter supply. So it is essential that UK retains and improves its national food security, that it retains its food-growing fields and orchards, and protects the quality of soils and the productivity of the fields. 

Right Homes, right place, right price charter is the Green Party policy that balances out competing demands for land.

These policies to push the influential house building lobby (who like a return on investment of 20-30% in Kent) to build the right homes (meaning energy-saving, solar-roofed homes), in the right place (within close distance of services, work and schools so likely to be within settlements, and less likely to be greenfield), available at the right price (genuinely affordable for those suffering with our housing crisis).

On greenfield sites just outside the Deal/ Walmer parish boundaries, many new developments are springing up.

We need walk-able neighbourhoods with low-rise blocks of flats, and new low-carbon terraced houses so that we use land more effectively, for the benefit of people and planet. 

Two new sites in Sholden, in Mongeham, two sites either side of Cross Road, Mill Hill, in Ringwould & Kingsdown on the A258, on the southern edge of Walmer too.  

And objections (including ours) are pouring in on DDC planning portal about application number 25/00112 : 70 dwellings land NW of Kingsdown Rec ground on the edge of Kent Downs AONB.

The public protested against 50 houses when the draft Local Plan was consulted on. It is a development that will reduce wildlife on the edge of a popular but congested rural village with no pavements, on one of the few possible diversion routes used by emergency services when our A258 carrying traffic from Deal / Walmer to Dover /Whitfield is closed.

AND just 1 mile north of the Kingsdown development, along the Glen Rd / Liverpool Rd route (single lane with passing places), much used on the school run to primary school, the site of Ray’s Bottom (SAP 15 in Local Plan) was the subject of a presentation by developer GSE prior to seeking outline permission for another 75 dwelling development, on 25 February at Walmer Parish Hall. This is a site on a steep, food-growing field, adjacent to wildlife rich, chalk downland, Hawkshill Freedown.

What other problems crop up when developers go for greenfield first?  ‘Natural solutions to climate change in Kent’ a report adopted March 2021 by KCC, says we need to retain grassland, farmland, wetlands and woodlands because they capture carbon. Sacrificing natural carbon sequestration capacity without making sure the homes are built to zero carbon standards (with solar roofs, orientated to maximise natural heating, cooling and lighting, rainwater harvesting, high-spec insulation / double glazing, etc) exacerbates the climate crisis. It is thus contradictory to the advice of the national Climate Change committee and is not environmentally sustainable.

And of course we know we need to restore nature from its terribly nature-depleted state, so that nature can restore us. Only with the maximum retention of surrounding trees, inclusion of bird boxes, swift bricks, bat bricks, the planting (and maintaining for 3 year thereafter) of two native trees per dwelling, will the biodiversity net loss incurred by the sacrifice of a greenfield site be mitigated (whatever is said by rough and ready desktop calculations claiming BNG, biodiversity net gain). 

We need water companies to be statutory consultees, on the capacity of the sewer and freshwater pipes to cope with extra pressures as part of all applications for planning permission. Similarly, Kent Resilience Forum has contacted all parish councils to urge action, to protect Kent from extreme weather conditions we’ve started to experience, to reduce flood risks, by making hard surfaces permeable, to put in fire breaks between residential sites and farmland. But our DDC planning department and planning committee have not seemed too keen to stand up to developers on such issues. Alas! 

The post Overdevelopment makes East Kent less resilient, we demand better appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

The local residents are very unhappy about the damage to the lovely environment in Elms Vale area of Dover Town, right on the edge of Kent Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) / National Landscapes,  a designation that should provide extra planning protection. Residents are concerned about damage to wildlife and biodiversity caused by the developers going beyond the area permitted.  

In the week of 19^th to 23^rd Aug a planning enforcement stop notice had to be issued (ENF/24/00185). Our Green Party campaigner Steph O’Connor, stepped in to contact the Leader of DDC, Cllr Kevin Mills on the issue and got a detailed and prompt reply:

“Dover District Council has served a temporary stop notice in respect of the site at land South West of Allotments in Folkestone Road, Dover, and land on the west side of Church Road, Dover, requiring unauthorised carrying out of operational development including engineering works relating to terracing, compaction and regrading of spoil within the site to cease. The notice takes effect today, 23rd August 2024 and will cease to have effect on 18th October 2024.

The reason for issuing this notice is because the development, by virtue of its sensitive location within the Kent Downs National Landscape and its countryside location, has resulted in a prominent and unsympathetic alteration to the site and wider landscape, failing to conserve or enhance the landscape and scenic beauty of the National Landscape and the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside.” Cllr Kevin Mills. 

Steph, other Green campaigners in Dover and local residents are continuing to monitor the situation carefully and will be prompt to protest any additional damage to the green space they love so much. 

Of course Dover town and other coastal communities across the UK are crying our for genuinely affordable and council houses which are cheap to heat and close to services. This is what the Green Party has campaigned for, the Right homes in the Right Place at the Right Price. To achieve these solutions to the homelessness crisis a determined approach to planning by central government and by Local Planning Authorities is needed. Not posturing to pretend to the property development lobby that they will have everything their own way. 

The post Standing up to developers in Elms Vale and Maxton appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

Green Party MP candidate, Christine Oliver, pointed out, ‘This was cynical behaviour bringing UK political system into disrepute, from died-in-the-wool, hard-right, ERG, Conservative-until-yesterday, Ms Elphicke MP,  and from Labour leader of the opposition. The UK needs people and parties who will restore public faith and cleaner government, make our political system more democratic, more accountable, instead of what we saw on 8^th May 2024.’  Poor, poor Dover and Deal constituents deserve so much better than Charlie (jailed for sexual assault in 2020) and Natalie Elphicke, a disgraceful couple this constituency has suffered since 2010, 14 years ago. A number of Conservatives are known to have left their party, when Ms Elphicke was selected in a rush in November 2019.  

Natalie Elphicke is well known locally for being very unavailable to constituents, unless a fawning photo-call is promised. We see no link on her website for constituents to email her, no public access to her X/Twitter account, so many constituents palmed off with emails signed ‘office of Natalie Elphicke, MP’, and a very shut door to her Conservative constituency office in Walmer. 

We have an inequality crisis in housing. Those suffering sky-high rents / mortgages are NOT helped by empowerment of a property developer lobby that likes to buy influence in govt, to achieve 20-30% profit margins.  Developers do this by ignoring, shrugging-off planning conditions requiring them to build ‘30% affordable homes’ to focus on executive investment properties built on much needed farmland, especially in Kent.  This can no longer be hidden by xenophobic, victim-blaming. 

The Right homes; in the right place; at the right price is the Green Party policy. 

The Green Party’s  plan would create hundreds of thousands of high-quality affordable homes as well as protecting renters and keeping homes in the community for good. This would be done by : 

• Bringing in rent controls and end no-fault evictions (Con Party made promises in 2019 but failed to deliver on ending no-fault evictions)
• Pushing for 150,000 new council homes a year to end the affordable housing crisis
• Ending ‘right-to-buy’, and thus enabling local authorities to keep council homes available and affordable in the community for good. 

Right homes; right place; right price Green housing policy means homes that are energy efficient and cheap-to-heat, close to services, public transport and green spaces which are affordable to rent or buy.  Dover and Deal Green Party worked harder than any other to try to get these commitments into the Dover district new local plan. Other parties were conspicuous by their absence. 

To achieve these policies means cleaning up the UK planning system; electing people and parties who will say ‘no’ to being bought by big corporate lobbies, even if it means making appeals to the general public to help them fund campaigns. The property development lobby, was in a headline in Financial Times in July 2021, ‘Property sector donations rise to quarter of all funds gifted to Tories’. 

The story of Ms Elphicke MP leaving a sinking ship on 8 May 2024, having tired of being an MP, begs the question, is the property sector’s lobbying money now switching to Starmer-led Labour ? Will the property development lobby be allowed, under a Starmer govt, to block new regulations to make all new homes properly energy efficient as this sector got away with in 2017 under the Conservatives ? 

AND, will Dover and Deal voters find out about, and be attracted to, the better, cleaner housing policies of the Green Party in 2024? 

The post Elphicke’s Jump : Proof We Need Cleaner, Green Housing & Planning Policies.  appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

We share their statement here:

On 13th July 2023, Dover Planning Committee rejected the application by Quinn Estates to build a luxury Hotel on Betteshanger Country Park. They are to be congratulated for putting wildlife and the community first and we hope they will take a similar position with regards to the surf lagoon application.

As a nationally important wildlife site, there was deep concern about the impact on habitats and protected species such as Turtle Doves and Water Voles. Environmental organisations such as Kent Wildlife Trust, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (Kent) the RSPB, Plantlife and Buglife strongly objected to the proposals. Their expert opinion played an important part in this win for wildlife. Thanks go to them and to all the people who help and support the Friends of Betteshanger campaign to keep the Country Park an open space for people and wildlife. It was their voice that was heard and their efforts that made this result possible.

We hope that Dover District Council will now take steps to secure the long term protection of the Park for wildlife and for people by revisiting the s106 that obliged them to designate the Park as a Local Nature Reserve.

We congratulate the Dover planning committee on their decision and hope this is the beginning of a new chapter at Dover District Council where the threats to us all from the biodiversity and climate crises are properly taken into account in all decision making.

Sue Sullivan, Friends of Betteshanger

The post Betteshanger Country Park Decision appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

Protecting farmland and food security matters in these tough times. Cutting fuel poverty by making all the homes within our existing East Kent towns healthy and cheap-to-heat matters just as much. We Green campaigners did a door-to-door survey before Christmas in Sholden’s older and newer streets and 90% of the people we heard from said ‘we have enough housing already’.  So the Mercury’s front page story of Richborough Estates taking the decision on 155 extra dwellings to the Planning Inspectorate shines more light on what is wrong with planning.

The local Green Party submitted a detailed alternative Local Plan in 24 pages, in Dec 2022 saying how we needed to transform existing homes, and build 5-10 times as much new council housing, (32 new properties are not so many). Download a PDF of our submission. We emphasized how much we need to protect wildlife habitats given the devastating fall in wildlife numbers, and protect farmland to grow our food on. We emphasized how much our district needs restoration & improvement of our lost public services and better public transport.

In our Local Plan submission we said, ‘The policy of Dover Urban Area having nil provision of affordable housing is both unsound and non-legally compliant. Moreover the reality is that during the life of the last Local Plan, Deal / Walmer experienced 30% more housing development than was planned. So this policy would only be sound if it were amended as follows: In the case of planning applications on developments of over 8 dwellings on windfall development sites, within 3 miles of the outer boundaries of Deal / Walmer, permission will only be given if the developer applicant has previously undertaken a development of a similar scale within Dover Urban area which provides a minimum of 30% affordable housing.’

Very many people tell us they want a better, cleaner, less lobby-laden planning system.  We need a DDC planning department and more planning committee councillors who do not prioritise property developer partners and their 30% profit margins, councillors who respect residents and voters more than monied lobby groups.

DDC is running a Housing Needs Survey until 7 March. There are 5 short parts to it, in the 5^th part we can each say what housing we DON’T need as well as what housing we need. We urge folks to take part. We also applaud the Deal Society for organizing an event on Feb 28 at the Landmark Centre at 7.30pm on town planning and what we can do as local citizens, and note that the Facebook page of SEDDD Stop Exploitative Developers in Dover District is getting more attention.

Nationally, there is a government consultation from now until March 2^nd on the National Planning Policy Framework (which councillors are legally bound to comply with) and there is excellent guidance from the Community Planning Alliance on how to respond.  Over to you EKM readers!

The Financial Times headline : ‘Property Donors provide one quarter of funds given to Conservative party’ gives us all insight into what needs to change at national and local level.

The post Sholden – Even More Building On Precious Farmland  appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

Locally agreed investment priorities, with the right incentives, could begin a green transformation of our country and support the foundational economy in our areas, without extracting wealth to corporations based in tax havens. As many nature charities say, environmental recovery, environmental monitoring and investment in natural infrastructure should be key tenets in local investment.

Instead the government has brought forward plans that could see predatory developers and landowners riding rough-shod over agreed local priorities, further damaging our already degraded environments, and reducing commitments to affordable homes and to community facilities. These plans, rather than boosting local economies, could be a threat to existing sustainable businesses.

What are Investment Zones?

‘Investment Zones’ are a core element in the Tory ‘Growth Plan’, heralded by the now unravelling mini-budget. According to the Government “Investment Zones will accelerate the housing and infrastructure the UK needs to drive economic growth.”

Below we unpick this dangerous attack on the environment, on local democracy and on sustainable local economies, by looking at what the government has announced, and what this will mean.

Attack on Nature

The guidance states that the aim is to “remove burdensome EU requirements”. These include Habitats Regulations and the requirement to provide an Environmental Impact Assessment, key tools in protecting nature during the planning process. Even worse, the guidance seems to allow for Investment Zones in National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected environments (3.4 in Expressions of Interest Guidance). The stated expectation to  ‘mitigate environmental impacts’ fails to meet the government’s own – already weak – ‘biodiversity net gain’ requirement outside investment zones.

No wonder the major environmental protection organisations have called into question the Government’s commitment to its own legal target to halt the decline of wildlife by 2030.

Ignoring the climate emergency

The legal requirement to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 through a series of carbon targets has been completely ignored. The guidance states that “Key planning policies to ensure developments are well designed, maintain national policy on the Green Belt, protect our heritage, and address flood risk, highway and other public safety matters” will apply, but it is silent on climate change commitments. The stated intention is to “accelerate” development. To do so without explicit carbon commitments is reckless in the extreme.

Attack on local decision making

“The planning system will not stand in the way of investment and development”. Investment Zones “will benefit from a liberalised planning process”. This clearly means that local communities will lose their rights to resist unsustainable development. Instead, developers will get to by-pass local objections entirely. These objections are often on environmental grounds.

Councils spend years developing a ‘Local Plan’ that identifies where development can, and cannot, take place. The government wants to allow Investment Zones in places councils have rejected.

By scattering Investment Zones across the country, they will have a chilling effect on planning everywhere. Developers will insist they can’t compete against IZs without looser regulation outside the zones too.

Less cash for communities, less affordable housing

“We will… focus developer contributions on essential infrastructure requirements”

Current rules ensure developers contribute funds for local facilities, helping Councils to provide school places, recreation, sustainable travel options and other community needs. In their place, the government “will consider” providing grants, but it is clear these too will have to be shown to support ‘growth’.

House builders will avoid locally agreed requirements for affordable housing, meaning many local families, key workers and those facing homelessness will continue to be left behind. Government “will consider” financing councils to “regenerate derelict and empty housing”.

In both cases this could see a transfer of power away from District Councils.

A threat to local businesses

“Sites… could benefit from a range of time-limited tax incentives over 10 years.”

Tax breaks to developers will reduce funds for public services while undercutting local firms, poaching valuable staff, and threatening the viability of the local economy.   

What can be done?

‘Expressions of Interest’ documents are being invited from Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCA) and Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLA) – County and Unitary Councils. The deadline for these is 14th October. They are expected to have ‘in principle’ agreement from the Local Planning Authority – often the District Council. This can simply be in the form of a statement by the council leader.

The Expressions of Interest document asks: “Do you agree in principle to ensure outstanding planning matters impeding early delivery are brought to resolution to an accelerated timetable (enabling additional delivery within the next two years)?” It later asks for confirmation that “you will agree in principle to using a new streamlined overarching planning system”. In both cases there is no room for discussion; to quote; ‘this is a Yes/No answer”!

Green councillors can’t possibly support a Yes answer to these questions. As Green Councillor Bridget Petty in North Somerset puts it; “This Government is a train wreck. We don’t have to go along with their train-wrecking schemes’.

We call on council leaders to:

• Make plain their commitment to local control of planning.
• Make plain that they will continue to insist on existing environmental protections and nature recovery rules – as a minimum.

Where council leaders insist on submitting ‘Expressions of Interest’ forms, we call on them to declare that they will:

•  Not accept a reduction in affordable housing as a percentage of overall development in their area.
• Refuse to provide a simple ‘Yes’ to the question “Do you agree in principle to ensure outstanding planning matters impeding early delivery are brought to resolution to an accelerated timetable (enabling additional delivery within the next two years)?”
• Refuse to provide a simple ‘Yes’ to the request to “confirm whether you will agree in principle to using a new streamlined overarching planning system”.

The post Association of Green Councillors statement on Investment Zones fully supported by D&D Greens. appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

Dover & Deal Green Party:  10 point plan for Environmentally Sustainable Local Housing

March 2022

1. We must urgently upgrade, renovate and insulate our current housing stock.
   Renovate not Demolish. All empty houses should be brought back into use.
   https://greenworld.org.uk/article/lewes-model-explained
   https://www.yahoo.com/now/uk-must-move-faster-insulate-010701647.html
   
2. Future building should be on degraded brownfield sites only.
   There are 174.25 hectares of brownfield already available in Dover District, according to the 2021 Brownfield Register. This is enough for over 5000 houses, 10 years of the 500 per year target.
   https://www.dover.gov.uk/Planning/Planning-Policy-and-Regeneration/Regeneration-and-Development-Opportunities/Brownfield-Register.aspx
   https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6937/1558850.pdf
   https://stories.cpre.org.uk/brownfield-is-best/index.html
3. Genuinely affordable housing must be at least a guaranteed 35% of all developments in the district.
   Research shows residents of Dover District desperately need high quality, affordable housing, not more luxury homes.
   https://www.35percent.org/
4. Dover District Council should be building cheap to heat, high quality, social rented housing themselves, at scale, as many other councils have done.
   https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/mar/06/eco-homes-become-hot-property-in-uks-zero-carbon-paradigm-shift
   https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3rgQ8SvcsZrrgBt6Y8rs7rX/goldsmith-street-wins-the-riba-stirling-prize-2019
   https://www.cpre.org.uk/explainer/why-is-there-a-housing-crisis-and-what-to-do/
5. All developments must include low or zero energy sustainable buildings, with energy generation and storage plus increased biodiversity.
   This is essential both for the owner/ tenant’s low running costs now and in the future, and to combat climate change, and increase Britain’s fuel security.
   https://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/what_is_passivhaus.php
   https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/passivhaus-what-you-need-know/
6. Greenfield sites should be for sustainable agriculture or nature only.
7. There should be zero building on greenfield sites in Dover District.
   We need farmland for Britain’s food security.
8. No more building land is needed in the near future.
   Dover District Council already had 6 and a half years supply of housing land in Jan 2022, its target is only 5 years worth. Land banking is rife and should be legislated against.
   https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/08/over-1m-homes-in-england-with-planning-permission-not-built
9. End excessive profits for developers.
   The demand for over 30% profit, demanded on average, is unreasonable. It also excludes social housing, which has lower profits, and brownfield sites which need more preparation to build on than greenfield. A target of 18% profit on developments is far more acceptable and will allow the right kind of housing to be built.
10. End developer donations to political parties running local planning authorities.
    We must increase transparency in planning, to ensure it’s driven by local need not developer need. Developers paying for ‘independent’ reports, eg ecology, should be legislated against.
    https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/house-builder-donated-thousands-to-tories-192267/

The post Our 10 Point Plan for Environmentally Sustainable Housing appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

The Royal Institute for Foreign Affairs, Chatham House issued a risk assessment on 14 Sept 2021 which makes grim reading. They say our world is currently on course for worse levels of global climate disturbance than were targeted, (2.7 to 3degrees of warming), with only 1% chance of meeting 1.5 degrees warming targeted by UN summit in 2015.

As a consequence, Chatham house experts are looking at ‘cascading system risks’, which are likely, tragically, to lead to world agricultural yields falling by 30%, and 700million people exposed to severe drought. They say net zero carbon pledges by national governments are far from enough. “Cascading climate impacts will likely cause higher mortality rates, drive political instability and greater national insecurity, and fuel regional and international conflict.”

The good news is that, across Britain, even if not yet in Dover district or East Kent, councils are coming together, with local civil society, using the resource hub of Zero Carbon Britain based in Wales, shaped for and by determined local councils.

Examples from British local government include; Aberdeen, Lewes District Council, Stroud District council, Shropshire CC and Shropshire Climate Action Partnership, Welsh Govt, Nottingham City Council, Bristol, Norwich, Oxfordshire CC, Brighton and many others.

Sadly, in Kent there are too many local councils who brush aside the nature-based solutions to climate change that a 143 page report recommends for Kent, and too many councillors from old, complacent parties, who can’t even bother to turn up to climate committee meetings they sit on, who refuse to take large-scale action to insulate unhealthy homes in our towns to save tenants from fuel-poverty and make homes healthier.

Many of us, during the world climate summit in Glasgow, will be demanding our councils act now, this climate issue is not about public relations opportunities for those in power or deckchairs on the Titanic; there are large-scale, life-saving, life-changing, cost-effective policies that councils need to put in place now.

Note: Edited version published in Mercury 20th Oct 2021.

The post Climate Justice, conflict prevention; more insulated homes from council please appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

The bulk of the article concerns planning applications made by Gladmans in Wiltshire and nearby Thanet. Gladmans was the company that put in two planning applications to Dover District Council for 80 houses off the Dover Road in Walmer and for 100 houses at Cross Road in Deal.

Both sites sit on top of the aquifer and so will interfere with local water supply and surface water run-off. The Cross Road site, which was given approval on the casting vote of the chairman of the Planning Committee meeting, is accessed by two single-track country lanes (Ellen’s Road and Cross Road) – expect chaos if these houses are ever built.

At the end of the article is a brief post-script, which quotes Daniel Gladman’s comments in a high court case five years ago. Apparently he said:

“We … target local authorities whose planning is in … disarray and vulnerable to quick application for a suitable site.”

The post An Eye on Dover’s Planning appeared first on Dover & Deal Green Party.

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