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Stop Exploitative Developers in Dover District

Posted on by Editorial Team

Is there is a lack of political will at Dover District Council (DDC) cabinet to stand up to aggressive volume developers?

We have the evidence of how, elsewhere in England, developers are made to listen to more democratic councils.

There are fine words in the early DDC 2018 documents on regeneration and the new Local Plan which will shape how urbanised our district becomes between 2020 and 2038. But the subservient relationship with developers, is already shaping irresponsible policy.

If the Green Party had seats at DDC, we would be speaking up loudly for a much more robust new Local Plan with firm commitments to:

  • resolving the social and climate injustices in our district
  • a much more transparent planning process, with a consultation period longer than Jan to June 2020.

We urge all district councillors to show backbone and fight:

  • against a wholesale urbanisation of our rural district
  • against a rise in house prices (because developers want sky-high profits selling to commuters fleeing London’s corrupted property market)
  • and against further traffic congestion in our towns.

Our Green party parish and town councillors are on the case.

Dover District needs quality social rented housing, homes that are cheap-to- rent and cheap-to-heat near railway stations and shops, schools and workplaces and health centres.

We also need genuinely affordable new homes with prices linked to local incomes.

But we must protect woodland and coastal flood plain, our carbon sinks and flood sponges and biodiversity, and our Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

We must protect our food sources and farmland, especially if we are to be hit by a damaging no-deal Brexit.

The Town and Country Planning Association recommends that local authorities plan for the climate crisis. We agree. Our local authority DDC should stand up to corporate greed in the public interest.

Thanks to all who participated in our Whitfield workshops on planning and housing in Dover District on 20TH July 2019.

Join the campaign to Stop Exploitative Developers in Dover District