!! CALL FOR ACTION !!
With all the press interest in the WASPS this week, it's an opportunity to whip up this storm with how you feel about it and the area being used for a stadium and housing....and please do!
I urge you all to speak your mind on the public group and Protect Our Green Belt Page....also other Facebook pages, like Councillor Rachel Waterton's page. She was "removed" as a member from the Development and Conservation Advisory Committee ("DCAC") earlier this year. The DCAC is where they discuss the Local Plan 2040 and other planning matters. If she was removed for having opposing views and because she's the local Councillor in that area to try and make this happen, where is the non-biased or even balanced view in that Committee? They have made it quite clear that helpful debate around this matter is unwelcome and how is that a democracy? Councillors represent their local community and they know their area best and what's possible and not. They can speak for the people and SDC have taken that voice away by removing her. You could make complaints to SDC for this. There are good comments that show the residents views on her page. The other councillors on that committee live further away and are not experts in that area and are removed from those communities. Complaints to SDC via Democratic Services (email: democratic.services@sevenoaks.gov.uk.
The cause will benefit from everyone being more actively involved, commenting, showing up in person at the DCAC meeting on 5th December and writing to MPs, Laura Trott (email: laura.trott.mp@parliament.uk) and write to your Councillors in the meantime (https://cds.sevenoaks.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1).
The land is not sold yet and they seem to be trying to drum up financing it by the recent and previous press releases. If we can make it too toxic for investors to touch, that could do something. Investors will hopefully do their due diligence and see the real problems with the proposal to get planning permission when there are so many reasons that shouldn't happen there. WASPS said they would consider local views. Laura Trott stressed local views need to be taken into account. We have publicly and very obviously opposed these ideas via Parish Councils, who have recruited an excellent strategic planner, with the last responses to Regulation 18, in the press, and by emails from many of us to SDC already...and yet it continues to be pursued.
None of us are being unreasonable about housing and provisions but there are very good reasons why not to do it there!It's not over yet and we all need to keep pushing. The new Regulation 18 is scheduled to start again next year and we will have to repeat many exercises. In the meantime, please continue to express your views on things like traffic, pollution, distance from the station, sustainability, ruining green belt and its purpose, particularly urban sprawl when there's only 13% green belt land in the country, the fact that WASPS only have an audience of 7-8,000 (at most) and why then do they need capacity for 28,000, which is more than Millwall!? Is it even going to be a WASPS stadium, being that size and knowing WASPS debts? There's nothing stopping WASPS potentially selling to another unknown club later and who knows if this is the long game plan? Is it all smoke and mirrors? The intention would be to have entertainment there until 10 pm, right next to National Landscapes (AONB) land. Did you know they can't even turn on street lights on the M25 and A20 to protect nature? Pedham Place be allowed to blare lights as they have recently that we've never seen before. The lights have been adjusted in different directions, and are they doing that to line all this up? Development in this area has been strategised over many years. For example, I understand from locals that Pedham Place paid for their own roundabout some years ago to try for previous planning for a petrol station. Now, it would seem, the keen release of Green Belt is providing a "green light" again.
SDC have paused at the moment due to awaiting the finalisation of the new NPPF, yet last year, they were happy to proceed. The worry is this is strategic rather than necessary, or have they learned from their mistakes, or will they leave this to the inspectorate/tilted balance planning permission being granted outside the Local Plan policies. Who knows for sure but these are all really good questions to get answers to and share.
We all suspect this is a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' proposal, and we all need to shout louder and stop this skulduggery. Saying this is a benefit to the community....how exactly? The jobs it creates, is that really worth destroying the quality of lives of thousands of residents here along with diminishing these fabulous historical villages? In reality, it doesn't meet any needs locally and it needs to be in another location, away from junction 3 of the M25 and our rural and agricultural land with green views, in a beautiful conservation area. This area of one of the busiest traffic areas Sevenoaks and we all know the issues almost every rush hour and at random times between with events at Brands Hatch causing road chaos locally. The pollution here has been one of the highest levels in the country previously. This would only make it worse! How would that all be managed and without stopping everyone living nearby being disabled in terms of commuting and or very ill? Local areas already have the highest death rate in Sevenoaks across all age groups for no particular reason and one can't help wondering if this is due to the pollution. We must stop this happening all in one area of one of the busiest traffic areas Sevenoaks. There is supposed to be consideration of local views and yet they continue to pursue this despite our views being aired.
Would Brands Hatch have to dovetail their events with the stadium to manage the hugely increased traffic demand? There is supposed to be consideration of local comments and views. There was a record number of responses to the previous regulation 18 with over double the responses expected, 5282 responses when they would normally receive 2000-2500! The pop-up in Farningham in January was wall to wall with hundreds of people for hours on a day when it was absolutely pouring with rain. People queued to get in and yet SDC said at the last DCAC meeting the pop ups were not well attended! All this and they continue to pursue this despite our views being made very clear.
Now is the time stand together and shout louder and stronger together! It's certainly not a time to be "ground down"!If you feel councillors and MPs are not doing enough to protect thousands of people's wishes and needs in this area, you must share your thoughts about these topics and any others, and as soon as you can.....there's no time to waste.It is the time for all of us to write to Laura Trott, your local councillors, and let them all know, or they won't know how devastating this is to us and they can't support us if we all don't let them know. It is most important to show them how much we care about what happens here. Lobby, lobby, lobby the councillors and all those on the DCAC committee. Ideally we need to generate momentum as we need to gather more strength in numbers, increase pace, and keep fighting this!
Share on Facebook, and speak to neighbours to do the same.
