Last night Maidstone Borough Council held an emergency council meeting to agree the “Local Plan”. The Local Plan is the plan for housing across the Borough: 20,000 new homes over the next 13 years. Most of these will be built on farmland. It is the most important and contentious policy / plan that council’s produce.
It is obviously contentious and stirs a lot of feelings. Particularly when the decision is to be made TWO days before the start of an election for the councillor who will need to deliver the plan, i.e. all of the cllrs voting last night are at the end of the term and not all will be re-elected. Indeed there is likely to be a change of administration.
Earlier this year, the council rejected a motion to change the way our committees work. A key reason for this was that they didn’t want to impose a new system on a new council and would prefer to let the incoming councillors change things if necessary.
I attempted an amendment to delay the decision until after the May election, to put the decision in the hands of those who will have to deliver it. Sadly that amendment was voted down by the Conservatives and right wing independents (the Libs abstained which is the worst possible position to take IMHO).
Clearly principles such as that are less important than pushing through a bad plan before the Conservatives lose the council. The hypocrisy is shocking.
My speech is pasted below. The internet went down in the Town Hall half way through so I won’t post the link to it (cock up rather than conspiracy I hope!)
My speech:
What a mountain of paper we’ve had to wade through. A friend said read it all as the devil will be in the detail. He was wrong, I found all nine circles of hell in there.
I believe this plan is fundamentally wrong – large scale development on much needed farm land with no accompanying infrastructure cannot be right.
Infrastructure plan has just 3% funded.
There is no sustainable transport plan.
There is no design and sustainability DPD development plan document.
There is no gypsy and traveller DPD
There is no town centre strategy.
No strategy other than to build large unsustainable and unconnected houses on farmland.
And for the record for the same reasons we are against Lidsing and Heathlands we are against seeing 2000 houses built in Marden as well, so I don’t want to hear that others are claiming that we are in favour.
Then we have yesterday’s KCC letter which puts a further large hole in the plan.
We have heard comments that a bad plan is better than no plan. We have heard comments that no plan would allow developers to build in places that we don’t like. Yet we are asked to vote for a plan that not only allows developers to build in places that we don’t like but indeed instructs them to do so! That is worse than having no plan.
But there is a further big issue, one of principle. Earlier this year this council voted not to change policy advisory committees into policy scrutiny committees and one of the key arguments was that we didn’t want to impose something on the new administration. Let the new council decide for itself. So tonight’s vote seems hypocritical.
I therefore propose an amendment to the motion in the papers, one that defers this decision until after the May election but not long after as I don’t want this hanging over us.
My amendment is:
1. That the decision to adopt the Maidstone Borough Local Plan Review (2021-2038) at Appendix D to the report of Cabinet held on the 19 March 2024, which incorporates the Inspector’s Main Modifications, and the Policies Map at Appendix E to the report of Cabinet held on the 19 March 2024, be deferred to an Extraordinary Council meeting to be held between 2 and 4 weeks after the AGM in May to allow a new elected council to make that decision; and
2. That the Head of Spatial Planning & Economic Development be given delegated authority to make any non-material, typographical corrections, and formatting changes, as required prior to and post any decision that may be taken by the Council.