Response to Government White Paper on Planning Reform

Medway Trades Union Council Response to Government White Paper on Planning Reform For some time now Medway Trades Union Council has been concerned about the housing situation in the Medway Towns. We have instigated action around rough sleeping and homelessness and expressed our concerns about the provision of Housing for the local population,. We have also been concerned about development within the towns, in particular regarding gentrification and in support of residents of a particular group of properties threatened with being displaced in order that that area could be included in a major development designed for the ease of travelling up to London. The Medway Towns underwent a major development in the years after the end of World War Two. Large estates were built to house the local population. These Council estates were well planned, with a variety of house size to meet the differing needs of families. The layout of the estates was well planned providing the various amenities needed for a growing working class community. This provision included schools, libraries, public houses, play areas and a church. Included within the design were areas of green space and many trees which for its time was extremely progressive in terms of the environment and helped in some measure to counteract the pollution that came with an industrial urban area. Twydall estates is a good example of the planning undergone at that time and is far superior to other estates built years later in other areas of the Medway Towns. In recent years the Medway Towns, like many other similar towns, largely in the North and Midlands, has seen a severe decline in its industrial component. Losses such as the closure of the Naval Dockyard, the closure of two power stations and the loss of other industries such as Shorts, Wingates, Hoboun and others has led to a decrease in job opportunities with the consequent effect on wages. The Towns are in serious decline and this has added to the problems with regard to health conditions that were due to the adverse effect of the industrialisation of the Towns. Poverty and lack of suitable housing are major factors in planning decisions within the Towns. In more recent years there have been various developments, some proposed others actuated, that have caused concern. All of these are localised problems which have been met with protests and objections. Many of these objections are based on environmental grounds, others are based on the loss of amenities, some are based in the preservation of areas of special scientific interests. A major battle, having to be fought on several different occasions has concerned the Capstone Valley which is part of the green belt between the conurbations of Rochester/Chatham and Maidstone. There have also been major battles to preserve one of the few remaining areas in which Nightingales are found to nest. One aspect of development that has been of concern is the loss of green space and play areas. In Hoo a public golf course has been closed and the land is to be developed for housing. Green space and football/hockey pitches were lost in order to build a major road linking the Medway Tunnel with the A2. Further land in this area, at present used for football pitches and also occasionally for boot fairs where individuals can both buy and sell second hands goods, is planned to be used to build a school. A small area of open green space with old established trees and spring flowers is to be destroyed so that 14 dwellings can be built upon it on the Twydall Estate. An orchard in the land between the railway and the river Medway is in danger of being built upon thus creating a large estate of what is flood plane. Much of this is dwarfed by the massive development on the Hoo peninsular in what is again an important environmental area including salt marshes which are particularly important with regard to climate change and environmental protection. Medway Trades Union Council is not opposed to development. Our concern is that the development that takes place must be based upon meeting the needs of people and not on speculative building in order to provide profit for developers. There is a real need for houses for people in the Medway Towns. This need was met at one time by council housing as mentioned above. Sadly, as a consequence of Government policy, many of these council houses have passed out of the ownership of the council and many of them are now being rented privately. The net result is that houses built to meet local need are no longer available. Most of the development that is taking place is designed for higher earners and not for local people. The advertisements for these properties all stress the fact that the properties are within easy reach of the train services to London. A clear indication of the intended purchasers. Much recent comment has been in reference to the need to protect tenants from eviction, but also of the rights of landlords. There is no equality between the needs of a single parent who needs a home in which to bring up her children and the needs of someone who already has a home who then takes out a mortgage to buy a second house which they then let out and use the rent they receive to pay the mortgage. This simple analogy indicates the inequity of the private rented sector and clearly Illustrates the need to return to a strategy of public provision of housing through council built and administered housing. The foregoing considerations are the basis of Medway Trades Union Council’s objection to the Government’s White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’. It is our considered opinion that the White Paper is a Paper designed to further the interests of developers and that the document does not take into account the real needs of the community, especially the needs of the working class communities who form the largest section of our community. The proposals in the White Paper are based on the proposal that Councils should designate areas under their control under three headings : Growth areas, Renewal Areas and Protected Areas. Growth Areas are defined as areas where outline approval for development would be automatically secured for forms and types of development specified in the Council’s plan. Renewal areas are areas suitable for some development such as gentle densification. Protected areas are areas where development would be restricted. As has been clearly shown above, such broad brush designation is totally unsuitable for development planning in urban areas such as the Medway Towns. All of the examples given above are localised. It is the knowledge of local people living in the particular areas that is most important in safeguarding the environment and living space. This is not nimbyism but the reality of life in our towns. It is in this type of environment where nimbyism is least likely to be found. There is within working class areas both an understanding of the needs of individuals and of the general needs of the population as a whole. The opinion of residents in these areas can be trusted. The right to object to and campaign against unsuitable and unwanted development must be retained. The White Paper suggests that in streamlining the planning process, democracy can operate at the planning stage, presumably by this they mean at the stage of designation. This is in effect a denial of democracy. At the designation stage the broad brush is in operation and more localised issues will inevitably be disregarded. With regard to ‘Renewal Areas’ the definition is so glib as to warrant disbelief. As we have seen in major renewals in London what this means is the destruction of working class estates, the removal of the residents out of their homes and them being forced away from the areas in which they grew up because they can no longer afford to live in their home area. Social cleansing is the result. We see this process in operation in the estate mentioned earlier in this response. The White Paper also refers to ‘gentle densification’. Working class areas are already more highly concentrated than other areas. What this ‘gentle diversification’ means is further loss of the limited green space in these area, a worse environment for people and for nature, probably the loss of gardens and allotments. All to the disadvantage of people and their health. Again we have referred to the loss of green space and trees to build housing on a small patch of green space in the Twydall area. This proposal opens up the prospects of a worsening environment in already run down areas. The concept of ‘protected areas’ is unlikely to apply in urban areas such as the Medway Towns. Our environment is not considered worth protecting no matter what it may contain. We referred earlier to the church built as part of the Twydall estate. Sadly this church is no longer in use, the churchgoers having to use the companying hall. Repairs are needed to the church. The design of this church is rather imposing. It is designed to reflect the importance within Kent of hops, at one time a major activity being the picking of the hops. If the church was in one of our Cathedral Cities there would be a project to raise money for its restoration, there would be boards outside of the church showing the progress of the fund raising and donations would come in from those able to afford such gifts. However, Twydall is not a fashionable part of the Medway Towns, just as Medway is not a fashionable part of Kent, and so the church stays Qempty and unused instead of forming part of the communal life of the area. This is symbolic of the way in which working class communities are treated throughout the whole country. Medway Trades Union Council calls upon the Government to re-examine it proposals regarding the planning process to ensure that at the basis of their proposals they place the people living in the various communities, the effect upon natural habitats and the total environment. What is needed are proposals that meet the needs of people and communities and not ones which further the profits of developers. .