Bulldozers hum over Capstone Valley?

(Copyright: This artistic piece was designed by the one and only Twydall Tory, Mr Alan W Collins Esq)

It seems once in office the truth will out...

It seems very likely that the Government will publish the final National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) with the Chancellor's Budget on 21 March.

Only when we see the final document will we know whether they have listened to the concerns of Medway residents and made good on the Prime Minister's promise that planning is for people, the environment, and economic growth. Only then will we know if Capstone is safe or whether the Tories are tacitly allowing development by the back-door.

Keeping up momentum, just yesterday the National Trust added their voice to a letter to the Times from like-minded organisations calling for a balanced approach to planning to help towards sustainable economic prosperity while encouraging urban renewal and protecting the countryside.

There is a growing voice of chorus on the left standing up against Tory MPs including several locally who are simply not being heard in the corridors of power; the case of the Estuary Airport consultation last year shows the ineffectiveness of our representatives to fight a case pre-consultation.

In the words of great grand-ma Joan Goddard those who plan to bulldoze can 'naff-off' including Conservative Party representatives in London. You tell the blue-rinsers girl.

Policy process

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has had since mid October to consider 14,000 responses to its consultation on the draft NPPF.

Since then, the final document will have been circulated among Government departments before full Cabinet approval is secured. We have heard nothing.

Medway residents will not accept a watered down planning regime which will give a green light for development on Capstone Valley and other green lungs across our area. The reputation of three MPs and their ability to lobby is at stake.

Newsnight's Allegra Stratton, however, took a much more incendiary tone in her revelations about changes made to the NPPF by HM Treasury.

Here’s the Telegraph’s considered take on what the NPPF will look like.

Please keep your voices up

We'll see the final NPPF any time soon. Labour will be keeping up the pressure on our MPs and will be working closely with residents, 'Friends of' groups and other environmental groups to ensure that Tory MPs cant get away with allowing the bulldozers through the back-door of lax planning

Tory planning changes = Development

Capstone Valley could be threatened if Tory planning laws are passed.

It looks like local Planning is once again in the press with the Conservatives in Westminster now proposing to fundamentally undermine the planning system in full favour of the applicant.

Such plans will impact residents across Medway, but particularly in the rural areas of the Peninsula, Cuxton and Rainham. In addition, the development of Capstone Valley and the Conservative Peninsula Airport are far more likely to occur if greenbelt concerns are watered down by the gready and grubby fingers of the building developers, who channel funding into Tory election warchests.

Rochester & Strood Labour have expressed severe concern that rural life on the Peninsula will be put under severe threat by Conservative-led plans to water down planning laws, which could allow large-scale housing development on non-residential land, and threaten the area with an International hub airport, whilst hindering the capability of the public to oppose development.

As this blog has mentioned, Conservatives in Medway have not been open and transparent about the Lodge Hill development which will see a whole tract of the Peninula bulldozed for 5,000 properties.

In addition, Conservatives in Westminster continue to examine the feasibility of an International airport which will destroy the rural community. Already there are concerns around house prices caused by the incapability of Conservative MPs and Councillors to represent your interest to Tory ministers with an ear to the Mayor of London.

The threat of an airport coupled with watered down planning laws will weaken the strength of resident objection and allow Conservatives and their Councillor-supporters in Medway to run roughshod over local opinion and the potential for an airport proposal to increase.

Labour oppose the Conservative Government’s planning planning reforms which could lead to unchecked and damaging development in the undesignated countryside on a scale not seen since the 1930s.New plans published by the Government contain a core presumption that the default answer to development will be ‘yes’. We are deeply concerned that the Government’s proposals will allow developmer considerations to dominate, which could result in a green-light for poor quality or development in the wrong place, threatening the local places valued by Medway residents, while failing to deliver wider benefits to our community.

For decades our planning system has protected much loved places from harmful development. Cameron’s Conservatives and their local representatives are threatening Peninsula life; not only over Boris Island / Cliffe Airport but also on watering down planning laws which restrict the capability of the public to oppose development on this precious rural idyll.