Standing up for Chattenden, High Halstow and Hoo and the wider Hoo Peninsula!
Please note that this website is owned by George Crozer of Woodlands High Halstow Kent ME3 8SX telephone number 07711432598 and is being used to promote RON SANDS as an independent candidate in the Medway local elections to be held on 2nd May 2019.
I think Ron is an ideal Candidate to represent Hoo Peninsula Ward on Medway Council. He will certianly have my vote!
George
Medway currently has four Air Quality Management Areas which exceed the annual objective for nitrogen dioxide (a pollutant present in vehicle exhaust emissions).
The air quality management areas are:
Four Elms Hill was declared a new Air Quality Management Area in October 2017.
We are now in 2019 and predatory development rampant at Chattenden, Hoo and High Halstow. There is a massive increase in warehousing at Kingsnorth with a reliance on heavy traffic all passing through Four Elms. The Council is now asking residents to help it to solve an air pollution problem the Council themselves have been complicit in creating.
In the meantime those of us that live in or pass through Four Elms continue to be exposed to exhaust emissions from vehicle traffic. The children of Chattenden and the children of the many new unsuspecting families moving into new homes close to Four Elms are being made to walk to school across this very dangerous major dual carriage way using the now two designated pedestrian crossings right at the epicentre of the air quality management area problem.
So what do we demand our council does?
I believe we should at all cost,
Mountbatten House has a floor area of approximately 84,000 square feet with 110 car parking spaces. Medway Council bought back the lease of the Pentagon, which includes Mountbatten House for 45 million pounds. They expect to get an annual income of one million pounds.
In 2016 Andrew Mackness had a vision for Mountbatten House to turn it into housing ( probably expensive apartments) with a hotel and rooftop bar which is probably the type of vanity project that the current council would like. Medway needs to start thinking of it’s current residents. This is the perfect opportunity to begin regenerating the centre of Chatham and to help solve it’s housing crisis. With the average 1 bedroom apartment being 495 square feet this building could have about 150 homes depending on corridor layouts. With government grants these could be managed social housing for local residents. Not only would the council get an income from rents and council tax but local businesses would benefit from more customers. There could also be more cultural activities in the Pentagon.
150 homes may not be a lot, but more developments like this in regenerated Chatham and Gillingham town centres, together with utilising existing empty properties, would make a significant contribution to Medway’s housing policy. There would be less need for car travel and it would also mean a lot less cars polluting the Hoo Peninsula.
In 2018 the government provided £8.5 million of resource support so Parishes can allocate land for homes sold or rented at a discount.
Has the time come for a discussion about Parish and Community led development Projects? Community lead affordable housing projects are intended to empower communities regardless of size to commission their own homes to meet local needs.
Rural housing is much more than just a roof over a family’s head and we all know how important that is. Making housing affordable is key for rural workforces and therefore important to the rural economy.
Homes identified under the scheme can be for purchase or rent.
My own personal choice would be rental ensuring homes would remain available indefinitely for those in most need from the local community.
Parish Councils and local communities have a major role to play in identifying suitable sites and agreeing the criteria for allocation of the resulting homes.
If elected by the people of the Peninsula within the first year of my office I would engage with Parish Councils, local social services and the English Rural Housing Association to carry out a housing needs survey and a call for sites.
Ignore low level crime and crooks will think they can GETAWAY with it.
Many residents on the Peninsula have been in touch in recent months to raise concerns about anti-social behaviour in our villages and the lack of police support to deal with it.
So called low level crime is not low level by those of us affected by it. All crime is unacceptable for residents and issues need to be addressed quickly so that members of our community feel safe and not intimidated or afraid to go out. Our rural communities should not be left to fend for themselves. Responses by police to emergency calls have been slow and currently we only have two Police Community Support Officers for the whole Peninsula. One of my first priorities if elected will be to call the police commissioner and our local MP to account and demand the policing team come up with a new robust strategy for policing on the Peninsula.
Whilst a lack of proper police funding from central government can be attributed to some of these problems Police still have the power to stop crime through prevention. I believe if you don’t take care of the low level crime happening every day criminals will think they can get away with much more..
Update
Last Friday I received a phone call from a very upset lady in Chattenden. She was devastated that developers working on the Old Arethusa site were filling in an ancient pond renowned for its Frogs and Toads that many of us enjoyed over the years and have taken our children to visit time after time.
Cllr Jean Fray and I met with the developers on site and managed to temporarily halt the filling. We are now having discussions with the developer and the planning dept.
I believe that the Ecological surveys being undertaken by developers are lacking and short cuts are common place. The statutory authority require all necessary ecological surveys to be complete before the granting of planning permission. However, some ecological surveys can only be undertaken at specific times of the year. This seasonality means that to be done properly the survey should be carried out over one complete season at the very least. This would ensure wildlife, flora and fauna are fully understood and the necessary protection applied .
I believe there is a case for Parish Councils having their own expert to carry out ecological inspections or a representative officer who can inform surveys of the local wildlife knowledge.
We have a duty to protect our environment and natural heritage for the benefit of future generations. So much has been lost already.
Research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found that the number of wild animals on earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food and development in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats,
The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates
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