| Westcott Avenue Northfleet Tory controlled Kent County Council are proposing the sale of an area of land adjacent to Westcott Avenue Northfleet. The land is adjacent to St George’s School. Local County Councillors Ray Parker and Leslie Christie consulted local residents in June 2007. The following test is the letter sent to adjoining properties: Dear Resident, RE: DISPOSAL OF LAND AT WESTCOTT AVENUE NORTHFLEET KENT. Conservative controlled Kent County Council have consulted us on the disposal of land adjacent to Westcott Avenue Northfleet. The land has been declared surplus to KCC’s requirements and it is therefore proposed to sell the land at public auction. We are writing to you as local residents to get yourviews on the disposal and to let you know what could happen if the land is disposed of. It is quite possible that if the land is purchased by a developer, then a planning application could be submitted to the district council (Gravesham Borough Council) to develop the land for Housing. It is alsoquite possible that another use could be put forward, such as light industrial or retail. Either way, local residential properties would be affected. We believe that it is unlikely that the land would remain greenfield. Should a housing or retail use be found for the land, then it is almost certain that traffic on the local distributor roads would increase, the development could affect local residential amenity (your view from your home). It is also almost certain that noise from construction and the new development of what eversort will be a factor to consider. We have gained a reassurance from KCC that no action will be taken until local residents have had the opportunity to comment on the disposal. Your local Labour County Councillors are committed to taking your views onboard and will of course put forward the majority view of local residents. You will recall that sometime ago, Labour controlled Gravesham Borough Council resisted an application for a Housing Development on a nearby site due to the strong feeling against the application by local residents. Below we have reproduced a map showing the area of land in question, as you will see it is close to Lanes Avenue/Westcott Avenue/Haynes Road.Your Local Labour Borough Councillors Rosemary Leadley and Sue Howes are fully supportive of this consultation and are working with us to ascertain local feeling. Please take the time to consider the implications of this land disposal and let us know if you agree or disagree with the disposal. It could impact on your standard of living. With this in mind, please complete the attached questionnaire and return it to us by no later than Monday 25th June 2007. We look forward to receiving your thoughts and will ensure that your comments are highlighted to Kent County Council. 69 Local Residents replied to the consultation. 100% Against the disposal. Ray parker and Leslie Christie therefore wrote to KCC objecting to the land disposal. The following was sent to Kent County Council.
RE: Land at Westcott Avenue Northfleet.
Further to our recent communications, we can now tell you that we have had the opportunity to consult with local residents in and around the Westcott Avenue area of Northfleet. In our letter we informed residents that KCC wished to dispose of the land as above. We explained that it would be via auction and that the land would enter in to private ownership once sold.
Furthermore we also explained to residents that the land could be purchased by a developer and that it was unlikely that the land would remain ‘greenfield’. In addition to the above, we also attended a local residents association for the Coldharbour area where we explained to the meeting KCC’s proposals and today at the request of St George’s School to meet with the Headteacher and Chair of Governors.The responses can be summarised as follows:
Coldharbour Residents Association voted unanimously to object to the sale of the land.
St George’s School raised concerns in that (i) It was not consulted on the proposals to dispose of the land, even though it would have major consequences for the school in future years. (ii) The school will undergo a building schools for the future rebuild and refurbishment and it was felt that this was not taken in to consideration, whereby the land could be of an educational use.
Sixty-seven local residents have written back to say they are opposed to the sale of the land (none of the responses we received were in favour).
Therefore we would like to strongly object to the land sale. We feel that the land sale would be short sighted, given the future proposals for St George’s School. Local residents have highlighted the fact that green land is at a premium in Coldharbour ward. Any further loss of land would be detrimental to local amenity. We would be grateful if you would take these comments onboard. Should Officers feel that they need to continue with the disposal, then we will ask that the Chairman of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee ‘call in’ this disposal. We are still awaiting a decision from Kent County Council. |
