Rosie Duffield’s comments on the draft Local Plan, as published on https://www.canterburylabour.org.uk/:

“Canterbury City Council have recently closed the consultation on their local plan which seeks to identify where the extra homes will be built for future generations.

The plan is a huge improvement on the previous one suggested by the Conservative administration that wanted to run bypasses through fields and build over 4000 homes more than that which Labour and their coalition partners are now proposing. The new plan has substantially strengthened environmental protections.

However, the consultation sacrifices green space loved by local residents – because the planning system is broken and desperately in need of reform. The ‘top down’ and outdated figures imposed by Government, place a huge strain on local councils and are unfairly forced on the South East which already has far fewer green open spaces than other areas of the UK.

Our local authorities are being forced by central government to deliver house building on a massive scale without any help from central government to encourage development in other areas which have more brownfield sites, fewer areas of outstanding natural beauty and less rich agricultural land.

If re-elected I will lobby to reform our planning laws in a way which helps our council save vital areas like the Blean and Brooklands Farm. Canterbury City Council are being forced to bring forward unsuitable sites, partly due to the Government’s use of seriously outdated figures, which I was recently able to confirm are based on population growth projections done in 2014.”