Ben Sherreard

Wesmount Appeal

2008-06-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday and Wednesday the Public Enquiry for the Westmount Application Appeals was held. They were two very long days of intense concentration. The Council and the Rule 6 parties put their cases very well and the residents and parish councillors did very very well in cross examination from an incredibly bright lawyer.

I addressed the Appeal last of all and spoke about common sense and how even after some of the local materials had been incorporated and some small architectural devices had been employed on the design of the houses they still didn't look like anything else in Loose. Surely when we started out the Appeal by saying that we need to protect the Rural Character of the village it is common sense that an 'Executive close' such as this is inappropriate.

I also spoke of ragstone and how the village is very proud of its most famous export. It is part of the fabric and the feel of the village and yet is not included as a material in either application. Indeed one of the expert witnesses did say that incorporating ragstone would mean a total redesign of the scheme - how then can it be considered sympathetic to Loose.

I picked up on the lack of public consultation as well. One expert witness said that Antler take consulting the community seriously and that they had long consultations with the planning officers - the witness went on to say that the planning officers were the representatives of the local community!!!! I had to pull them up on this. As democratically elected Councillors the representatives of the local community are myself at Ward level and the Parish Councillors at Parish level and the consultation we received was woeful at best and negligent at worst.

How can Antler say in a press article that the had taken as many people's views and wishes into account as they could. In a village of 120 people nearly 100 people turned out at a protest against the plans!

unfortunately with all the evidence and fantastic cross examination from our side we ran over and will reconvene on 4th August for the closing. The Inspector will then make his decision.

Watch this space.

Look who I bumped into last night

2008-06-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to John and Brenda Wilson for the photo.

This was taken last night at Helen Grant's Parliamentary Campiagn launch were David was a guest speaker.

David Davis' resignation

2008-06-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have not always liked everything David Davis has done but today I have great admiration and respect for him. It is very good to see an MP take a principled stand on an issue they care about. Also hats off to the Lib Dems for not standing anyone against him. I have read that Cameron will be campaigning for him during the byelection - I hope this is the case.

I am annoyed by the speculation that the BBC have started that there is now a sort of Blair/Brown - esque rift between the two. There has been a media hole since Gordon Brown became PM because they haven't been able to write a story about major rifts between power figures and I hope that the attempt to create a new story to replace it will be shown to be false. Currently this story has no basis.

I am also disturbed by the comments of Denis MacShane MP who has said that this is just a stunt and that is shows that the Conservatives are "utterly unfit" for government. Well there you go, the Labour Party are against MP's standing by their principals.

Regeneration and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny

2008-06-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night I had my first meeting as Chairman of the Regeneration and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The first meetings of the year for each Scrutiny Committee are to interview the relevant Cabinet members on their vision for the year ahead and then to set the work programme for the Committee's year.

Unfortunately Cllr Greer was unable to attend and will be coming to the next meeting to talk about his Regeneration brief. Cllr Mark Wooding, the Cabinet Member for Environment, was interviewed by the committee. He faced some very tough questions from the committee and has definitely got his work cut out for him. I look forward to keeping an eye on his work throughout the year and being able to support him whenever I can.

We had a lengthy discussion about which reviews we wish to do over the year. We have decided to set up a Working Group to look at the issue of Road Safety in the Borough as we have some of the most dangerous roads in the County. A Working Group will allow this subject to be explored in great detail by Councillors who are very passionate about making the roads safer for all of us. I sincerely believe that we can achieve some great work on this.

The two main reviews which the committee will look at are Planning Enforcement and Economic Development.

Planning Enforcement is something which as a Council we do not do well. Parish Councils especially get extremely frustrated with the lack of enforcement which the Council undertakes. I want to review this situation and get some results that see the Council enforcing more of its planning conditions.

The Economic Development review will hopefully identify where the Borough sits in the plans of SEEDA in terms of investment.

It will be a very busy year what with these reviews, with the scrutiny of two cabinet members work and with a few one off topics to be decided.

I can't wait!

New Knife Powers

2008-06-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

I applaud the Prime Minister's announcement that he wants the age at which you can prosecute for carrying a knife lowered to 16. It will give the Police more powers when they catch young people with dangerous weapons that end end lives. All the evidence suggests that those who carry knives are more likely to be stabbed themselves - so these powers may well be saving their lives as well.

However it must be said that this single measure may not do much. If young people involved in this culture are not squeamish about stabbing people to death either because they do not fully appreciate their actions or they have been driven to it by other forces then they will probably not take much notice of the fact that it is now possible to prosecute them for carrying the weapon.

I look forward to what comes next and hopefully a fully comprehensive package of measures can be introduced to end this horrific trend as soon as possible.

More photos from Westmount Protest

2008-06-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

The crowd gathers

Outside the Chequers Pub

On the march

Waiting at the bottom of Brooks Field

Walking to the top

The press take quotes

Speaking to the crowd

Everyone gathered at the end of the protest

Westmount Protest

2008-06-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who turned out on Saturday for the Westmount protest. In total it was about 95 people I think that helped send out message to the developer and the Inspectorate - we do not appreciate the way out village is being used.

This application has been refused twice now by Maidstone Borough Council and the developer has now gone to appeal which will take place on 17th/18th June at the Museum of Kent Life. The process is legitimate, what we object to is that this is being considered a brownfield site and a derelict site which is ripe for development. The reason it is brownfield is because under the current ownership the site has fallen into dereliction. This we do not appreciate.

If you couldn't turn up on Saturday you can still help - please turn up to the Public Enquiry on 17th/18th - even if it is just for an hour. We need as many faces in the audience as possible.

You can check out the specially committed website for the application and appeal at http://www.loosevalley.com/.

Thanks again - here are some photos from Saturday courtesy of Rod Lambert, I will have more tomorrow.

Springsteen Gig

2008-06-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

So I went to my first Boss concert on Saturday and it was awesome! Here is a video (which I didn't record) of him doing I'm on Fire - one of my favourites.

The Re-launch!

2008-06-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right - I am back.

I have been unable to post becuase of computer difficulties which I do not understand for far too long!

Much has happended in the mean time - for starters we are now in control of the Maidstone Borough Council with a small majority of 3! More updates to follow very shortly.

Ben

'The cost of living is up.'

2008-03-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

That was one of the main headlines from David Cameron's speech responding to Alistair Darling's first budget. It was one of the best speeches I have seen him make, good attacks, some good put downs (especially to Ed Balls) and a good section on alternatives.

The Chancellor's speech itself was obviously a very nervous one. It was short and it left out a lot of stuff that is in the book. If you believe what you are told it was also an optimistic one. As someone looking to get on the property ladder the longer-termed fixed rate mortgages is good news but still no scraping of the stamp duty!