Say "NO!" to any development on this unique and historic site
Join us and other local campaigns for a sponsored walk on 29th October.
Details and sponsor forms here: https://slurry.org.uk/2017/10/08/hythe-walk-10-30-am-29th-october-2017/
Wear your Save Princes Parade T shirts and bring banners etc
Some of the proceeds will be donated to Save Princes Parade towards possible future legal costs so please get as many sponsors as you can.
They voted unanimously to recommend refusal of the planning application and also to request that the Secretary of State calls in the application. The meeting was a revelation – members of the public were encouraged to speak and the councillors took their view into account. Save Princes Parade will also be asking the Secretary of State to call in the application. This would mean that he would make the decision on the planning application instead of Shepway.
The meeting agreed to support the planning application 5 to 4 after the chairman used his casting vote. More details including a recording of the meeting here.
As well as Hythe Town Council considering the Princes Parade planning application at 9.30 am next Tuesday in the town hall, Sandgate Parish Council will be considering it on the same day at 6.00pm in the library building in Sandgate . Please try to attend one or both of these meetings.
In today’s Express David Monk is repeating his claim that this is probably the last chance for a new pool and states that they need the return from the houses to build the leisure centre. But have they actually tried to meet the funding gap any other way? (Most of the cost of the new leisure centre will be met from the sale of the existing pool site and the s106 money from Nickoll’s Quarry). And in any case building the leisure centre on NQ would be cheaper because not so much land preparation would be required.
The council have consistently said that it would take too long for the NQ site to become available. However in the planning application they say that NQ would be available in 2020. Hidden in the ecology report is a time frame for the Princes Parade project which says that the work on the leisure centre there would start in June 2019. So wouldn’t it be better to wait a few months, build it on NQ and save our precious open space?
Worryingly in the Express Councillor Monk is quoted as saying “It’s several million to do the thing – it’s not been fully costed.” So as we have been saying again and again why have they submitted the planning application when they haven’t done the financial viability calculations and therefore don’t even know if they can deliver the promised public benefits which include the new leisure centre?
The key argument in the decision as to whether or not to grant planning permission for Princes Parade will be whether the public benefit of the leisure centre (and the other benefits claimed by the council) outweigh the harm to the scheduled ancient monument; the loss of open space; the harm to the visual amenity; the risk of building in a flood risk area etc Of course Hythe needs a new pool but has the case for a leisure centre really been made? Are the council right to have ruled out other sites such as Nickoll’s Quarry? Is there really no other alternative to meet the funding gap other than to build 150 new homes on our precious open space?
Will the affordable housing actually be delivered? Without access to the financial viability calculations how can we be sure? It’s going to be a very expensive site to develop and moving the road won’t be cheap.
And are the other “public benefits” really that great? Will the new promenade be that much better than the one we have already? Will the “improvements” to the canal really make up for the harm to the setting of the canal or is this just maintenance work that the council should have been doing anyway?
The ecology report (one of the many documents in the planning application) includes a timetable for the works. It has site clearance starting in June 2018 (a tad optimistic perhaps?). Construction of the leisure centre, diversion of the road and construction of the new promenade from June 2019 to Nov 2020. The building the houses on the eastern end from June 2020 to Dec 2021 and on the western end from Jan 2021 to 2022. Just think of the years of mess, noise and general disruption!
The Plans & Works Committee of Hythe Town Council will be meeting at 9.30 on Tues 10th October to consider the Princes Parade planning application. Their decision will only be advisory as it is Shepway District Council who will make the final decision (on an application by themselves to themselves!) but we need as many of our supporters to be at the meeting as possible.
The meeting will be held in Hythe Town Hall and the agenda will be posted here:
http://www.hythetc.kentparishes.gov.uk/agendas-and-minutes/
It is on record that historically there was japanese knotweed on the land at Princes Parade.
On 8 Feb 2017 the Folkestone & Hythe Express published a claim by council officials that the knotweed was “removed from the site more than 10 years ago”.
But when proof of this was requested via a Freedom of Information request the council said they did not hold the information.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/control_or_eradication_of_japane#outgoing-623534
Questions were asked about the knotweed at the cabinet meeting on 7 February 2017. You can watch the video here – knotweed comes up at 4 mins 33 secs:
At the meeting it was confirmed that japanese knotweed was present between 2002 and 2005 but had been subject to a programme of control. More recent survey work has not find any knotweed on the site.
However in August 2017 a member of the public spotted a japanese knotweed plant on Princes Parade.
On 25 August 2017 the chief executive said in an email to a member of SPP “With regards to the specifics of Japanese Knotweed – I can assure you that officers from the Council carry out regular checks on our land and undertake an eradication programme for invasive plants. The programme includes addressing any incidences of Japanese Knotweed, which is usually dealt with via stem injection.”
In the Sept 6 2017 edition of the Folkestone & Hythe Express a council spokesman admitted that a small amount of japanese knotweed had been found in bushes adjacent to the development site (note not proposed development site) and said that any knotweed discovered on the site itself would be treated and the site cleared before any homes were built.
The council claims that “Princes Parade has been thoroughly walked by grounds maintenance officers and no other plants have been identified.” But the site is currently very overgrown with nettles and brambles so it is hard to believe that the officers have been able to thoroughly inspect the site.