I have just received this document from TDC planning and have published it on the web for anyone interested to read click here to do so
My first thoughts are that as this development is so big and will effect everyone in Thanet, it should come before full council once people have returned from their holidays.
News, Local history and Thanet issues from Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate see www.michaelsbookshop.com I publish over 200 books about the history of this area click here to look at them.
Surely nobody could ever want such a thing on their doorstep for choice...but, this seems a well considered scheme to me, and one where the environmental impact has been fully taken into account.
ReplyDelete15.11 As far as I can see although there is a lot said about environmental considerations, some aspects of the conditions are impossible to fulfil without changing the entire layout of the site, something which I think would mean a new planning application.
ReplyDeleteFor instance if the huge X type warehouses go down near the borehole, the lorry parking there for over 100 lorries is going to pretty much impossible to drain in accordance with Southern Water’s requirements, as all of the runoff would have to be pumped uphill away from the borehole.
A rainstorm in a power cut would mean runoff down the hill into the middle of the source protection zone, no I am afraid these plans which may eventually be adequate from an environmental point of view, are at the moment so far from anything workable they just shouldn’t be coming before planning.
The days of Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate being major holiday / tourist destinations has ended, and something is needed to regenerate the economy of the area. So, this scheme is going to be approved - there is no choice. The authority has to take difficult decisions to this end. If these requirements are impossible to fulfil, then they are a matter for the developers to resolve - or not, as the case may be. But I still think that this is a well considered response, and shows that the present administration at least is trying to progress Thanet into a secure future, rather than watch it suffer the slow death of economic and social ruin.
ReplyDelete16.53 I am very much with you on this one however if as I expect has happened, the council and developers have made unrealistic promises to the Chinese and when as they unquestionably will the Chinese find out, they will drop us for another area.
ReplyDeleteThanet will the once again be left the laughing stock of the serious business investor, and that going into a recession.
Now if we are seriously going to do this thing, we need to offer the Chinese a viable site where they can expand without the bad publicity associated with destroying prime farmland and risking the drinking water supply, most China Gateways in other parts of the world have over 1,000 different Chinese businesses on them.
We have such a site at Richborough where Pfizer are downsizing at the far end of it.
Our local government are playing silly games here even KCC seem to ransom stripping to extract unfair land prices from the developer and when everyone has finished this sort of behaviour we are likely to get worse than nothing.
My only concern for Richborough, is that its not in the immediate area, and therefore would attract workers from outside our district. But in essence, so long as improved public transportation is accomplished, I agree it would be a good choice. At the risk of being termed a 'racist', could not the proximity of the airport a factor in the choice of the current scheme on the long term? It would clearly be a disaster if the Chinese pull out of this in favour of a different area altogether.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the application should go before Full Council after it has finished up at Planning Committee. Its the done thing wtih such large applications.
ReplyDeleteActually James its not the 'Done Thing' If the developement is in line with Full Councils policy it can and is the 'Done Thing' for the planning committee to deal with it under delegated authority.
ReplyDeleteJames I do hope it will, what concerns me though is there seems to be enormous pressure coming from somewhere to force this through planning before it’s ready.
ReplyDeleteThe same firm of architects PRC produced the Pleasurama plans that were pushed through, before they had designed something that fitted in the available space, this was done just after the election when everything was unsettled.
Now we appear to have another set of plans from this same firm, that are for something unbuildable, in terms of the constraints imposed on the site, being pushed through when a lot of people are on holiday.
Pleasurama has blighted Ramsgate for years, and my main concern is that something similar may happen here i.e. damage to prime farmland and the drinking water supply and just a deserted building site.
19.03 in view of the rising cost of air transport and the environmental damage done by using aircraft, we should be encouraging the Chinese to use rail and sea freight. Richborough is ideally situated for connection to the railway network and access to Dover harbour.
I can’t quite see how sighting it at Manston would stop people from other areas from working there.