Agenda item

There were 3 questions from members of the Public.

Question to the Chairman of the Committee from Mr Richard Proctor

‘Your proposals for a Garden Community at Lenham Heath rely heavily on third parties to deliver new infrastructure with substantial investment to 'unlock' this site for 5,000 homes. Do you think this Council is placing too much reliance and taking too much of a gamble on this 'housing windfall' at the expense of a more realistic and achievable housing growth approach that that has a far greater chance of being acceptable to the Planning Inspector at examination?’

The Chairman responded to the question.

Mr Richard Proctor asked the following supplementary question:

‘The current funding budget for the Lenham Heath proposals appear to be forecast at circa £3.32million, its not unreasonable to expect that that might increase in the next few years after further appraisal, with this being funded or at least underwritten by Council Taxpayers. Is this an appropriate project given the risk of failure and the risk of losing control of the plan process that is so feared by this borough?’

The Chairman responded to the supplementary question.

Question to the Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee from Ms Kate Hammond

‘Members of this committee were appointed a mere 24 hours before the meeting last May which took a significant decision behind closed doors to proceed with Lenham Heath as the preferred location for a Garden Community. The Leader of the Opposition Group wrote to you raising concern following this meeting about the culture of 'secrecy and subterfuge' in the Council. He followed by asking you to 'come clean' and release a full account of this meeting. Why have you not done this? ‘

The Chairman responded to the question. Ms Kate Hammond did not ask a supplementary question.

Question to the Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee from Mr Steve Heeley

‘The 'Heathlands Garden Community' Vision document published in November 2019 proposes a High Speed rail station at Lenham Heath despite our Freedom of Information enquiries concluding that this Council has had no discussions with Network Rail, Southeastern Railways, nor High Speed 1 Ltd to find out whether this is even operationally feasible. On reflection, does the Chairman of this Committee think it was naive to include this new station in what has become more of a utopian vision dreamed up by master planners rather than a realistic and deliverable vision by a responsible local authority?’

The Chairman responded to the question.

Mr Steve Heeley asked the following supplementary question:

‘Ebbsfleet International cost £100million in 1997 prices and it took over 5 years to build, at today’s prices this would cost £183million. Cardiff Parkway Station is due to begin construction this year with an estimated cost of £120million and four years to build. Assuming that a new station at Lenham Heath would be in this ballpark, along with the cost of a new motorway junction estimated to be over £100million too – it would be prudent to assume that your proposals would need at least a quarter of a billion pounds of transport investment alone that works out at approximately £50,000 per property assuming that you’re going to build 5,000 homes at Lenin Heath. Is this scheme ultimately dead in the water if you can’t secure these two critical transport improvements?’

The Chairman responded to the supplementary question.

To view the full responses from the Chairman of the Committee, please use the below link to access Webcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsPNNWZ1tnI