It is crucial that as many people as read this column also take the time to contribute to that consultation. The Local Plan is the document that will decide what Kingston looks and feels like for the next 15 years: where thousands of homes go, how high buildings can rise, and which bits of open land stay open.
I’ve gone through it in detail and I think the Liberal Democrat administration has got the balance wrong in some important places.
Take South Chessington. The Plan proposes around 1,730 homes on land currently in the Green Belt. I’m not someone who thinks every inch of Green Belt is untouchable forever (although the vast majority of course should remain), but if you are going to redraw those boundaries and allocate Green Belt land for development, the case has to be watertight. Residents should be able to see that every sensible alternative has been exhausted, and that transport, schools, GP services, drainage and roads can cope. In Chessington, that case simply hasn’t been made.
Then there is Seething Wells. Anyone who knows the filter beds knows they are an integral part of Kingston’s history, part of the Thames landscape and a vitally important wildlife site. Once places like that are lost, they are lost forever.
I also worry about the number of sites being opened up by the Council for tall buildings. There are places where greater height makes sense. But “tall” should not become the default answer whenever a site is difficult. The Plan should be clearer about where height is acceptable and where it is not.
And yes, we need homes. We need many more homes that local people can actually afford, especially Social Rent. That is why I have repeatedly urged the Council to get on with their currently-shelved plans for regeneration at places like Cocks Crescent. But not luxury flats that no one locally can afford.”
There is one final problem. Weeks into the final consultation, the Habitats Regulations Assessment still had not been published. If residents are being asked whether the Plan is sound, they should have all the evidence in front of them.
Kingston will change. It always has. The question is whether we shape that change carefully, or wake up in 15 years wondering how so much was allowed to disappear.
Please have your say by visiting www.kingstonletstalk.co.uk.
