Some 30 protestors from a new group campaigning against building on green spaces attended a public exhibition yesterday (April 23) which was showing plans for 170 properties on land off Ramsgate Road in Margate.
The development from Barratt David Wilson Homes is earmarked for green space behind The Nightingales hospital accommodation and is sandwiched by Ramsgate Road and St Peter’s Road.
The plot is ‘green wedge’ land protected in the Thanet Local Plan and the Broadstairs & St Peter’s Neighbourhood Plan.
Members from Enough is Enough, which has attracted 700 followers in just six days, turned out to demonstrate their concerns about the use of the land and other sites across Thanet.
The group was set up by Margate nan Liza Marchant. The 61-year-old said: “I live opposite the field that the exhibition was about. It’s a grade a green wedge adjacent to an old peoples’ complex and is natural spill for the hospital if it needs to expand.
“I calculated there are 2441 houses being built at this moment on the Isle of Thanet. When those families arrive it’ll probably be with at least one car and one kid but we are already bursting at the seams.
“We have people with mental health (needs) who can’t get help, old people dying in the hospital, young people shipped off the island and all the schools upgraded to their maximum.
“Let those houses be filled first and stop, leave our green farmland alone.”
Liza says she hopes to set up a Thanet Residents Association to become an umbrella for the numerous smaller groups that have sprung up to protest against major developments on the isle.
The former youth worker said: “I’m passionate not political, it’s just about saying leave our Thanet way of life alone. You put too many people in a small space and you create a ghetto. We will be a ghetto by the sea.”
Liza, who is a volunteer with the Mi Community food bank/shop, is originally from London but moved to Thanet 13 years ago.
She says despite ill-health she is determined to get the campaign heard, adding: “I am passionate about this, it is something bigger than me, it is for our kids.”
Among those at the demo yesterday were Future Performing Arts boss Rachel Hamlin and her students who were ‘making some noise’ for the cause.
Members of Save Minster Marshes and the Westgate and Birchington groups against development on farmland were also at the exhibition.
Enough is enough, sorry you don’t have bigger brown envelopes as the builders have.I agree with you ,enough is enough no more mass building of homes
Thanet News once again on the side of the NIMBYs. No mention of the severe housing shortage in Kent and the country as a whole, the astronomical cost of housing and dire effect this is having on our national prosperity. More balance in your reporting please.
If we were building terraced small properties for new starters I would agree with you, but we are not. The housing density has become ridiculously high in the area, we are becoming a city with all the towns rapidly linking up with the loss of agricultural land. Are locals the majority purchasers of these new builds?
It is a report of the meeting James. It is what was said. The first San Clu report explains what they wanted to do.
James – you should be very grateful for this site and the work of Mrs Bailes. Trying reading postings before posting snide remarks regarding reporting balance!
I am grateful and apologies if that came across as snide. But the narrative about new housing is dominated by NIMBY voices, with barely ever a mention about why new homes are needed and the consequences of the housing crisis for people and society. If I held a political meeting I would expect any reporting of it to at least reference the wider context or counterarguments.
Sorry, mixed up my reports there. So, this is a new group at a exhibition for a proposed 170 houses. There aren’t planning details as yet for proposed affordable housing and it is also on designated green wedge so seems to be speculative. But I do take your point and when they submit an application I’ll be able to give more detail on the housing plans
James, this has nothing to do with NIMBYISM. It is a threat to democracy. What’s the point in protecting green spaces for the benefit of everybody if a developer is going to wade in and tear up the rule book? What’s the point in having a planning control system if a developer can override it through use of expensive manipulative lawyers?
Millions of people voted democratically for a Government who promised to build the housing we need, so that the UK has a chance of returning to prosperity and solving our significant social problems. Housing developments are basically a trade-off between competing priorities, but it’s not true that one side is more democratic than the other.
More people voted against Labour than for them in the last election
Sure, but that’s to do with how UK elections work – we haven’t had a Government the majority voted for since 1931. It’s just a fact that under our electoral system, the current Government has a big majority and a clear democratic mandate to build homes.
James, if this unhinged two-faced government really cares about social issues then why is it kicking the pensioners, the kids and the disabled in the teeth, ramping up the war machine, turning a blind eye to genocide and allowing developers to destroy our farmlands? Green spaces and farms are not ornaments; they are the lungs and food supplies of our living environment. And why isn’t it pushing for 15-minute neighbourhoods instead of encouraging random developments with zero amenities or public transport links?
The Gvt’s argument is that we cannot afford to properly address social and environmental issues until the economy is stronger, and the key to this is investment in housing and infrastructure. On 15 min neighbourhoods, they’re about to announce plans for several new towns – so hopefully you’ll get behind those.
Well said Ian Shacklock! Labour do not give a damm for the quality of life of Thanet residents. The only thing we can be sure of is that, however bad Labour is, Reform UK would be worse!
James, Thanet is full we do not need more house for non Thanet people, there is no work here for them , there is no room for them, in fact there are only three roads into and out of Thanet, local residents never required new housing estates to be built in the first place, we are living on a piece of land that can accommodate no more, there is already grid- lock on our roads our beaches have become a dumping ground where DFLs throw their rubbish, and our cemeteries are full. I could go on about lack of teachers, or doctors to many vehicles on the roads , polluting the air, lack of water, waste disposal etc etc but I d prefer to keep our green fields.If I’m a NIMBY then so be it
Fred, your comments about “non Thanet people” and “dumping” is why I’m particularly opposed to this Campaign. Why should people from outside the area not be aloud to live / visit here? Why are you so hostile to regular people who just need somewhere to live? Especially given the national housing shortage. I agree with you about infrastructure, and if the campaign was about this I would be supportive. But instead it just seems parochial and mean.
There is no shortage of housing, people are just picky about the age and type of house they want, start demolition of older properties and build on them.