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I want to see Dover regenerated more than anyone and that is one of the reason why I am so opposed to Whitfield New Town on the scale that is being talked about.
Why is it not possible to disagree with Whitfield New Town without being misrepresented as "negative"?
What the computerised consultants who presumably produced the models don't appreciate is how people in Whitfield already have their backs to Dover and will only spend a small proportion of their money in the town. The money will mainly go to Westwood Cross, Canterbury, even Folkestone.
And meanwhile life continues to be sucked out of the town. Why does no-one seem to appreciate this? It will take 10-15 minutes to get to the Canterbury Park and Ride from the western side of Whitfield, pretty much the same time as it takes to get into Dover. How naive, how mediocre, how plodding and wasteful and unimaginative these plans all are.
The template for all this development is the Greenfields estate at Whitfield in the late 70s. A great deal of the people there were Dovorians fleeing to the hills in the way that people in East London move out to Essex.
Same thing will happen again and Dover will become a buy-to-let ghetto populated by a transient population on the minimum wage.
I really do fear for the town centre if these proposals get the go ahead. I fear that it will in time become another Tiger Bay or Toxteth - a rough as hell dockside wasteland, a real no-go zone.
I mean, what is the council thinking of, moving the grammar schools AND the leisure centre out of Dover when it is supposed to be regeneratng the town? How inconsistent is that?
And why does it bother with LDF consultations if it is simply going to ignore them? Don't the people in Whitfield count for anything?
How about about more out-of-the-box thinking - an urban village on the SKC site using the river as a focal point, residential developments in the western docks area, higher densities in the town, more evenly distributed developments around the villages...
I believe the whole scheme has not been adequately thought through and that whole swatches of attractive countryside are to be ruined for the sake of giant, faceless, sprawling, alienating estates which will want as little to do with Dover as possible.
By the way Marek, good call on the council offices. Let them set us an example by moving back into Dover so we can use the site for housing.