'Labour sell out. The Greens show their naivety’
Everyone
agrees that the King Alfred site needs to be updated and most agree we
should keep a Leisure Centre there. The debate then comes as to how many
flats are appropriate for the site to back up the development.
751 is simply too many. Brighton
and Hove City Council is the current land owner and this Council can
dictate what goes there. Labour thinks it is acceptable to change the character of
Hove cramming high density housing onto the site with inadequate plans
for parking, schools and health care.
The Gehry towers could be a good addition to our city, but not in
that location – it is quite simply not in keeping with the surrounding
architecture – very special architecture. As
for the Greens, the amendment they proposed at the full Council meeting
was totally and utterly meaningless.
It was firstly hypocrisy to vote for the plans at the policy and
resources committee in September 2005, then to ask in October 2006 for
alternative sites to be looked at for some of the housing.
And secondly it is total naivety to ask the developers to
‘consider’ making adjustments to the plans – they are under no
legal obligation to as a result of the Green amendment and now the plans
have been submitted it has come as no surprise that the developers just
ignored the Green Party’s amendment. Lets hope the Greens never get
into power so they can do more of this on a grander scale! Neither
Labour or the Green’s have thought through the impact of so many new
homes. They have both shown
a complete lack of political judgement.
It’s plainly obvious that the present amenities would not be
able to cope. As it is
children are being sent to schools out of their catchment area.
There are only 3 doctors surgeries in the King Alfred area.
Would they be able to cope with potentially over 1000 more
patients? A new doctors
surgery would be needed. Will
the Labour Councillors make improved services a prerequisite of granting
the planning permission? There is no mention of this so far. And
then there is parking. Assuming one car per household, with only 307 parking spaces
being provided, that would leave 444 cars searching for somewhere in
already choked streets. Labour
and the Greens insist that residents should only use public transport.
Of course many residents will. But they will also have a car. Only the Conservative’s have been consistent in representing the views of the vast majority of residents who would be directly affected by this monstrosity. We are not against new developments and this is not a case of ‘not in my back yard’. It is a case of common sense. No to inappropriate development. No to development without proper consideration to services required. Mike Weatherley Co-signed by:
Councillors Averil Older, Jan Young, Brian Oxley, Garry Peltzer Dunn,
Ted Kemble, Vanessa Brown, Dee Simson
29 October 2006
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