
	This is a fledgling organisation that hopes to fill the gap left by the impending demise of the Davis Estate Residents Association, which is being forced to close down, the result of an arbitrary decision of the Charity Commission, resulting from a complaint about that Association's participation in the campaign to Save Rochester Airport. So Much For Free Speech!

A FULL NEWSLETTER WILL BE CIRCULATED SHORTLY ADVISING YOU OF THE DETAILS OF THIS NEW ORGANISATION, ITS AIMS, STRUCTURE, CONTACTS AND MEMBERSHIP, ETC.

IN THE MEANTIME HOW ABOUT THIS!

Rochester Airport Local Plan Public Inquiry Report is Out

Medway Council is now in possession of the Inspector's Report, his conclusions on Rochester Airport are summarised here:

"The most contentious aspect of the Deposit Plan is undoubtedly the proposals in Policy S11 which involve the closure of Rochester Airfield and its redevelopment for a Science and Technology Park, along with housing, open space, and associated areas. This proposal attracted by far the majority of the objections, totalling over 3,300 objections from over 1,600 individuals and organisations. In principle, I have concluded that this is a soundly-based proposal which would accord with many key elements of national, regional and strategic planning policy. However, I consider the Plan gives insufficient weight to the importance of the existing Rochester Airport, and recommend a redevelopment option which allows the development of a smaller Science & Technology Park, but with the retention of a general aviation facility and omission of the housing element."

At last someone has listened – but not enough – this is the usual political fudge and compromise.

You may feel that this is a sensible compromise that should satisfy everybody.

Regrettably it is neither sensible nor satisfactory. This compromise ignores two major factors which should make it totally unacceptable to Medway Council, (or more precisely, the Labour & Lib Dem members) that is; that the proposed development would be considerably smaller than planned and the Airport would likewise be drastically curtailed both in size and in its activities.

This conflicts totally with the stance taken by the Councillors behind the plan who consistently stressed that it was all or nothing, that the entire site was required if there was any chance of the concept of the Science & Technology Park coming to fruition. They maintained that to stand any chance of success all component parts were required, the proximity to Marconi (BAE), the new housing to support the on site employment and ample room to make it an attractive environment for workers and residents alike.
The other factor relates to the repeated assertion that the existing site was too small to provide a sound and viable future for the Airport, in the words of one rather uninformed Labour member, ”it is in the wrong place•, being adjacent to housing and commercial premises, conveniently forgetting that it was his councillor predecessors that allowed the continual encroachment upon the originally isolated site!

After the expenditure of vast amounts of public money, endless heartache for many, untold damage to community — Council relations:
is this really the best that can be expected:

Make the site even smaller and take building development even closer to the one runway left!

It will be interesting to see how they backtrack on this premise, should they decide to accept this sorry compromise !

The Council is not obliged to abide by the Inspector's recommendation but under the circumstances they would be hard pressed to justify to any subsequent court, their actions if they did choose to ignore it.. The Airport is safe in the short-term, but its long term future is still in the hands of those who started this farce and have doggedly refused to listen to reason, the Government, the community and even their own experts and consultants.

There are still avenues open to thwart this blind obsession of certain local politicians with leaving a so called legacy‘ of their time in power.

At the risk of being accused of political bias it has to be said that one way to achieve the aim of retention of the full airport site for what it was always intended, is to ensure that the Tory group, currently nominally heading Medway Council, obtains an overall majority at next year's local election , when it could then implement its promise to abandon this plan entirely and to lend its weight to the total resurrection of Rochester Airport.

AGAIN, IT IS UP TO YOU!

Circulated by ADE, Tel: 078 333 55452