Cllrs Clive Hart and Bob Bayford re Dalby Square

FOR INFORMATION:

----- Original Message ----- From: "Clive Hart" <clive.hart@btinternet.com>
To: "cllr-Robert Bayford" <cllr-Robert.Bayford@thanet.gov.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: AN OPEN COMMUNICATION TO THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, TDC

Cllr Bayford

I asked three simple questions concerning your Cabinet's decision to gift away the green at Dalby Square - they were:

1) Why were the valiant efforts and more importantly the serious concerns of a local residents group simply airbrushed out of a report and how can TDC now assure other groups across the district that they are being listened to and taken seriously?

2) How can people here in Thanet have any confidence in the TDC Asset Disposal public consultation process if such significant changes as the removal of a 700 sq mtr green space can occur AFTER the consultation process has been completed?

3) How can the people of Thanet trust a council that says one thing and does the absolute opposite?

I'm very sorry but you dealt with none of these questions anywhere near adequately in your response.

Your comment regarding any reservations I may have had is simply ridiculous. After seven years of making my/our position absolutely clear, if you still didn't know how we ward councillors and our residents felt about the green space then quite frankly you were the only person at TDC (and probably in Thanet) who didn't.

I welcome regeneration in our ward or any other, but not at the expense of community green space in such a densely populated area with so many inherent problems that particular situation brings with it.

Cllr Clive Hart

PS - You may consider a 1,300 sq mtr green area to be 'a patch of grass' but I think you'll find almost anyone else in Thanet would refer to such an area as a large open green space, and if anyone is being disingenuous it is a council leader who allows such a one-sided report to come to his own cabinet which totally ignores a residents group that has raised around £400,000 to do the council's own work for them.

----- Original Message ----- From: "cllr-Robert Bayford" <cllr-Robert.Bayford@thanet.gov.uk>
To: "Clive Hart" <clive.hart@btinternet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:10 AM
Subject: AN OPEN COMMUNICATION TO THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, TDC

Cllr Hart,

Your open letter concerning Cabinet’s decision in respect of the
proposed new housing in Dalby Square is disappointing.

Anyone present at the meeting will know that all the issues raised by
you and your colleagues were comprehensively answered. Furthermore, the
documents you produced for dramatic effect were shown to be minutes of
decisions from 2003, which were subsequently superseded, and it was
explained that a sketch of what a development on the site might look
like was not a definitive brief.

The fact is that the patch of grass you refer to was clearly designated
for housing in Thanet’s current local plan which was adopted in 2006.
It had been the object of a grant application to the Countryside Agency
to create a ‘doorstep green’ on the site but this failed. As ward
councillors, I would have thought that you and your colleagues should
have been aware of this but you quite clearly were not.

It is totally disingenuous of you to refer to the applicants, Town and
Country Housing, as ‘developers’. They are a housing association and
one of this council’s preferred partners and their proposed scheme
will provide high quality social housing which will complement the drive
to improve an area desperately in need of change.

Our gifting of the land for this project not only demonstrates the
importance that we attach to the regeneration of Cliftonville but also
allows for a better scheme, with more housing units, to come forward.

What is built on this site will be determined by TDC’s planning
committee and, as you should know, our planning process allows plenty of
opportunity for the public to make their views known. I have every
confidence that whatever scheme is ultimately approved, it will be the
best one for the area.

A regeneration scheme at the heart of your ward is something to be
welcomed with open arms. If you had any reservations about the proposals
coming forward, I would have expected you, as a responsible politician,
to have made your concerns known to me in private, so that we might have
been able to address these and present a united front at the public
Cabinet meeting. Your decision to treat this matter as a political
football is disappointing, although not surprising.


Cllr. Bob Bayford
Leader of the Council

"Clive Hart" <clive.hart@btinternet.com> 06/08/2010 09:58 >>>

Bob

I would have preferred to keep these matters within the council but I'm
afraid the omissions in relation to information made available through
the report to cabinet regarding the green space at Dalby Square last
night were shocking and the public therefore needs to know the answers
to my questions below.

Regards

Clive
_____________________________________________________________

AN OPEN COMMUNICATION TO THE THANET DISTRICT COUNCIL LEADER

Cllr Bayford

Last night, as a ward councillor and jointly with Cllr Linda Aldred and
Cllr Doug Clark, I/we argued against the proposed decision for Cabinet
to gift the current green space at Dalby Square to developers for them
to build on.  Despite our very best efforts your cabinet decided to
completely ignore our pleas.

I therefore now write as Leader of the Opposition to outline the wider
implications of that Cabinet decision for Thanet District Council as a
whole.

Firstly, the residents group totally ignored by the Cabinet process has
been promoted by TDC over the past seven years as an exemplar community
partner, appearing in many TDC publications and in the press.  Indeed,
your predecessor even took a Government Minister to the square to see
the group's sterling work.  And quite rightly, the Dalby Square Group
have worked tirelessly for around a decade, raised almost £400,000 to do
what could actually be described as the council's own work for them, and
made an enormous difference to their community and our local
environment.  As Cllr Lind Aldred quoted last night, your TDC community
involvement statement says "It is important that the community is
involved from the early stages".

So why were the valiant efforts and more importantly the serious
concerns of a local residents group simply airbrushed out of a report
and how can TDC now assure other groups across the district that they
are being listened to and taken seriously?

The TDC plans for Dalby Square drawn by TDC officers that went through
the TDC Asset Disposal Process in 2008 were completely ignored by you
and your colleagues when making last night's decision.  A 700 sq mtr
green was clearly shown to residents and ward councillors as part of any
future development of the site during the Asset Disposal process.  Last
night's decision will leave not one blade of grass or community space
for residents or visitors.

How can people here in Thanet have any confidence in the TDC Asset
Disposal public consultation process if such significant changes as the
removal of a 700 sq mtr green space can occur AFTER the consultation
process has been completed?

Last night Cllr Doug Clark explained that he had spoken to the
architect for the developer and asked him if he had been briefed by
planning of the concerns of the residents about saving the green area at
the south end of Dalby Square - his answer was that he had not.  Only
three weeks ago full council at TDC agreed a KEY COMMITMENT to improving
quality use of open spaces and a KEY PROJECT to develop a targeted
programme for improving play facilities.  Furthermore, in a recent press
release on the new garden development rules you said yourself "It is a
step that will transform our ability to prevent unwanted development and
gives us more power to protect our valuable green spaces".

How can the people of Thanet trust a council that says one thing and
does the absolute opposite?

Residents are also asking why the developers drop-in consultation took
place on one evening and the following evening TDC declared the square a
Conservation Area? And how can the land be 'gifted' to a developer by
cabinet AFTER a planning application has been received but before a
decision has been made and therefore during the application process?  It
all sounds very shifty to residents and I have to say I can understand
why.

Thursday's appalling decision goes well beyond the green space, well
beyond Dalby Square and well beyond Cliftonville West.  It has
ramifications for all the residents of our district here in Thanet
regarding their dealings with our local authority.

Cllr Clive Hart - Leader of the Opposition TDC.

Press Release: PROPOSED LOSS OF OF LARGE GREEN OPEN SPACE IN DENSELY POPULATED CLIFTONVILLE WEST

From Cllr Clive Hart (Labour)

 

Ward councillors and members of the residents group that has raised £360,000 to regenerate Dalby Square in Cliftonville are outraged at the possible loss of 1300 square metres of open green space at the south end of the square to proposed development.

 

The plans were unveiled on Wednesday afternoon (14/07/2010) at St Paul's Community Centre where ward councillors and residents were simply astonished to learn that every single square metre of the land could be developed through the proposed plans, despite many years of negotiations where retention of the green space has been consistently seen as a priority.

 

Ward councillors and residents agreed that the proposed row of town houses was indeed very attractive but through plans and maps they are now shown to be built ON the green space and not BEHIND it as was previously agreed.  The proposed townhouses were shown so far forward onto the green that they opened straight out onto the pavement and the link road.

 

Cllr Clive Hart said "the row of town houses looked absolutely great but they were shown thirty metres forward of where they should have been, within the current Warren Court site. This means that they would virtually fill the present green space.  My invitation clearly stated the proposed development was for the Warren Court Hotel site that we all agree needs redeveloping, but when we arrived, the main row of buildings, attractive as they may be, had moved forward to take up the whole green. That clearly goes against all that had been proposed in the past seven years and everything that residents and we ward councillors have fought for".

 

Cllr Linda Aldred said "the loss of green space for children to play on and let off steam would be simply appalling in an area like Cliftonville West with such poor health statistics.  At present parents can watch their children play from the windows of flats surrounding the densely populated square.  This is very important in a Renewal Area like Cliftonville West with very low levels of physical activity reported for children here locally, as many live their lives in extremely cramped flats".

 

Cllr Doug Clark said "I often pass through the square and there are usually several groups of children kicking a ball about.  We need more areas for youngsters to interact positively together and we certainly can't afford to lose this one.  My experience as a JP of 28 years tells me we don't need any more youngsters hanging around on street corners and I fear that is what would happen with these groups if such a facility was taken away".

 

Members of the Dalby Square Project, told developers that they are also concerned about the effect that building on the large open green space would have on adjacent formal gardens that their group have worked so hard to provide for local people and visitors.  They were very concerned that the ball games that currently take place on the large open green space would move across to the beautiful formal gardens and ruin all their groups hard work.

 

The Dalby Square Project Group also claim to hold a lease, signed by TDC officers in the past few years, that could prevent any development on the large open green space to the south of the square.

______________________________________________________________

 

NOTE: LAST PART OF JOINT LETTER FROM Cllrs ALDRED, CLARK & HART

TO TDC REGARDING THE GREEN SPACE TO THE SOUTH OF DALBY SQUARE

 

APRIL 2010 

 

Whatever schemes are eventually implemented in Dalby Square it should be noted that residents (supported strongly by us as ward councilors at every step) have consistently  stressed the need to maintain a large green open space at the South end of the square for recreational activities (please see attached note (below) on the national survey published in February 2010).

 

Note regarding the large open green space at the South end of Dalby Square.

We'd like to quote the key findings of the CABE national survey into green spaces that was published last month. They are all absolutely relevant to the large open green space in Dalby Square and the very last key finding sums things up absolutely perfectly!

1) Almost nine out of 10 people use green spaces, and they value them.  The 2009 Place survey found that in urban areas, 87 per cent of the population have used their local park or open space in the last year, and 79 per cent have used it in the last six months. The Place survey shows that parks and open spaces are the most frequently used service of all the public services tracked. This compares with 32 per cent who have visited concert halls, and 26 per cent who visited galleries.

In fact, Heritage Lottery Fund research reports 1.8 billion visits to parks in England every year. Furthermore, people appreciate these spaces and this appreciation is increasing: in 2007, 91 per cent of people thought it was very or fairly important to have green spaces near to where they live, and by 2009 this had risen to 95 per cent.

2) If people are satisfied with local open spaces, they tend to be satisfied with their council.  There is a strong link between people's satisfaction with their open spaces, and their satisfaction with their neighbourhood. Satisfaction with neighbourhood is one of the key things that affects perceptions of council performance. This is particularly acute in the most deprived areas, where neighbourhood satisfaction is at its lowest.

Putting in place an open space strategy is potentially one ingredient of success. Of the authorities that have shown the biggest improvement in residents' satisfaction in the last four years, nearly three quarters have completed their open space strategy.

3) The provision of open spaces in deprived areas is worse than in affluent areas.  People in deprived areas, wherever they live, receive a far worse provision of parks and green spaces than their affluent neighbours. They often do not have gardens and so access to good quality public green space matters even more. The most affluent 20 per cent of wards have five times the amount of
parks or general green space (excluding gardens) per person than the most deprived 10 per cent of wards (figure 3).

So if you live in an affluent suburb, you are also likely to have an above-average quantity of good parks nearby. On the other hand, if you live in a deprived inner-city ward, with high-density housing, you might have many small, poor-quality green spaces, but you are unlikely to have access to large green spaces, or good quality green space. Comparing deprived and affluent areas, residents' general satisfaction with their neighbourhood falls from around 80 per cent in affluent places to around 50 per cent in the most deprived places.

4) People from minority ethnic groups tend to have less local green space and it is of a poorer quality.  Areas with very few black and minority ethnic residents tend to have more green space, and it is of a good quality. We recognise that this is intimately related to the circularity of disadvantage - nearly all minority ethnic groups are less likely to be in paid employment than white British
men and women and are more likely to be living in areas of deprivation.

5) The higher the quality of the green space, the more likely it is to be used.  Regardless of your economic circumstances, access to green space is beneficial to your health. If an area has high quality parks, it is likely that more residents will use them more often. Parks in the most deprived 10 per cent of wards have an average of 51 visits per year, compared with 62 visits in the most affluent wards.

This pattern is supported by research which found that parks restored with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund have seen average visitor numbers rise by 68 per cent.

It is important to provide green spaces that are appropriate for people of different ages. Young people aged between 16 and 24 report lower quality across all indicators analysed for the study: 15 per cent think their local parks and open spaces are the aspect of their area that need most improvement, compared with 8 per cent of 55-74 year olds. People's level of physical activity is related to affluence, or lack of it. In the most deprived wards, where quality of green space provision is lower, only 40 per cent of adults engage in moderate physical activity, compared to nearly 60 per cent in the most affluent wards.

Overall, the strong correlations between poor quality and quantity of spaces in deprived areas, and the low levels of physical activity of residents, strongly suggest that investing in the quality of parks and green spaces is an important way to tackle inequalities in health and well-being.

Cllr. Linda Aldred           Cllr. Doug Clark JP            Cllr. Clive Hart              

Working together for Cliftonville West

Press Release: DALBY SQUARE DESIGNATED AS CONSERVATION AREA

DALBY SQUARE DESIGNATED AS CONSERVATION AREA

One part of Cliftonville, described as providing “a fine example of
good historic seaside architecture on a national scale” has been added
to the list of Conservation Areas in Thanet.

Members agreed last night (Thursday 15 July) at a meeting of Full
Council that Dalby Square should be designated as a Conservation Area.

The idea has been widely supported by local residents and community
groups, who gave their views at a series of drop-in sessions at St.
Paul’s Community Centre. Letters were also sent out to every resident
in the area, asking for their opinions.

English Heritage has also given the project its backing, describing
Cliftonville as a “strong candidate for designation as a conservation
area.” Reasons given for that view included the historic street
pattern of the area and the strong character of the buildings.

Cliftonville bears the same relationship to Margate that Hove has to
Brighton, developed in the mid 19th century as a planned extension of
the town to provide an exclusive seaside resort.

Cllr. Simon Moores, Cabinet Member for Customer Services and
Regulatory Services, said: “The designation of Dalby Square as a
Conservation Area is one that we know will be warmly welcomed by local
people, who have given the idea their backing. English Heritage have
already told us that they would be prepared to support us in a number
of different ways, if a conservation area is designated, which is
really good to hear. Designating Dalby Square as a Conservation Area
may now open up the possibility of external funding for the area
through various heritage-related schemes and our officers will be
working to see what potential financial opportunities exist for this
part of Cliftonville as a result.”


ENDS

Cheryl Pendry
Press and Media Manager
Thanet District Council
www.thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577 034
Fax: 01843 295 343