Liberal Democrats oppose flawed Local Plan Review
Despite determined cross-party opposition from councillors, including the Liberal Democrat Group (supported by many local residents), Maidstone Borough Council voted to adopt their controversial Local Plan Review document. However, this may not be the end of the saga. Speaking during the Debate Liberal Democrat Planning Spokesperson Tony Harwood pointed out that there were big practical challenges involved in the delivery of the larger housing allocations especially in the light of late issues raised by KCC on the day. These include the question marks hanging over the delivery of critical infrastructure at Lidsing and Lenham Heathlands and the impossibility of squeezing-in the sheer numbers of new homes proposed for Invicta Park Barracks and the Town Centre. Tony said: “Maidstone’s Local Plan Review is built on foundations of sand and it is inevitable that the document will need to undergo some significant surgery going forward to make it deliverable and environmentally acceptable.”. He continued: “The big worry is that the largest housing allocations in the new plan will collapse under the weight of their own contradictions and leave the Borough vulnerable to speculative housing applications.”.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader Clive English added: “The only justification for this poorly designed plan has been that ‘any plan is better than no plan’, but if this plan unravels it will lead to the very situation it was meant to avoid, with developers needing to bring forward extra development sites.” Adding: “Ironically, we would have opened the door to development on controversial and hard to develop sites without extending protection to the rest of the Borough - we will now have to see what can be done in terms of damage limitation and what room for manoeuvre the Council might have if the governing administration changes on 2nd May.”
During the meeting two amendments were called to delay the decision. The last by Cllrs. Clive English and Tony Harwood of the Liberal Democrats to allow time to digest the late information from KCC, these were voted against.
At the outset the Conservative Party called for the vote to be named to be clear which councillors were for the Local Plan Review, against the Local Plan Review, or wished to abstain.
Voting FOR the implementation of the Local Plan Review:
| Councillor | Party | Vote |
| Alan Bartlett | Conservative | For |
| Annabelle Blackmore | Conservative | For |
| Claudine Russell | Conservative | For |
| David Burton | Conservative | For |
| Denis Spooner | Conservative | For |
| Denise Joy | Independent Group | For |
| Fay Gooch | Independent Group | For |
| Gary Cooke | Conservative | For |
| Gill Fort | Conservative | For |
| Gordon Newton (Mayor) | Independent Group | For |
| James Reid | Conservative | For |
| John Perry | Conservative | For |
| Lewis McKenna | Conservative | For |
| Lottie Parfitt-Reid | Conservative | For |
| Martin Cox | Independent Group | For |
| Martin Round | Conservative | For |
| Michelle Hastie | Conservative | For |
| Paddy Riordan | Conservative | For |
| Patrick Coates | Fant and Oakwood Independent | For |
| Patrik Garten | Conservative | For |
| Paul Cooper | Conservative | For |
| Paul Harper | Fant and Oakwood Independent | For |
| Peter Holmes | Conservative | For |
| Sandra Knatchbull | Conservative | For |
| Simon Webb | Conservative | For |
| Stanley Forecast | Conservative | For |
| Steve Munford | Independent Group | For |
| Susan Grigg | Independent Group | For |
| Tom Cannon | Conservative | For |
| Val Springett | Conservative | For |
| Ziggy Trzebinski | Conservative | For |
Voting AGAINST the implementation of the Local Plan Review:
| Councillor | Party | Vote |
| Ashleigh Kimmance | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Bob Hinder | Conservative | Against |
| Brian Clark | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Clive English | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Cynthia Robertson | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Dan Wilkinson | Labour | Against |
| David Naghi | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Derek Eagle | Green Independent Alliance | Against |
| Derek Mortimer | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Janetta Sams | Green Independent Alliance | Against |
| Joanna Wilkinson | Labour | Against |
| Margaret Rose | Labour | Against |
| Maureen Cleator | Labour | Against |
| Mike Thompson | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Paul Wilby | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Richard Conyard | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Stephen Thompson | Green Independent Alliance | Against |
| Stuart Jeffery | Green Independent Alliance | Against |
| Tom Sams | Green Independent Alliance | Against |
| Tony Harwood | Liberal Democrat | Against |
| Vanessa Jones | Green Independent Alliance | Against |