Dear Editor,

I eventually got an answer from our Shepway MP, Damian Collins over whether he supports the proposed development of 5 large houses and the conversion of the 2 Martello Towers into holiday lets at Sandgate Escarpment, above the village.

His answer is that he is not going to support the local campaign, which is steadily gaining momentum, against this proposed vandalism of our local green belt.

In the light of recent Shepway Council's wishes to build large numbers of houses and the Coalition Governments desire to change planning laws I now recognise that our MP cares not one diddly squat for local greenbelt land.

We might as well live in a concreted over Shepway if the go ahead for this development on the most beautiful piece of woodland occurs.

Surely this is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. There have been several recent national reports saying how desirable it is to live in the Sandgate and Hythe areas. However the attraction of living in this area is that it is beautiful and has green space for people to enjoy living away from the big cities.

Over building by money grabbing developers will destroy all the reasons for living here and add to that the incredible traffic congestion caused by new housing.

Honestly the area is already blighted by traffic as it is. 

I noticed today the Aardvark pet shop is closing down and Sandgate village is a sea of empty shops.

With someone who is not from our area  and spends most of  his time in London, how can we trust this man to look after the interests of our neck of the woods?

We can't!

Yours

Sue Sheppard

Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 2011©