Hillborough: front page HB Times

Developer Mike Dolan boycotted a meeting in the Kings Hall on Monday night after a behind-the-scenes spat with protesters. He had been prepared to face the wrath of objectors to his company’s plans to build 1,000 new homes at Hillborough - but when campaign boss Laura Calder refused to show him her presentation in advance, he quit.

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Making a mess of clearing the ditch

Here's a follow-up to an earlier blog article about the ditch clearance.

This is another resident who got the rather snitty letter from Kitewood. Whoever it was that cleared the ditch decided to pile all the rubbish against the resident's back garden fence. I think the email to Kitewood is very polite, all things considered. The photos are an eye-opener...

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King's Hall meeting report

About 150 people went to the King's Hall on Monday evening for the "Save Hillborough" campaign meeting.

The recent proposal from developers Kitewood for over 1,000 new homes north of the Thanet Way on the eastern boundary of Herne Bay has worried many residents.

One of the main concerns voiced at the meeting was that the already over-stretched local infrastructure - sewage, transport, education, health and so on - simply wouldn't be able to cope.

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Concerns: transport - road and rail

There are three things about this housing project that personally concern me:

1. First is that we require a new train station at Hillborough now, let alone when there are another 1,300 families in the immediate area.
2. Closer to home is that Bishopstone Lane is already dangerous with the existing traffic and they have nothing in place to improve the situation. Bearing in mind with 1300 houses comes at least another couple of hundred dogs that will want to be walked/driven along Bishopstone Lane to Reculver Country Park.
3. The road between Hillborough and Sturry is a busy dangerous country road and nothing is planned to improve it, not even a roundabout at the other end.

RM, Bishopstone, 21st Nov 2011

Support from CPRE Protect Kent

Very recently, a developer has launched a public exhibition of its plans to build an enormous residential estate, with business units also, space for a school, and local shops, etc. on farmland which is currently being worked, and which the Council has included for possible housing in its draft Core Strategy Housing Allocation Assessment.

Effectively this would add a very large suburb to Herne Bay right up to the Northern side of the new Thanet Way.

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