Keith Taylor in Maidstone

Spend a hectic afternoon with Keith Taylor MEP in and around Maidstone yesterday.

We visited the Oaken Wood campaigners and Keith was very impressed with what they have achieved. It looks like Kent Wildlife Trust has objected to Gallagher's plans now and there is to be a public meeting in December.

We moved on to Fant Farm where 380 houses would be built under the current strategy that the council has. Keith and I signed a letter to Cllr Chris Garland asking him to redo the Strategic Housing Land Area Assessment. Also noted is a four fold increase in the social housing waiting list, so we shouldn't be reducing plans for housing too much, but perhaps refocussing them.

We moved on to Harrietsham to hear from the chair of the parish council about how the noise from the M20 is affecting residents there. The M20 runs right past the village and its surface is concrete rather than tarmac. The road noise a quarter of a mile from the motorway in the school car park meant we had to shout to be heard.

Finally we met with Janetta Sams who has been leading a campaign in Lenham (collecting 1000 signatures on a petition and presenting to the Maidstone Joint Transportation Board) to get 20mph limits around schools. Kent Police are blocking the proposal saying they won't endorse 20mph limits without traffic calming. Keith is writing to the Cheif Constable to ask them to reconsider.

1400 to be made homeless in Medway and Thanet

Taking 10% of housing benefit because the bankers have run off with all the money may seem like a good idea in the head a Lib Dem, Tory or Dail Mail reader, but the impact of that is going to be devastating for the country's poorest people.

As the shortfall (up to £35 will be lost from the benefit each week) will need to be made up from other benefits and income, this could leave a single, childless person without a job with just £30 to feed and clothe themselves and pay for heating, lighting etc.

The National Housing Federation have warned that 800 people in Medway and 600 people in Thanet are likely to be made homeless. I shudder to think what the figure will be across the whole of Kent - 3000 plus perhaps?

It gets worse of course. These people are likely to be deemed as being homeless through their own fault and not eligible for emergency housing. 

And worse still... these people will end up migrating to very poor areas, fueling poverty there even further and vastly reducing their ability to secure a job.

That's what you get from the Lib Dem Tories - dumping on the poor.

Progressive? My arse.

Empty Homes in Maidstone

Wrote to the leaders of the LibDems and Tories in Maidstone yesterday calling for action on empty homes. I discovered a couple of weeks back that there are 1610 empty homes in the borough (twice as high as 2006), the council has a target to bring 38 back into use each year, has not issued any Empty Dwellings Management Orders and there are over 2000 people waiting for social housing (three times more than 10 years ago).

Of course the building of new houses has also collapsed with the recession (I opposed the increased targets backed by the Tories and LibDems, but always accepted the original and more moderate levels as necessary). MBC needs to take urgent action...

Dear Councillors Garland and Wilson,

Despite the Empty Homes Strategy being agreed last year the number of empty homes has risen further with April 2008 double the 2006 figure. The number of households awaiting social housing has increased three fold over the last 10 years, yet the council does not seem to be exercising its powers to bring empty homes back into use - no Empty Homes Management Orders have been issued.

There are around 1600 empty homes with perhaps a third empty for more than 6 months. House building is grinding to a halt with the recession, so urgent action is needed to make the most of properties that are empty.

Please could you take action to reduce the social housing need and bring more empty homes back into use.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald