April 30th, 2005 at 11:17am Under The South East Plan
The larger towns of the South East survive by the rebuilding of those whose character is already lost, and by rigorous restraint by those which retain their self-respect.
By Jez Continue Reading South East Plan is ‘unsustainable’Add comment
April 29th, 2005 at 10:57am Under The South East Plan
Nearly two-thirds (64%) consider that the quality of the local environment should be protected at all costs, even if this means that some needs for housing and jobs will not be met. Just over one quarter (27%) would give greater priority to meeting local needs for homes and jobs even if this means some environmental loss in some areas.
By Jez Continue Reading Summary of South East Plan Questionnaire Results1 comment
April 26th, 2005 at 02:58pm Under Horley Master Plan
A friend was telling me about the deal that the Fastway people made with the County Council people in which money was lent to the Fastway people to keep Fastway on track in the Horley area - BEFORE the Masterplan was ever agreed upon. It just shows you how democracy truly works. Decisions like the Horley Master Plan are made without the general public having any say at all. Any notion that we do have a say is just a facade.
Anyway, I have drifted from the point I was going to make.
On searching Google for information about the said underhandedness above, I note that all the results in the top 10 on Google.co.uk search for “fastway horley money” (without the quotes) throw up eight results in .PDF format (Portable Document Format) and the last one being this site (written in honest to goodness html and plain text). I have noticed government sites doing this more and more. I can only assume that it’s because it’s more difficult for the often controversial information enclosed in the PDF file is more difficult to propagate around the web and less people are likely to view it (and complain about it).
However, google also caches the page as some weird form of HTML - I have no idea how it works and the sentences are only selectable as single lines (this may impair search ability also). If anyone knows how this works, please tell me.
Anyway, I finally found it - here are some excerpts:-
The cost of extending Fastway from West Sussex into Surrey was originally to be funded by contributions from developers as part of the Horley Master Plan but with proposed developments delayed the County Council will guarantee approximately £1 million to keep the project on schedule. The council will recoup the money later when the Horley Master Plan gets underway.
11th December 2003 the document is dated. It’s no wonder that the Horley Master Plan was pushed through in the face of fierce opposition the way that it was.
The document goes on to say:-
“It means that the people of Horley can look forward to a state-of-the-art transport service that is frequent, efficient and reliable and one that offers a real alternative to the private car. With around a third of Gatwick’s employees living in the Crawley/Horley area Fastway will be a very welcome amenity for the Horley area.”
I for one will be very interested to know whether the Fastway bus will run 24/7 to reflect the shift patterns of the third of Gatwick’s employees living in the area? Or is it just another waste of money that no one will use or is unsuitable for their work patterns?
By Jez Add comment
April 14th, 2005 at 01:13pm Under The South East Plan
Don’t forget, today is the last day that you can voice your concerns over The South East Plan. I just hope enough people have voiced their opinions to stop this monstously stupid and damaging plan.
Just to remind you 
here’s the address to send your opinions to:
Secretariat,
South East England Regional Assembly,
Berkeley House,
Cross Lanes,
Guildford
GU1 1UN
By Jez Add comment
April 1st, 2005 at 09:22am Under The South East Plan
Its good to see that Mole Valley District Council have come out against the South East Plan. You can read the article ‘Mole Valley Council Slams South East Plan‘ on their website at the address below
http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1798
Where are Reigate and Banstead Council when we need them?
By hsf68 Add comment