High-tech park plan slated by Greens

It says many vacant sites exist in the country, including those along the Thanet Way.

European candidate for Kent Hazel Dawe said: “The proposed expansion of the Kent Science Park is an example of 'old thinking'. Councils in Kent are guilty of adopting a 'predict and provide' approach to business expansion which is leading to greenfield sites being designated as industrial land, although the industry may never come.”

“The Kent Science Park's proposed expansion coincides with proposals in Canterbury to create a massive 50 acre business park at Barton Farm south of Canterbury.”

“Thanet has large vacant areas in its industrial estates which it is has had great difficulty filling. Ashford, doomed to expansion by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, has not succeeded in attracting any major new employers public or private to the town. The Green Party believes employment increases are more likely to occur from policies which do not eat up the landscape.”

“These could include new housing in the form of energy-efficient ‘live-work’ units, using derelict industrial land and the promotion of co-operatives to allow people with little capital to create new enterprises by working together.”

This article and photographs are used with the kind permission of The Gazette & Times