Spin, hype and destruction

WHAT a Christmas tale! It was so exciting to hear that our three visionaries, Messrs Bowles, Edwards and McDonald, have seen our future and believe that we are undergoing "one of the most exciting periods in Swale's history" .

All is revealed in their 34-page glossy report.

When next I'm gridlocked in sleepy old Sittingbourne, I'll spare a thought for all the shoppers who have gone elsewhere to avoid the congestion and steep increases in car park charges, for the schoolchildren being bussed to Faversham, and for the patients unable to register with a doctor.

Instead I will cast my mind ahead to those heady days of the future when Kent Science Park will have burst its seams and provided thousands of high-tech jobs for all those living in the extra 10,000 houses stretching from the A2 to the Southern Relief Road.

The countryside will be laid waste, the southern villages will disappear, but fear not, we will have the pleasure of an endless vista of concrete from Bapchild to London in place of our "spectacular natural heritage". Praise be to the Thames Gateway.

Our visionaries from Swale House (Spin City?) tell us it is great news for Swale and they must be right.

It's just a pity that most ratepayers disagree and do not share their vision of spin, hype and destruction.

Swale Forward, Mr Bowles? Or backwards? Or down the plug hole?

Merry Christmas.
John Bonney
Rodmersham Green
Rodmersham