08/11/12

Growth depends on infrastructure developments

by Charlie Vavasour, managing director, Quantum PR, Ashford

The coalition’s hopes for economic recovery increasingly lie on the shoulders of infrastructure developers and Kent is at the forefront of the push to develop our way out of the recession.

News of the £2bn Paramount Leisure Park project in Ebbsfleet, with its accompanying 27,000 jobs, could transform the area’s prospects.

The £650m planned development at Chatham Waters, the 5,750 housing development submitted for South Ashford, the regeneration of Folkestone Harbour and the plans to develop Dreamland in Margate all point to the fact developers are starting to come back.

The Government has revealed plans to stimulate development across Britain.

Regulations will be relaxed, applications fast-tracked and first time buyers offered support. This is good news for developers, who need a more favourable planning system and better access to finance.

But how will these proposals fit in with the Localism Act? The watchword for the Coalition’s policy needs to be balance.

Stimulating the economy will benefit everyone and developers can be the economy’s knight on the white horse.

But, in these parts, the white horse also symbolises Kent and its countryside. Localism, local decision-making and protection of the green belt must be upheld at the same time as economic progress – but it shouldn’t be an impossible balance.

All the developers we work with encourage public consultation and feedback.

What causes problems is the length of time planning authorities take to make decisions.

By getting developers, the planning authority and local people working together at the start of the project to speed up decision-making, responsible development could be the answer to our economic woes.