Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Development Plan Document

Disagree

We write as one of many concerned residents of Bearsted to formally oppose & object to the plans for the site at The Lodge, Water Lane for a traveller site. The owner of this property has already attempted to obtain permission for development of the site to the official planning authority and has over the past few years known to have been been consistently rejected due to being an unsuitable site for development. Why this site would then be suitable for the development of a traveller site has to be seriously questioned. The access to the site is barely, if at all, a single track off of Water Lane and the approach road - Water Lane, already experiences significant traffic issues and is definitely not suitable for the amount of extra traffic this site would generate. With my wife being a horse owner and us both being dog walkers, we already experience almost daily near misses with cars, vans, trucks on Water Lane and the country lanes that surround Bearsted where we live. An introduction of a site will only add to the significant traffic issues that currently exist. As i hope you are aware, only recently we as a community experienced the sad death of neighbours walking their dog, killed by a speeding motorist. Water Lane itself frequently floods and on those occasions becomes impassable by motorists, demonstrating again that this is not an ideal scenario for an large increase in residents in and around the lane. Bearsted is considered to be one of the most beautiful villages in Kent and people visiting the area bring economic benefits to local traders & this is in fact a lifeblood to the local businesses. The introduction of a traveller site to the area would have a huge detrimental impact to residents and businesses alike. There must be far more sites across the county that are far more suitable than this proposed one in beautiful Bearsted and its parish. I trust that those considering this application and proposal will take note of and account for these views and the rationale underpinning them based upon all the historical factors connected with the parish and the land designated for it.