Hugh speaks to Selling

HUGH ROBERTSON ADDRESSES PUBLIC MEETING AT SELLING

Hugh Robertson addressed a public meeting of about 60 people at Selling Village Hall at the request of Selling Parish Council. The meeting was originally called to discuss the daytime closure of Selling Station but held this time as a special meeting for the village to question the MP.

Hugh spoke for 10 minutes about three topics that affect Selling:

1. Rail Services. The original SRA proposal had been to close Selling Station during the day. Hugh was able to report, following his meeting with the SRA that morning that the SRA had now agreed to reinstate one train each hour which would stop at Selling.

2. Swale Local Plan. Hugh briefed the meeting on the emerging consensus surrounding the Swale Local Plan. He reiterated his belief that Faversham would develop its tourist economy by resisting large scale housebuilding and safeguarding assets such as the Creek.

3. Housebuilding. Hugh restated his opposition to the government’s plans to build an extra 116,000 houses in Kent and praised KCC’s stance against central government housebuilding targets. He said that it was vital to safeguard the countryside as the Garden of England.

Questions from the floor encompassed issues as diverse as agricultural planning issues, the future of the River Stour, elections in Iraq, ID Cards, Europe and the detention of terrorists.

Hugh said: “I had promised to address a public meeting at Selling last year and was determined to fulfil that obligation. It was a terrific evening, with a wide variety of questions and a great opportunity for me to discuss many of the issues affecting the village.”