Canterbury protestors lead march against 2,000 new homes

The council want to use University of Kent countryside for homes, shops and offices.

Transcript

00:00 The University of Kent has landed itself in controversy after giving permission for land

00:04 they own to Canterbury City Council to build 2,000 houses, shops and offices in the heart

00:09 of the Bleen, a rural countryside and ancient woodland only three miles north of the city

00:15 centre.

00:16 Protesters say what would essentially be a new town on areas like Tyler Hill, Bleen and

00:20 Rough Common could have an extremely detrimental effect on the wildlife and woodland.

00:24 The University of Kent say they are committed to biodiversity and environmental issues but

00:29 the people behind me don't believe them.

00:31 Save Our Bleen aim to stop 2,000 homes being built in the Bleen countryside just outside

00:36 of Canterbury.

00:37 The public consultation is open until the 3rd of June so this Saturday 25th concerned

00:42 citizens alongside Kent Wildlife Trust marched from the Dane John Gardens to the University

00:47 of Kent's registry, crossing through the city centre for a total of two miles.

00:52 So we're calling the march in order to really raise awareness for the University, how people

00:58 feel, but also to urge them to work with us.

01:01 They've got a new VC in place, we urge her to show some bold leadership and actually

01:06 work with us, with residents, with the council and other stakeholders like Kent Wildlife

01:11 Trust to come up with a better solution and use this land in a different way.

01:17 Other issues with the site include the landscape, which suffers from poor drainage and flooding,

01:22 several heritage sites including an Iron Age settlement and the increase of traffic and

01:26 people through the area.

01:28 This is all against what the University themselves have stated for their sustainability policy.

01:33 The development company, Allison Young, have been quoted as saying there is an economic

01:36 need for the sites to be delivered to ensure the future success of the University.

01:41 The University has been known to have financial issues, shutting down several courses on their

01:45 Medway campus to save money.

01:47 The 2,000 buildings in Bleen aren't the only expansions planned by the council, with

01:51 the Brooklands Farm area in Whitstable earmarked for 1,400, leading people like Emily to also

01:57 join the march against the council's plans.

02:00 We know what's down there, there's so much rare wildlife, birds, fish and I've

02:07 had a report from the Environment Agency speaking about eels being up there and if both developments

02:15 go ahead or either one, they will kill those streams with concreting, the streams won't

02:23 be filled from aquifers, it's a really dangerous thing that they're proposing to do.

02:31 Even if the march has ended, the council's plans are still set to go ahead and would

02:35 take until 2040 to finish.

02:37 Finn McDermid for KMTV.