These are the past newsletters. The current issue of each newsletter is delivered to members' addresses and can be sent by email on request.

AGM Notice and Invitation
The Annual General Meeting will be held on 21st Feb. at 7.30 at the St Alphege School Hall. We welcome nominations. There will be three vacancies on the committee and also the post of Treasurer. If you wish to be on the Committee and/or stand for one of the officer posts, your nomination must be with Ken Davies (54 Newton Rd. CT52JA 2757980) by Tuesday 14th of February. The theme of the AGM is community groups. In addition to the formal session, we will be addressed by Josephine Harvatt, Chair of the Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre, Roger Annable, manager of the Castle, Kit Ryan, Chair of the Whitstable Improvement Trust, and others about recent and future developments.

Annual Dinner
This will be on Sat. March 4th, 7 for 7.30 at the Chestfield Golf Club. The cost will be £17.50. Send cheques for WS to Eileen Hargreaves at 1, Medina Ave. CT54EN.

Membership
We welcome Mr & Mrs Ellis as members. Members are reminded that subs are due at/from the AGM on 21st February 2006. The renewal form is enclosed with this newsletter. If anyone would like to fill in the form enclosed in the last newsletter, we still look forward to receiving them by email or to Northdown, Genesta Ave, CT54EG.

London Trip
A few places left for the Hidden London trip on Sat. May 6th including a trip on the Regent's Canal. Cost £21.50 incl. coach. Call Betty Oldfield on 273836.

Society Sunday Walks
Leader Rita Collett Tel. 01227 264574.
To Chestfield. Feb 5th. Meet 10am Tesco bus shelter. Distance approx 4 miles.
Canterbury town and country. March 5th. Meet 10am Iceland Car Park, Maynard Road, Wincheap Industrial Estate, GR ref 140 573 (ring for directions). 5 miles.
Boughton April 2nd. Meet 10am Queens Head Inn, Boughton High Street

After the long Christmas break, meetings relating to planning matters re-started with the Whitstable Area Members Panel.

Councillors discussed the 20MPH zone and the apparent fact that it is not observed in various areas: probably because post people are unaware of where exactly the zone applies. Cllr Halfpenny illustrated the point by observing that one street has put in a petition for a 20MPH zone even though the street is a 20MPH zone! A KCC officer informed the meeting that the much requested 20MPH repeater signs are not permitted in 20 MPH zones. Subsequent inquiry has established that this bar is the result of Whitehall inspired logic as follows: If the nature of the street and any traffic flow inhibitions installed on it do not slow traffic to 20MPH, then the scheme should be abandoned and 30MPH restored. That leaves us with the Catch 22 logic that repeater signs are either not necessary because the 20 MPH is observed or, if needed, cannot be used because there is no 20MPH zone left. We have suggested that streets such as Sea St with unmarked pedestrian crossings need attention and asked whether any citizen inspired repeater signs would be removed!

The WAMP agreed a modified version of our request at the meeting to extend the scope of the Design Guidance for Joy Lane further west, by recommending a detailed proposal from Cllr Law for extension almost to Medina Avenue. We look forward to this draft coming into force to protect critical areas of this road from the development of wall to wall blocks of flats. No more street specific guidances will be produced we are informed.

Councillors did not actually discuss the Council's proposal to raise parking charges by up to 35% in Whitstable. A motion to reject the hikes was heavily defeated. Another motion to express concern, or some such mealy mouthed formula devised solely to permit a unanimous vote, was passed.

Parking is a difficult subject, but some kind of open discussion of whether it is right for all day parkers to be made cheaper than short visits and how to react to the free car parks of the alternative shopping centre on the new Thanet Way would have been helpful: especially as support for the town centre is an official Council policy adopted in the Local Plan.

The way this agenda item was dealt with was a lesson for the whole town in how little trust or faith can be placed in the WAMP for certain subjects, despite the theoretical aspiration to be the non-political voice of Whitstable. It is a new model and has had to be time tested. The first part of the lesson is that WAMP members will fall silent or act against the interests of Whitstable if their party makes up the administration and has policy that is not Whitstable friendly: in other words, councillors often do not permit themselves to vote as ward councillors in the WAMP when their district party line requires them to vote otherwise on District committees.The Editor for one would like to see some independent councillors in the District to reliably speak up for our area. It is ironic that several councillors are actually independent, but were forced to join a party and follow the line to stand any chance of being elected or being on a Council committee; from which all independents are banned from participating. The second lesson is that some councillors are not open about the constraints they put on themselves or acquiesce to. The events at the last WAMP were worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan or an episode of Dibley Parish council. The WAMP was presented with a clear proposal (well flagged and written up in the newspapers in December) for a substantial rise in our car parking charges to fill a hole left by revenue damaging developments solely affecting the city. The main body of WAMP councillors told the meeting that they "could not comment" because the proposals were out for public consultation. This was despite the undeniable facts that
• this was the last meeting at which WAMP could comment before the Council decided the matter
• public consultation was in fact for three weeks in December and was therefore finished
• the agenda clearly states WAMP should comment Last year the councillors from the other ruling group failed to support or talk to a motion to reduce the extent of proposed parking charges so there is a definite consistency observable!

Regarding the Local Plan, confirmation received from the Local Plan office that there is now an excess of land identified for commercial and residential development on the edge of Whitstable. This is generally good news since it takes the pressure off. The relief on the housing land front has been because builders have been building higher density developments than expected. On the commercial side, it is because more employment land has been found on the south side of Canterbury, which of course is not great for those who live in Whitstable. As a result, Grasmere Pasture is saved from development for at least the next six years. We are disappointed that officers still would like to extend the Joseph Wilson Estate into pristine countryside at South St when the matter is next looked at. It seems the Local Plan inspector's vision of protecting the Bogshole valley from development is still not shared by the Local Plan office. It seems the officers view the two sites as the only alternatives, which seems extraordinary to those with local knowledge. We will work with them to find alternative site for locating employment generating activities. On the planning application front, we are content to see the application for garden and building on Clapham Hill and the small estate on Invicta Road as proposed turned down at officer levels; having objected strongly to both.

On the evening when we were expecting the Pluto probe to blast off the earth at 13,000 mph., we met with Chris Wright to ponder the problems surrounding more sedate means of transport. His talk, rather like a Toyota advert, had the headlines, Whitstable today, Kent tomorrow and Britain in 25 years time. Here was an expert on the subject and we were in for a few surprises.

We looked at the familiar map of Whitstable with few access points from the old Thanet way and noted how the railway running east and west and the disused railway running north and south effectively divided up the town into four areas. We have built in restraints to the free flow of traffic at no cost he advised. Many towns in Scandinavia would envy us apparently.

The railway bridge as you approach the town is our greatest asset as it keeps the queue of traffic outside the town. Parking in the old town has reached saturation point and what on earth could anyone do to improve it? Maybe it is better to walk! Those with mobility needs face the main problem because buses are not very successful at getting people around this town.

So what of Kent tomorrow? The number of cars has not increased dramatically; people are just driving further because, for example, our children live further away. This dispersal of society has been made possible by the car. Public transport costs have been allowed to increase faster than car costs so higher fares mean a shrinking service. If it is quicker and unrestrained to travel by car than by bus or train then the level of public transport services goes spiralling down. In Britain we spend more time in our cars than any other country in Europe.

The Kent Structure Plan is an attempt to tackle some of these issues but not a very successful one: it is 'wishy-washy'. Will it prove possible to diversify the economy so that more people work locally? Will new retail development be confined to the town centre? Increases in homes will be confined to Ashford and Dartford but public transport is seen to have a limited role in the plan and the needs of car drivers are to be met as far as possible. High-speed rail link services will be extended to Thanet and Dover by 2009 but will that have a significant impact on us?

Then we turned to some speculation about Britain in 25 years time. We will have to change our ways if only for reasons of safety. We were shown a scale of risk. For those who travel by train 13, by bus or coach 196, by car 337, by motorbike 5546, bicycle 4526 and if you are a pedestrian 2335. It is obviously best to fly if you can, for the risk then is only .07. How can we deal with it all? We are going to have to because of global warming and oil shortages. Tesco will have to divide up and go back to the corner shop. Our teenagers will have to live at home again! Cities all over Britain will follow London's lead by demanding a congestion charge enabling a bus service to function properly. It will be pay as you go with road pricing schemes run by local authorities. Car clubs that will enable cars to be shared by up to 10 people will be commonplace and car drivers will learn their obligations towards others travelling in the same direction. A Google for getting a lift if you like. For details of an early service see www.liftshare.com.

The future may lie with motorway trains made up of cars joined together electronically. The road network will have to be thought of as a railway. Cars will be released onto the network when space becomes available. The signalling system will on the dashboard with the computer working out the spacing, speed and direction. All this is technically feasible already with some cars virtually able to drive themselves. Soon" collision avoidance systems" will be commonplace.

There are not many alternative solutions. The personal helicopter is a safety hazard. There will not be any trains as they cost too much to run and are inflexible. There will however be far better buses looking like a series of railway carriages but with the ability to go anywhere on vastly improved road surfaces.

There were many questions in our Q&A session. Surely there should be extra tax on large cars and parking only for small ones? Yes, the tax regime already does this. If a bridge were built over the railway at the top of Pier Avenue, would this not provide a major access to the town that was both feasible and affordable? Yes, but it does nothing to deal with our dependency upon the car. Surely the Internet brings change to the way we work and travel?

Only a sector of the working population travels less, everyone else more. If a man leaves his office, someone else takes up the space. How about Whitstable as a 'car less' town? It could be done but who would want to live there? Surely the high-speed train has proved its value? Rubber tyres are better than rails. Is the traffic problem in Whitstable exaggerated? "I don't think Whitstable has a traffic problem". Would a one-way system be safer? Not for pedestrians nor convenient for the bus passenger. The flow of traffic must be slow. So what can be done to help the vulnerable pedestrian and cyclist in the urban Whitstable? There is need for a properly segregated network.

We are rarely privileged with a lecture form high level advisers and Chris Wright made this an accessible one. On behalf of all those present our chairman thanked Chris Wright for giving such a hard hitting and thought provoking talk. We walked, cycled or drove home to see if the probe to the planet Pluto was on its way, only to learn that the launch had been delayed by high winds. Thank goodness technology does not have the answer to everything.

The Cottage Hospital, the forerunner of today's hospital, came about as a result of immense local initiative. It was probably the greatest fund-raising the town ever did. When the campaign was launched in March 1918 there were discussions with the Canterbury Hospital and they agreed to contribute £3000 for the cost of a convalescent wing; the total cost was £12,000. To raise this sum the town (about 7,000 population) was galvanised into fundraising in every possible way, from house-to-house collections to large-scale fund-raising events. I was. asked by the 'Friends' to research this story and all the subsequent contributions made to the Hospital in case a campaign was needed with the threat of closure; it was not required and so the account has not been published (this threat may well loom again!). The need for a local hospital had been recognised before the war, but a precipitating factor was the number of wartime convalescent establishments in the town which brought home the availability of doctors and nurses. Indeed as an interim measure in 1918 the end house of the now Marine Hotel block, which had been a London convalescent home before the war, was set up as a local hospital. When the owner, wanted to develop the block for his hotel, the temporary hospital went to another war-time venue, St. John's Hospital, now the 'Royal'.
Geoffrey Pike