Kent Federation of Amenity Societies’ response  to the report of consultation on  Kent County Council's Draft Community Strategy
	Opportunities for Kent: The Vision
	1. A sense of place is a sense of community   KFAS has been impressed by the high priority given by the general public to the general themes of Environment, Transport and Community, in its unprompted response to the draft community strategy document. This correctly confirms that a sense of place is a sense of community. The demands for improved policing, healthcare and relationships can be seen, in part, as the consequence of environmental failure. Nurturing Kent’s identity scored very low in the public ranking of themes, which again suggests that when it comes to the overall notion and context of Kent County, there is a poor connection between people and place. KFAS suggests that the community strategy entitled Kent Vision needs to concentrate more on the public’s environmental concerns and especially on the built environment. 2. Public space   “The public domain is the theatre of an urban culture. It is where citizenship is enacted, it is the glue that can bind an urban culture.”  Richard Rogers, BBC Reith Lecture.  There is a clear suggestion in the above quotation that well-designed spaces may engender better behaviour. The planning process does not encourage an integrated design approach and although the context is evaluated, the aggregate result of individual planning applications is rarely considered. The Kent Design Guide is a useful framework but tends to consider the component parts rather than the whole. In consequence, public space is ignored and there are few really attractive modern public open spaces.  KFAS suggests that an urban design initiative is required and that some pilot projects should be undertaken in Kent, similar to that undertaken by the Department of the Environment in 1994: ‘Quality in Town and Country’.   3. Conflict between commercial and civic values “The construction of our habitat continues to be dominated by market forces and short-term financial imperatives. Not surprisingly, this has produced spectacularly chaotic results.” Richard Rogers, BBC Reith Lecture. Much of the urban environment is dominated by commercial considerations. Very few of our modern High Streets will find their way into future Conservation Areas, as they offer nothing of quality or design. This is even truer of industrial estates, where in many cases there is no attempt to apply basic design criteria. There is no reason why the work place and environment should not be made more attractive.  People might welcome a greater and obvious civic presence, as this endorses the notion of public service rather than immediate personal gain. For instance, the public perception of wanting to see police on the beat, may signify that they in fact want to see more civic representation. Police say that a greater street presence has very little operational purpose. Public service and public utilities need to be re-valued. KFAS would like to see greater enhancement of the street scene through the civic provision of street art, planting and parks. It suggests that utilities acting on behalf of Kent County Council should carry the KCC logo uppermost, to advertise the civic service, rather than any commercial undertaking. 4. The countryside   The country landscape is a strong feature of the County. There are contradictions between the perceptions of town dwellers and those who have to work in the countryside. KCC sponsorship of Farmers’ Markets has been a popular activity, but it is a long way from being a mainstream commercial reality. There is little doubt that people would like to see the countryside maintained as a picturesque landscape: but we need more information on how this is to be achieved.  We have become disenchanted with ‘agribusiness’, which is associated with industrialised methods, chemical pollution, unkind treatment of animals and which ultimately fails to deliver cheap food in a sustainable manner.  KFAS recognises the difficulties of maintaining an attractive countryside, while at the same time creating a viable agriculture. It applauds the work KCC have put in hand concerning countryside access and developing Farmers’ Markets. It strongly believes that a pleasant landscape must be given the highest priority and that this must receive the best possible protection.    5. Transportation   Public transport is a dismal failure. It is costly, dirty, badly managed, unreliable and even unsafe. It compares very badly with any other developed country. A quarter of all households nationally do not have access to a private car and feel badly let down. Kent County should not have to provide co-ordinating timetables and to support bus services from public funding, if privatisation supplied an efficient public transport system. This failure has created a greater need for road construction, as a public service alternative does not exist for many people. Congestion at peak-time travel is a daily burden to our working community and many of our towns suffer from the need to transport children to schools. Walking and cycling have become increasingly unsafe.  KFAS recognises that there is no complete solution to these problems, but public transport must be resuscitated, as it fails so many vulnerable people in the community.  Walking and cycling should continue to be encouraged and cycleways built. Consideration should be given to re-scheduling school times to prevent conflict with commercial hours, as is achieved on the continent.    6. Nurturing Kent’s identity   This topic scored badly in the public consultation exercise and appears to have been poorly understood. And yet it is an essential aspect of local identity and should be keenly promoted. It is important to preserve Kent’s identity, which remains a geographic and historical reality. It may also be an essential ingredient in stemming further loss of power from the County Council and resisting the increasing encroachment of South East regional non-elected bodies. It is relatively easy to disparage traditional images of the county. It is extremely difficult to replace these time-honoured symbols, which give identity to the county and which have strong meanings for visitors and tourists.  KFAS would give strong encouragement to preserving and enhancing Kent’s identity as a means of promoting the County, maintaining its integrity and resisting other non-elected interference in local government.  It suggests that professional designers might be engaged to update and improve the design of our present images.  7. Conclusion “Citizens must feel that public space is in their communal ownership and responsibility.” “From the modest back street to the grand civic square, these spaces belong to the citizen and make up the totality of the public domain” Richard Rogers, BBC Reith Lecture.    We build an environment which then builds us: there is an important interaction between people and place. Much of the malaise in a community springs from poor environment and people’s perception that there is little they can do about it. Better and cheaper access by public transport would greatly enable people to enjoy and play a part in the community. The needs for more police and more health services are given high priority by a society ill at ease with itself. If we had better surroundings, with more evidence of a civic values in the building of our communities and public places, we would create better citizens with a sense of community. We need to revalue public service and make local government more visible. The Kent Community Strategy would have much greater value if its agreed objectives could be translated into action and allocated specific resources to attain its aims.  Submitted by Kent Federation of Amenity Societies 30th May 2001 Contact Kent County Council: Opportunities for Kent: The Vision FREEPOST SEA9412 Maidstone  Kent ME14 1BR e-mail KCC: vision@kent.gov.uk KCC website: www.kent.gov.uk/vision The Kent Federation of Amenity Societies welcomes your opinion: email: KFAS  Front page