Dear everyone

Thank you for supporting this petition to stop over-development in Kingston.

On 23 January 2019, I will be attending the Examination in Public to take part in the inspection of the GLA's intention to designate vast swathes of Kingston Borough as an Opportunity Area. 

The chart immediately below compares the increase in the density of development historically in Opportunity Areas between 2004 and 2016 with standard density assumptions for large sites of 0.25 hectares or more in size in non-Opportunity Areas. You can see how much denser development has been in Opportunity Areas over this period. You can also see with your own eyes how dense and tall the buildings are that are going up all over the Borough even before we have Opportunity Area status. This does not bode well for our communities or neighbourhoods or the protection of biodiversity in the Borough.

PTAL*            0 - 1        2 - 3          4 - 6
Suburban      +28%      +255%     +293%
Urban            +88%      +56%       +46%
Central          +406%    +73%       +28%

*PTAL is a GLA measure of public transport accessibility. Kingston Town and the surrounding area is forecast to have a PTAL entirely of 6+ by 2041.

We need to act quickly to put pressure on the Council to come clean about the unsound way it has gone about supporting the GLA in its attempts to secure Opportunity Area status for Kingston.

Please can you send an email or write to the new Independent Monitoring Officer at Kingston Council - Quentin.Baker@kingston.gov.uk - and tell him that the Direction of Travel is unsound and must not be used to support the creation of an Opportunity Area by the GLA in the Borough?

Here are some of the reasons why The Direction of Travel growth plans are unsound; they:

Were secretly-negotiated • Were not agreed following legal or democratic process • Did not involve consultation with residents • Were so vague, confused and opaque as to be impossible to understand • Did not clearly state that they would result in an Opportunity Area being created in multiple locations across the Borough • Will destroy communities • Will displace many people • Will place huge pressure on already strained social infrastructure • Will result in development on a massive scale even if CrossRail 2 never happens • Will destroy further Kingston’s natural biodiversity, already under threat from the Council’s failure to meet its obligations

Please take a few minutes to write to Mr Baker at Kingston Council and tell him that these plans must be stopped.

Thank you again for your support. 
Caroline