The great appeal of Faversham – to those of us born here as well as those of us who have chosen to make this our home – is both its immense historic beauty and its wonderful people.
Yet both Faversham’s good looks and culture are under attack – and, however unwittingly, this town council is leading the charge:
– defacing Faversham’s historic landscape with yellow lines
– removing benches so we have nowhere to rest and to talk to each other
– proposing to replace a pedestrian friendly zebra crossing with a car friendly pelican crossing
– talking about banning cyclists.
What evidence is there that any of this is needed? What real evidence exists? And what kind of a town will be created if all of this happens?
I was, as you might imagine, most disappointed to read in the minutes of its last meeting that the Public Realm Group wishes to paint yellow lines around the Guildhall. As one of Faversham’s most important buildings, the consequence of this action will be highly damaging. The proximity of the yellow lines to the plaque that honours the valour of Sir Philip Neame will create additional visual harm.
This matters. People love Faversham for its historic beauty. They spend their money here when they have a choice to go elsewhere because they like the look of the place and they enjoy the social experience. They encourage other visitors to do the same. Our economy relies on our good looks.
When, as a result of my intervention, it was agreed in 2014 not to paint the lines around the Guildhall, I was given the reassurance by Brian Planner at Swale BC that the impact of the lines would be carefully monitored. Can you therefore tell me:
1. What studies have been undertaken and what evidence have these generated to describe the effects that the lines have had on parking behaviour in central Faversham?
2. Where is this evidence documented?
3. How has this evidence been used to reach the conclusion that more yellow lines should be painted?
I see many unfortunate things in my job and I try not to be shocked but this situation troubles me greatly. To encircle the Guildhall with municipal yellow lines is to twist the knife in a wound that was created when yellow lines were first painted last year and repainted earlier this year.
These lines are a scar on Faversham’s historic beauty. This episode casts the actions of Faversham Town Council in a poor light.
The lines are not needed. People don’t observe them. The police say they would prefer not to have them. The suggestion that emergency services can’t access all sides of the building simply does not stand up to the briefest of conversations with a firefighter.
In town and in the outside world I am sorry to report that Faversham’s actions have drawn enormous criticism. Painting yellow lines has been opposed by people both locally and internationally. It has been described variously as “crude and destructive”, “degrading”, “defacing” – and as “bureaucratic vandalism” – not only by people in the streets of this town but by former presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Royal Institute of British Architects and The Academy of Urbanism. These people know what they are talking about.
Imagine a doctor telling you that you have serious health issues. High cholesterol. Poor circulation. That these are treatable if you change your lifestyle. But fatal if you don’t. What would you do?
So it is with the design of Faversham’s town centre. The social and economic health of the town is threatened. So why does the Town Council continue to pursue this brutal course of action? Why won’t it listen? Why won’t it engage with people who are experts in their field and who are telling it that it need to change its tack? Why won’t it listen to the thousands of local voices who don’t want yellow lines? Why did it only listen to a few who said they did?
And, at last, the Faversham Society has shown its colours in opposition to yellow lines.
If councillors believe what they are doing is in the public good then they are deceiving not only themselves but the people of this town that they represent.
I urge town councillors and members of the Public Realm Group to look to their consciences and ask whether the paltry consultation exercise that was undertaken when the yellow lines were first proposed stands any test of rigour, especially in the light of the overwhelming opposition to the yellow lines that was revealed during the campaign that I have led during the last two years.
On that basis alone can the council or anyone it represents have confidence that these other measure coming forward are in the town’s best interests?
I ask the Town Council not to approve the recommendations of the Public Realm Group and, instead, to direct that group back to the drawing board in pursuit of common sense and the general good of this great town.
Tim Stonor for Faversham 