Letter to Wingham Residents

Written by Bryan Curtis on Fri 18th Apr 2008

My reason for becoming a Parish Councillor was to help keep our area a great place to live. But I also knew that some things could be improved. In particular, facilities and transport for young people left a lot to be desired. As a District Councillor I was also able to try and help residents of Preston and Stourmouth. I campaigned hard for an extension of mains drainage to Stourmouth and speed restrictions in Wingham and Preston.

In all of this I have been very aware that the residents of rural areas are too often the first to suffer the withdrawal

of services and facilities when the budgets of Councils, Government and companies are under pressure. In this ward we may have (for now) avoided any closures of Post Offices, but we must be alert to continued threats.

Now the Conservative administration at Dover District Council is proposing to close sheltered accommodation facilities for older people in Wingham, Eastry and Ash. Local Tories have been very vocal about Post Office closures (they overlook the fact that the last Conservative Government closed over 3,000 village post offices), but here they are happily getting rid of another rural facility.

St Nicholas House in Ash is in need of investment, but the Tories want to knock it down, sell the land and move residents to facilities in the towns. Most of the elderly residents of St Nicholas are rural people with strong links to Ash and the surrounding area. Removing them to Dover or Deal will mean they are a long way from their friends and family and will be dumped in a very unfamiliar environment.

Both Conservative and Labour administrations at Dover have refused to modernise facilities at St Nicholas House over very many years. They have shown a disregard for older people and the rural areas and the current residents may have to pay the price for these failures. I believe that there are ways that sheltered accommodation for older people can be kept in our ward and if elected on Thursday 24th April, I will do my best to convince Dover District Council of that fact.

I shall always speak up for the rural areas of the district and ensure that our needs are not forgotten.

Yours sincerely,

Bryan Curtis

Your local, Liberal Democrat candidate.