COUNTRY LIFE
THE Kent County Council has just issued a statement, drawn up by the Kent Planning Committee, on the development plan for the county. It needs to be studied in relation -to the photostat copies of the map which has been sent out to the clerks of all local councils in Kent. It is a reasonable document, and does not threaten to gut the Garden of England down to the Concrete of Bureaucracy. The approach of the committee appears to be based on probable natural developments, with the industrial towns (mostly along the Thames Estuary) being allowed considerable expansion, but under control, to accommodate the already demonstrative growth of industry.
Plans for the development of mineral wealth are vague. I hope this is not ominous. We can do without another Black Country, especially in the nation's front garden. The " green barrier" (mostly downland within the twenty-mile radius of London) has been publicly discussed, and even those people who live within that belt, and are likely to be forbidden to build on their own land, or even to add to existing buildings, will surely appreciate the social value of such restrictions. Local councils have been consulted and asked for their comments, and it is significant that those councils of districts east of the Green Belt, whose governance runs in the villages and small towns through the Weald to Thanet and the south-eastern cliff-shores, have few observations to make. Many make none. This is because they are unlikely to be molested by innovation. The rich fruit- and hop-growing lands, where fortunately the most ancient and picturesque of our Kent villages are situated, are already playing a full part toward the healthy economy of England as a whole.
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