Tilmanstone waste plant
Residents of Tilmanstone, Eastry and Northbourne have been up in arms about the proposed massive waste processing plant in Tilmanstone. The plan described as "composting" is not like the one at the end of a garden. It's size is pretty close to every compost heap in East Kent rolled up and put into one place. And it's not made of grass and clippings either - this heap would process manure and food waste. As it's open air, the methane would not be captured - meaning the plant would damage rather than help protect the ozone layer.
Not good.
So Charlie organised a survey of residents to help them have their say. They were not in favour. And Charlie went to Eastry village hall for a packed to standing room meeting on the matter. He spoke against this development. Over 200 people also came to make clear their opposition to this proposal at a public meeting hosted by Kent County Council.
Charlie says: "Residents were concerned about smells, traffic, water table pollution, bio aerosols and other biohazards. Hearing of the concerns, I conducted a consultation of all residents in the areas recently and was inundated with responses protesting against the plant. Concern that was visible at the public meeting. I handed in the responses to the chairman of the meeting. I hope this misguided development will not go ahead."
Back to mapStanding up for the Gurkhas
The Gurkhas have stood by us in the field of battle. Many have laid down their lives. Nearly all went into harm's way. Many live locally in Dover & Deal. Charlie and the Conservatives along with the Lib Dems think they should be allowed to live in Britain, as they have really contributed to our country over many years.
But not, it seems, the Labour Government. Anyone else can pretty much wonder in, but if you've actually contributed to Britain, it seems you are not welcome as far as the Government is concerned. Thankfully the Government lost a motion on the issue thanks to rebel Labour MPs who put decency above party. What was odd is that Dover's Labour MP said he would stand by his Gurkhas constituents, even putting out a leaflet about "Gurkha Justice" . . . yet then voted with the Government against the Gurkas.
It's a black day if Dover's MP does not support these heroes. Charlie will always support the Gurkhas and anyone else who stands up for our country. That's why the military covenant is so important. It's a matter of honour.
Back to mapHonest politics
Much has been written about the disgraceful expenses saga. And we know that Dover's Labour MP used the expenses system in a way many would consider totally unjustifiable. Getting his brother down from Wales to do up one of his homes on expenses didn't look right. His buying of food, knives, forks, armchairs, toasters, washing machines and much else you'd expect to see on a Generation Game conveyor belt on Parliamentary expenses was not on.
But it's more that just that. There is a culture in the Labour Party locally that is a cause for concern. Charlie was worried by the goings on a Deal Town Council. Concerns on the spending of public money and the misdeeds reported in the audit report is not what people expect. People feel very let down.
Charlie has made it clear he will not abuse expenses. He expects the highest standards from everyone in public life. That includes Charlie. See the expenses section of this website. He has also made it clear that any Conservative engaged in misdeeds locally would have the book thrown at them. The way the Labour Party carried on is not acceptable and Charlie has called on them to put their house in order for the good of the whole community and to restore trust in our public life.
Back to mapDefending Sholden
Along with Whitfield, the district council's desire for mass housebuilding has led to Sholden being threatened with excessive development. Charlie has attended public meetings in Sholden and says he thinks the district council should rethink its plans. Especially as they are planning to build on grade 1 farmland (they don't make that any more do they?) and the local roads are not up to mass development of this kind.
Back to mapProtecting our kids
As a father of two, Charlie is deeply concerned to ensure that children are protected and given the best start in life. They are our future.
Charlie is fighting to stamp out child dumping in Kent. 19,000 out of some 50,000 children in care, having been taken away from their parents are ripped out of their home communities and 1,301 of them are placed in Kent. Kent is the child dumping capital of the country. It's not for their "safety", now, is it? It's more likely to be about money according to the national press - Kent foster parents get less money than elsewhere according to the figures. And it's not right. Residents of Deal in particular have expressed concern to Charlie about this situation. We need a wider reform where we look to place care kids with their wider families if possible (is not blood thicker than water?) and if not adopt. Fostering is important, but should be the last step. Because the evidence shows fostering placements last about two years on average - that's not very long and it's not good for the stability of our kids.
Charlie is also fighting to ensure that the French look after children in the Jungle and at other camps at Calais. They have allowed them to live in disgusting conditions. It's not right. Nor is the latest call from the French for us to take all the people at Calais in. At £30,000 a child in Kent, and with 1,000 such children already that amounts to £30m. To take in more children that it is the duty of the French to protect and care for is neither affordable nor the proper thing to do. So Charlie recently sharply rebuffed the mayor of Calais for suggesting just that. Charlie believes the French should do the right thing and together we should target the people traffickers who encourage people to mass at Calais and try to break into Britain.
Back to mapBuy local!
Charlie is passionate about encouraging more people to buy local and support our local economy. We cannot just stand by and do nothing. Shops are closing down in Dover and Deal in the recession and we need to encourage people to use our local high streets and support each other.
In Deal, Charlie is keen to boost tourism. An art gallery to display all the paintings owned by the various local councils and showcase our great local artists would make such a difference. Yet strangely Labour keep attacking Charlie for this idea. Making the most out of Deal and Dover castles would do so much - English Heritage doesn't do as much as it could to provide a great family day out says Charlie. Yet strangely Labour keep attacking Charlie for that idea too. Maybe they just want to walk on by? Charlie also wants to see us think about getting things like a cinema back into Deal, a ten pin bowling alley and a venue for music and dance to support the Deal Music Festival. No doubt Labour will attack those ideas too! Charlie thinks it's all a bit of a shame - people in public life of all sides should be working together on these ideas not trying to create rows just to appear macho.
Charlie also carried out of survey of what would make people buy local more and was swaped with answers. He's shared the results with the business community. Hopefully it will help local businesses do really well and create more jobs.
There is so much we can do. All we need is the imagination and ambition. Charlie is determined to help chart a positive way forward for more jobs, money and greater life contentment for our families.
Back to mapNo port privatisation
The Port of Dover is the Gateway to England. It is our border. It is also our largest employer and critical to our economy. To Charlie the Port of Dover is a national asset and should remain so. The need for National Security and Border Security are overwhelming. The Port should remain an asset of the nation.
So Charlie totally opposes the privatisation of the Port for these reasons. You wouldn't privatise the army - it's equally wrong to sell off our borders. Charlie was deeply unhappy about the changes at the Port where workers were "outsourced". That is why Charlie marched with the port workers. Charlie is angry that the unions and the Labour MP stirred up a strike on the issue they could not win. Their loss after all the bluster simply achieved a loss of pension entitlement for long serving port workers. Many of these workers have since been sacked. Charlie sees it as totally unforgiveable to play politics with people's livelyhoods.
Now we learn that the Government has issued a document inviting privatisation of our port. Given it was a key pledge of the Government side at the last election that they would not do so, this is amazing. More amazing still is that the Port authorities have indicated in the local press they are indeed interested in this. This state of affairs amounts to a stunning breach of trust with our community. Charlie thinks it's a breach of trust for the Government to think of selling off the port having said they would not.
Charlie believes that the Western Docks development will require a lot of money. More money than the Port has available on its own. It will likely require a joint venture partner. If that happens, it is essential that the Dover Harbour Board retain management control. It would not be right in principle for the Port to be under the control of European or Middle Eastern interests - again on grounds of National and Border Security.
Back to mapSafer communities, secure borders
Making our borders more secure is essential. Currently they leak like a colander. Guns, drugs and lots of other things that should not be here get into Britain. Charlie wants to give the Immigration and Customs officers the powers they need and want to do their jobs properly. A Border Police force would make a big difference to making our borders more secure.
This year, Charlie went on a fact finding mission to Calais to see the Jungle. There he saw and spoke to some of the 1,000 Afghans and Iraqis. He saw how they were living in shocking conditions. Charlie made the case that the French should deal with the problem which is on French soil and ensure the people there live in better conditions and are processed properly. The French say Britain should just take them all into the UK. But how can we?
Back to mapMore jobs and money
People tell Charlie they are terrfied of unemployment in the downturn. Everywhere has been hard hit. So what is Charlie's plan to get more jobs and money?
First, get more business in. To do that we need to:
- Build more business space. The £18 spent by SEEDA to fail to bring forward Betteshangar Business Park is a total disgrace
- Invest in skills and back business in upskilling their workforces. South Kent College has a major role to play in this. As do schools like Astor College that do so much work to teach skills that students can use in work to get more money and a better job
- Invest in our roads. We haven't had our fair share. Better roads are linked to faster growth - more jobs and money
- Make the most of Manston. With a major port and a major airport in East Kent, along with the new fast line it could be transformational in its ability to attract businesses to set up locally
- Regeneration of Dover - making Dover a really attractive destination in its own right, with a fantastic sea front. A place you really want to be.
Charlie knows these projects will take time. But it's really important to move these things ahead. We are talking nothing less than the economic transformation of our community. A place with more jobs, money and prosperity. The success we should have had long ago. Charlie can be depended on the bang the drum and encourage people to come here, invest here and create more jobs here.
Back to mapI don't know the reasons why Manston hasn't "taken off" but I think that as another London airport is needed, I think we should develop Manston - as it already has a good runway- into the airport which is required in our area. One has only to miss one's holiday flight once due to the ongoing holdups at Dartford Tunnel to realise that an airport in this region is necessary. Certainly it would provide work in this corner of kent too.
- Sue burrows
Better and safer roads - and a fair share of investment
Our local roads are not good enough. The A2 goes single track down to the port. It should have been dualled years ago, but the Labour Government axed that project. The A256 is a sort of road to nowhere. It's dualled to Eastry and then goes single track. The county council keep closing off the turning points so it's hard to exit the road to where you want to go. Small wonder this ludicrous white elephant only has 1,000 cars a day. Even the planned pork barrel dualling of the upper part of the road in the marginal Labour seat of Thanet South fails to help as the road won't be dualled all the way down. Meanwhile the A258 road from Dover to Deal takes 10,000 cars a day and is a total disgrace. That's our local roads policy of the last decade. Completely and utterly barmy.
For years the A258 has been a serious danger and nothing has been done about it. Lots of warm words, no action. So Charlie arranged for the families who have lost loved ones on this dangerous road to meet Theresa Villiers MP, Shadow Transport Secretary. And helped get the county council to spend money on making the road safer. More needs to be done. It would help if the A256 was the road to somewhere - how about North Deal? - and Charlie is looking at how this could happen.
The A2 badly needs doing. The current Government dangles it as the price for destroying Whitfield with housing development. That's a disgraceful bribe. Charlie asks how about we just get our fair share of investment? And let's face it, it's not just for us, it's for the nation as Dover is the Gateway to England. Charlie is also thinking about how we can get lorries out of the centre of Dover with the Eastern Dock traffic going on the A2, the Western Dock traffic (when built) going down the M20. It would enable Dover and the water to unite properly, regenerate and truly become Dover Maritime, a destination in its own right.
This is all going to take years. But Charlie is setting the direction of travel now. It's not set yet. Please do comment and have your say. Charlie is serious about getting things done that will improve our roads - get us our fair share of investment after these 12 long wasted years.
Back to mapAs a resident of North Deal, I should like to know where I can view the proposals for a road to North Deal. I live on the sea front and the traffic is already very much faster in general that the 30 mph speed limit.
- Sue Burrows
Personally< I have never been caught in a queuq or snarl-up on the single carriageway section of the A2 and I doubt whether any businesses have ever said they will not invest in Dover because of a few miles of single carriageway road. The A258 Dover to Deal road is not dangerous, just some of the drivers using it.
Leave the A2 to motorists. The A.20/M.20 route is a nightmare due to damned lorries whereas the A.20 is much more "car friendly" and I always avoid the M.20 like the plague.
- C. Smith
Protecting Whitfield and fewer houses
Dover District Council wants to build up to 15,000 new houses locally. The Labour MP has succeeded in getting Government money to make it happen - called the "growth point". Charlie thinks it's all a terrible idea and will ruin the community we know and love.
How could Charlie say such a thing when Dover District Council is Conservative controlled? Are the Tories split? No - the entire council just loves house building. All parties - Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative passed the housebuilding plan with no votes against. Charlie's argument is not with any party - it is against the District Council as a whole and the Labour MP. They are all obsessed with housebuilding and Charlie thinks they've all just got it wrong.
Charlie is happy to be independent minded and stand up for our community. Sometimes in politics things do come down to conscience and this is one of them. 8,000 houses is fine, but 15,000 is just too many. Charlie says we need more business space, more jobs and money, more education, training and decent higher paid skilled jobs. Not more houses. We have a problem with the benefits culture locally and we should not shirk the task of getting people to achieve their full potential by getting other people to move in. We should deal with the problem not add yet more sticking plaster. Besides, we are sinking in a sea of concrete and congestion in the South of England. We need to bear in mind that every development down South pulls the rug from under the North. We need to unite our country and have more development and expansion in the North - and less development in the already over developed South East in particular.
Back to mapFair share healthcare and a proper hospital
Charlie is campaigning for a proper hospital for Dover. Charlie took Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley MP to meet health campaigners led by Reg Hansell. Having systematically destroyed much loved Buckland Hospital, the Government say they will build a polyclinic - the Conservatives want to see a proper hospital.
The polyclinic proposal is now in the sort of complete chaos that only a Government as blundering and incompetent as this one could achieve. It's a case of too many quangos ruin everything. This time, the Environment Agency says that the site chosen in mid town Dover is a flood risk area. The bottom line is we need this health facility - and we need to get on with it or we will lose the money committed to the project. Charlie is pressing for a speedy decision on the site so we don't lose the money. Charlie wants to see the facility built, so he can get the polyclinic upgraded to a proper hospital with beds and GP led urgent care.
It's the future that is important. Charlie wants to see a proper hospital for Dover, accountable quangos (like the Environment Agency and the local health chiefs), more beds and services in Deal Hospital, more NHS dentists that take on patients, cleaner local hospitals, less journeys to Ashford and Margate and all in all a fair share of healthcare for our disgracefully neglected community!
Back to mapCommonsense at last! Just build the new "hospital" on the same site as the original one. Apart from the lack of car parking ( which can be resolved ) the location is well known and access is easy. As a bonus, we still retain the car/coach parking in the town centre alongside the Health Centre. To be quite honest, I have never found anything wrong with the exosting hospital and the staff are brilliant.
- C.Smith
Fighting to save our post offices
Labour have closed 6 post offices locally. People in Capel were very angry as their post office was paid for by the village and only opened a few years ago. Mr Patel, with an excellent post office and shop in Sholden only did the shop up a couple of years before his post office was closed. And Mongeham went too. Dover town also lost two post offices.
This was the decision making of the madhouse. Charlie got up a petition to try and get the Government to see sense. It was not enough. The Government went ahead regardless.
Many were furious that Dover's Labour MP had said he was opposed to the changes in the constituency, yet toted up at Parliament and helped the Government vote through the post office closure plans. That's the kind of thing that destroys trust in public life and makes people think politicians will say and do anything for a vote.
Back to mapNorth Deal and Upper Deal post offices have also closed over the last few years. Both of which I used nearly every day . I for one am tired of walking a mile to my nearest post office and then waiting sometimes 20 minutes to post one parcel in the Chemist shop in Queen Street..
- Sue Burrows
Policing and anti social behaviour
Charlie went round with the Police for a full shift in Dover - 7pm Sat to 3am Sun. Charlie was taken to see River recreation ground - there had been complaints about young people behaving in an anti social way. And he went onto see what Dover is like later at night as the pubs turn out . . . let's just say people know how to enjoy themselves and it's not always pretty!
There were swarms of bored young people earlier on. They told Charlie they wanted more activities in Dover for younger people. Older people think youngsters want to cause anti social behaviour for devilment. Yet listening to them Charlie felt this was not the case. It's about boredom and the need is to get more for younger people to do. This has led Charlie to think about what more we can do for younger people. They are our future after all!
Talking to young people has led Charlie to table idea like dry pubs, more play areas and ask people to talk about what more we can do for great family days out. Do please comment on what you think we should do and share your ideas. Charlie is listening and wants to see real changes happen - not just more talk!
Back to mapCharlie Elphicke
Here you can read about the major projects I've been working on. For me it's all about a fair share of healthcare. More jobs and money. A safer community and more secure borders. You can click on a map pin to jump to a post or simply scroll away. Do please comment and help me to work better for our community!
From Twitter
@evanHD The 23% may be old. New is that Grayling's original analysis appears well founded. Real Q = what kind of ship is Scholar running?
1.6 days ago
@EvanHD Ministers manipulate figures all the time - esp changing the basis. The repo figures, ASHE, crime etc etc. but this is not reported
1.6 days ago
ElphickeTV
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I think we (British) have taken in too many Afghans and Iraqis already, as well as other races. How much longer can a small country like England support even the existing population? Why should the British pay for their welfare and how can we possibly sustain even the immigrants we already have in the UK? I don't think it is right to keep building more homes and using up our beautiful countryside.
- Sue Burrows