Rodmersham and the Science Park

The pleasure of walking in the countryside is not merely to look at the countryside and to enjoy a visit to a local public house for lunch and a taste of ale or beer but to be able to continue to do so without the town or city encroaching on the unique nature of what is our Engklish heretige. Such pleasures as watching cricket played on the green or to wander across the fields and into the woods without having to walk past rows of boring houses or to look down on a series of dull factory roofs are waht we demand of a visit to our rural areas.

Unfortunately the village of Rodmersham is likely to fall victim to the industrialists who want to create a link from the M2 Motorway into the present so-called science park and to expand it beyond its present limits. Instead of wheatfields and a view across the downs unmarred by overt industrialism there is a prospect of rows of houses, with roads feeding into the already crowded town of Sittingbourne and the possibility of a yet another large supermarket springing up and the further expansion out to the motorway.

Rodmersham is a pleasant place to visit and live but with the arrival of many more people and the subsequent housing needed for them the place will be lost in a maw of boring modern buildings with little or no taste that will be unlikely to house workers from the local area but encourage an influx of workers from outside the area whose interest in it lies with making their salaries. Local people are already in housing and if the park goes ahead how many of them will be employed? That is a question that will need to be answered. Will there be jobs for our young people or will it be a case of bringing in workers from elsewhere?

The disruption of our town and the encroachment on the rural area that makes Sittingbourne a place worthwhile living in will have an impact on Rodmersham that will not be seen until it is too late and the awful buildings that seem to be sprouting up all over have taken over and absorbed what is a pretty village with a pub that has a long history for serving good food. In addition the visitor can take tea at the the local village store and if they are lucky can experience the marvellous cheese scones locally made served by people who have the customer's needs at heart.

Why all the fuss?

Simply take a look at the last picture after sampling the others and yuo will see the 'wind farm' in the distance beyond the church and the wonderful view of wheat ripening. This is a food producing area - the local pub is called The Fruiterer's Arms - and the area abounds with orchards of pears and apples and on the edge of the fields bullace plums and damsons grow wild. A walk in the area will offer views of the downas and the coastal areas that are second to none and typical of Kent and its status as the Garden of England. The science park will be one more attack on this heretige.

I would like to walk this area and see not rows of houses or the shining tops of factories or rows of electric street lamps but the waving wheat and the happy chirrup of native birds and to be able to cross the road without having to bother with a stream of cars on their way to work.