Blog post by Malcolm Dyer, New Romney

We need a single voice to speak up for Romney Marsh! We need a 'Common Council for Romney Marsh'. A representative body which wiil make our case before all levels of government and the battalions of quangos.

Government, at a stroke far off in Westminster, deletes Dungeness from the National Grid. No nuclear power station means no flood defence priority in times of rising tides as the Globe warms. No one know just how long we have left. Some say that the sea is rising as just half a centimetre every year. But others, including many climate scientists worry that we might be looking at a sea level over three feet higher than it is today within this century. But, when in this century?

Then there is the question, not just of what goes on at the Sea Wall, but what happens to our landscape inland. Do we need more and more 'suburbanisation' as Ashford grows and the high speed rail link takes effect on property prices. Local people, unless they are lucky enough to have a good job, will be priced out of their locality by incomers, just as has happened to what were once small communities all over the country. What future for the next generation?

We are very lucky to live in this wonderful place. The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England defines Romney Marsh to be 'the last place of tranquility in the South East'. It would be nice to retain something of this quality, whilst remaining secure from the ingress of the restless ocean. It would be nice too, to fill our presently semi-vacant industrial sites with up and coming businesses with a long term future. Our agricultural land is Grade One Standard. A nation, like an army, marches on it's stomach and our little country is going to need it's farmers as world food prices rise. Romney Marsh farmers could prosper to the benefit of all.

Romney Marsh did not just result from silting rivers and 'Long Shore Drift'. Man created this landscape. He also realized that it had to be sensibly governed. Priorities had to be agreed and common policies pursued over the entire area in order that this vulnerable landscape could continue to exist. Royal Charters were obtained, way back in medieval times, setting up elected local government for the marshes. We had two authorities, one concerned with internal affairs and the other specifically for flood control. Medieval Man created this, 'Fifth Continent' and fully understood how to keep it safe. Layers upon layers of legislation eroded away all of this and left us at the mercy of many layers of local government, unelected quangos and the mercurial decision-makers of Westminster.

Meanwhile, sea levels start to rise, thanks to human activity, threatening to erase our landscape and our homes.

To repeat myself; We need a voice to state our case just as we always had for more than half a millennium until the middle decades of the last century. History is a lesson unlearned if we fail to do this.

Contact me if you agree. If enough people do this, we will call public meeting in the New Year. Email: dyerm@live.co.uk

Malcolm Dyer, is a resident of New Romney, Romney Marsh

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