Here we are at the start of a new year, when the previous twelve months become a fast-fading dream, often bid a final farewell with comments such as "where did that year go ?"  And quite naturally our thoughts turn to the year ahead and the challenges, known and unknown, facing us.

Within Protect Kent many of our challenges are old issues, carried over from previous years, which are still unresolved, 'to be concluded', or possibly lacking any agreed way forward.  Examples are many, from the variety of proposed airports in the Thames Estuary to the dispute over the need for night flights from Manston;  the numerous transport issues, from the Third Thames Crossing to the irritation caused by the noise emanating from the M20;  and of course the crucial planning issues, from the nationally significant draft NPPF to the more local 'Local Plans' and their sometimes damaging impact on our countryside.  The same "old chestnuts" !

This is in-efficient and exhausting.  None of us can afford to keep revisiting each and every idea, option and proposal, sometimes approaching them from opposite directions and creating confrontation.  Limited resources (faced by everyone) demands focussed action.  There needs to be a better way.

So, to all our members, supporters, followers, groups, bodies, and people we work with (and even those we may appear to work against), I would like to issue a "Challenge for 2012":

Let us work together – Protect Kent with the organisations and people of Kent – to tackle the legacy of issues from previous years, and reach an agreed and final strategy for each.

Let us make 2012 a happy, prosperous, and co-operative New Year !

Andrew Ogden

Campaigns Manager