14th September 2001

Dear Friends of the Earth, Thank you for including your local councillors in your mailings. I am always interested to see the issues that concern you but I was surprised at the opposition you voiced to the Millennium Horse project. (wrong)

I am one of the many people who would like to see this work of art go ahead and become a symbol for Folkestone's regeneration. I think the setting is superb, as it will be seen by not only local people but over 10 million people a year who travel through Folkestone through the Channel Tunnel. Folkestone desperately needs this sort of high profile.

As the horse would be in outline it would take a very small total area of the hill leaving plenty of space for the fauna and flora already there. I was therefore surprised at how implacable opposition to the horse has been from some environmentalists.(wrong)
The argument seems to be that anything made by man is unacceptable on this site however much local people may want it. wrong - who said that?

There is a real danger that by taking such a fundamentalist view (Man = bad, Nature = good) wrong, where did you get that idea from? that the environmental lobby will alienate people who would otherwise support them. This is certainly what people attending the Public Enquiry were saying. (we all have a right to an opinion)

So please do campaign to preserve the countryside, to make our transport cleaner and our food safer but please consider what you do when you oppose something like the Millennium Horse which is a work of art and symbol of hope for Folkestone not a tower block. (we did not say that either)

Yours sincerely,
Susan Carey
District Councillor Saltwood and Newington.

text in red are my personal comments
Barrie Botley