‘We’re fed up with fighting scheme after scheme here’
Around a hundred people visited a public exhibition of plans to build on land bordering Bearsted.
No developer has yet been attached to the scheme, but the owners have engaged property consultants Hobbs Parker to develop a suggested outline for Barty Farm.
The land, now used as sheep pasture, lies in the parish of Thurnham, but the proposed entrance from Roundwell is in Bearsted village. It is designated as a Special Landscape Area.
Proposals for 106 homes on the nine and half acre site (3.9 hectares) went on display at Tudor Park Hotel in Bearsted on Friday .
Rosemary Harlow, 75, who lives close by the farm in Mallings Drive, said: “We are all fed up with fighting scheme after scheme in Bearsted – the village is full. Our quality of life has already suffered.
“The proposed entrance is close to a blind bend on Roundwell, where there have been a number of accidents and one unfortunate fatality.” The draft outline also shows a second access onto Roundwell and an emergency road on to Water Lane.
Mary Richards, the secretary of the Bearsted and Thurnham Society, said: “It does feel as though the area is under siege, with other proposals at Waterside Park, Woodcut Farm, White Horse Wood, Lilk Meadow and elsewhere.” One of the chief concerns is the lack of school places nearby. KCC has already admitted that it has under-planned for school provision.
The eventual developer might have to contribute up to £7,000 per house towards creating new classrooms, but Thurnham, Roseacre and Hollingbourne schools have nowhere to expand.
The site has been put forward for housing development in Maidstone council’s draft Local Plan – yet to be adopted – and is marked up to take up to 122 homes.
Jane Scott, senior planning consultant of Hobbs Parker, said the exhibition was well attended and responses would be compiled and shared on any future planning application.
The agent has asked Maidstone council for a screening opinion to decide whether the scheme needs a detailed environmental impact investigation.