Homes and businesses in vision for paper mill site
‘The reaction has been good. There is still a concern about traffic and don’t think that is going to go away’
A scheme to redevelop the former Aylesford Newsprint site will create more jobs than the paper mill, say those behind the proposals.
The vision, unveiled at a twoday exhibition last week, is for 120,000sqm of the 100-acre plot to be devoted to business use, with the rest used for up to 450 homes.
The plans include the construction of a community ‘centre’ complete with convenience store, small primary school and medical facilities.
Work will be done to improve transport links, with proposals to add an extra lane to the north side of Leybourne Way, add access to the site via Station Road and connect Mill Hall to New Hythe along the River Medway.
In total 135 residents went to view the latest proposals at an exhibition in Church Farm Hall, New Hythe Lane, on Friday and Saturday.
Initially three ideas were put forward, one for commercial use only and two proposing housing alongside employment space, ranging from 350 to 500 homes. Mark Dodds, head of planning at agents Lambert Smith Hampton, said the scheme reflected feedback from the public and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, including at an exhibition in March.
He said: “People favoured a mix of housing and industrial, but what was clear was that people preferred the option with less housing.
“We are still keeping most of the site industrial and expect there would be more jobs created than there were before.
“The reaction has been good. There is still concern about traffic and don’t think that is going to go away.
“The transport network is fully loaded which is a problem. We can’t claim to solve these problems, but we can try not to make them worse with the improvements we have put forward.
“There is a general acceptance that we have taken the middle ground and people seem to think we have the right balance between housing and employment.”
The paper mill closed last February making 300 redundant.