Building on field sparks concern
Usually it is the planning applications for large numbers of homes that cause the most outrage, but in Boxley a proposal for just two is proving equally upsetting for residents.
There have already been 16 letters of objection plus another from the parish council to a proposal from the Rochester Bridge Wardens Trust. It wants to build two three-bedroom detached homes on a green field off Forge Lane, next to Anvil Cottage.
Much of the concern centres on the traffic implications for Forge Lane, a narrow, private, unsurfaced road, although the applicants promise to take measures to ensure that vehicles will approach the new homes via a track from the south through Street Farm.
There are also concerns about a number of alleged inaccuracies in the application, including a statement saying the new homes will be connected to the mains drainage system – although the village has no mains drainage.
Graham Newman, of Forge Lane, said: “Forge Lane consists mostly of small two and three-bedroom cottages and the proposed dwellings are large detached houses, clearly out of scale with the existing houses.” See application 17/500471. A large cash injection and a generous dose of Egyptian cotton has helped revive a former hospital, but who exactly will be able to live there?
The 243 luxury flats and houses that now fill the leafy streets of Royal Wells Park are a far cry from the outdated wards and peeling waiting rooms that formed Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, until 2013.
But you’ll still come across eager buyers willing to give their right arm for a bed at this new development.
Just off Mount Ephraim in the heart of the royally affluent commuter town, Berkeley Homes’ project couldn’t really be better placed.
There’s several schools within strolling distance – including the development’s own Wells Free School – and the town’s station is a stone’s throw away.
If the top of the range interiors don’t suit your tastes there’s always Wilko just down the road at Royal Victoria Place shopping centre.
But how much will all of this set you back? Three hundred grand? Try again. Half a million? Closer.
The cheapest flats here are £510,000 but if you need a little more room, houses start at £699,000 and spiral all the way up to a whopping £1.65m.
So, who’s able to afford these prices? According to property consultant Simon Biddulph, of Knight Frank, people who sell their pads in Fulham and want something a little less cosy.
Peter Smith, managing direc- tor of Berkeley Homes’ Eastern Counties division, says about 50% of the new owners are from the capital.
It could end up being higher when all the properties are bought – the vast majority have already been snapped up, many off-plan.
In a market where buyers are scrambling over each other to get their hands on well located real estate it’s not exactly surprising.
The interiors of both show homes – priced at £1.25m and £1m – have been pieced together by Phoenix Interior Design’s Susan White.
Everything has been thought out, from the textured wallpaper to the small but perfectly formed Georgian-style garden, and all of it, the whole estate, is the epitome of luxury living.
Mr Biddulph says the market is refusing to slow down and despite a slight blip last year caused by Brexit highly priced homes like these will be big business for many years to come.