Mill scheme wins approval

Maidstone Borough Council has approved building 295 homes on the site of the former Whatman mill at Springfield.

There was almost no discussion on the principle of the main scheme, whi ch has already been allocated in the adopted Local Plan.

Instead members of the planning committee spent over an hour discussing whether the developers should be required to keep the mill’s listed rag room for community use or be allowed to turn it into offices and make a financial contribution towards community facilities elsewhere.

Eventually the committee voted four votes to two to secure the rag room for community use, against the advice of North Ward Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) who said: “I do not want to see the local community saddled with a potentially very expensive listed building to maintain.”

Two councillors, Dennis Spooner (Con) and Eddie Powell (Ukip), could not take part in the debate as they arrived after the meeting had started.

The developers will be permitted to supply only 20% affordable housing – an “exception” to the new Local Plan requirement of 30%.

Director of planning Rob Jarman said this was because with pollution and the potential for flooding on the site, the developers would face exceptional costs.

The mill at Springfield produced paper for more than 200 years and more recently made medical filters.

A campaign was launched in 2015 to list the entire site when news it could be used for housing emerged. The areas now listed are the chimney, rag room and engine room.