‘Someone may die in gridlock’ Fears over more housing
Another homes approval near hospital
Controversial plans for 118 new homes have been approved despite one councillor warning he did not want it on his conscience “that someone may die” in resulting traffic gridlock. Developer Taylor Wimpey is seeking to build the properties on land in Barming known locally as the pea fields, and has faced vociferous opposition from neighbours living near the site. A Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council planning committee approved outline planning permission for the scheme despite hearing concerns about increase in traffic close to Maidstone Hospital, the impact of a nearby quarry and the risk of further sinkholes which have previously opened up in the area.
The site covers land in the Maidstone and Tonbridge and Malling council areas. Maidstone gave approval in January for 181 homes on its portion, on the condition a working group is formed to address the issues of open space within the estate and the access available for the emergency services and bus links.
Aylesford South member Colin Williams said residents were “sick of the amount of development” going up in the borough, fearing more than 3,000 houses could be built on or just off Hermitage Lane in the coming year. Raising his concerns about potential gridlock on the roads when the pandemic is over, he said: “When Hermitage Lane is in total blockage with traffic congestion I am very worried how an ambulance is going to get to a hospital quickly and because of the traffic problems I don’t want it on my conscience that someone may die.”
MPs Helen Grant and Tracey Crouch last year appealed to the Secretary of State for Housing for “an urgent moratorium on all future house building” in Barming after a series of huge sinkholes opened up in the area. The plans for the pea fields site have been met with fierce objections from people living nearby, who are concerned about a risk of further sinkholes, an increase in traffic and the loss of wildlife and much-valued open space for recreation.
Backing on to Broomshaw Road, the fields have long been used by locals for exercise and walking dogs.
Last year there was uproar when they were temporarily cordoned off, save for a public footpath, for ecology work relating to the plans for the new housing estate.
The area has seen a number of voids appear in the ground in recent years, most notably on the Tonbridge Road in 2018 and two sinkholes opened up at the end of last year on the nearby Orchard Fields housing estate. Chris Jones, representing the Give Peas a Chance campaign group opposing the plans, told the committee access routes to the proposed homes are not suitable for a development of that size.
Councillors on the Tonbridge and Malling committee voted 13 for and four against the plans, with one abstention.