Charity slams new homes plan for the borough
A leading countryside charity has criticised a local authority for adopting a massive housing programme, despite last-ditch interventions from Kent County Council (KCC).
Maidstone council approved its Local Plan last month with more than 8,000 extra houses to stay in line with targets imposed by the government. The decision sparked fury from all sides.
But CPRE, the countryside charity, said it had been left “deeply disheartened” by the council’s decision which represented a “significant setback”.
More than 5,000 houses are pencilled in for Lenham Heath, 2,000 on the border with Medway at Lidsing and 1,300 at Maidstone’s Invicta Barracks. A CPRE statement said: “This
is a plan that significantly increases the level of house building within a borough that has already expanded vastly over recent years, with existing infrastructure already falling over as a result.”
It missed the opportunity to address “critical issues” over the sustainable development in the borough, said CPRE.
The statement added: “We were particularly concerned as to the Heathlands (Lenham Heath) proposal to dump 5,000 houses on isolated countryside near Lenham, along with 2,000 houses to be built on countryside at Lidsing.
“Among the myriad of problems, it was apparent from the start that the plan failed to account for the necessary infrastructure required to support the envisaged housing developments, particularly at Heathlands and Lidsing.
“This obvious flaw remained unresolved throughout the Local Plan examination process, causing increasing exasperation from us and other key stakeholders as we sought to highlight this.
“Even on the night of the critical vote by the borough council to formally adopt the Local Plan, KCC – responsible for much of the essential infrastructure – attempted to intervene by pleading with the council
not to adopt it.
“KCC’s intervention highlighted the plan’s failure to provide adequately for crucial infrastructure elements such as roads and schools, emphasising a number of critical failings of the plan.
“These pleas, however, ultimately fell upon deaf ears.” Maidstone council leader Cllr David Burton (Con) said: “The CPRE will only be happy when you don’t build another house. The fact is there is a housing crisis that is becoming acute.” CPRE said: “CPRE Kent
firmly believes that if we are ever to address the housing needs of our communities, particularly in terms of providing social-rent housing, proper infrastructure planning is critical.
“Without proper infrastructure, any housing development will rightly be met with public resistance and ultimately fail to serve the needs of both existing and new residents.
“In this respect, the adoption of the Maidstone Local Plan represents a significant setback for the future of Maidstone
residents. By sacrificing precious green spaces for cardependent, cookie-cutter suburban sprawl, the council is perpetuating existing issues with the already-strained local infrastructure.”
Chairman of Lenham Parish Council, Cllr John Britt, said: “What the CPRE says is absolutely true. We are now considering what legal routes we can go down and we are waiting to hear back about the potential for a legal challenge.”