Traffic fears needed addressing earlier

Is it just amazing to think that at this late stage of planning consent for the Large Burton development, that the highways department is now giving very relevant reasons for why the scheme should not proceed!

Since the government said to all local authorities you need to build more houses in your area, it has been manna from heaven to builders - and to local authorities to make loads of money!

Like a house, it is built from the foundations upwards but before doing so we have to go through the various stages of planning to get approval.

In a case like Great Burton, I would have assumed the process would have been the same?

From what we are hearing, this is far from the truth!

Surely after the proposal from the intended developer on the number of house he wants to build with plans, the local authority has a priority to look at how the current infrastructure will be affected - ie: will there be sufficient water/sewage to accommodate these; will the hospital be able to accept more potential patients; how will junior/senior schools cope, electricity and gas and now, as your paper has stated, the effects on the local roads, both minor and major. This appears not to have happened in this case?

From any builder’s perspective, their only interest is in making profit. How has our council allowed this scheme to reach its current situation?

Terry Deary,

Canterbury Road, Kennington part of any potential route, this needs to be looked at holistically and urgently. Consistent with Ashford’s local plan, the council should consider making a section 106 contribution by the developer, to at least part-fund such a road, a condition of any planning approval.

Simon Jowers,

Canterbury Road, Kennington The recent application by the Hockey Club for nine homes is seen to be a trojan horse to resurrect this past wider scheme and given the present KCC Highways objection, is the linking of the Canterbury Road and Trinity Road a hidden agenda to resolve.

By putting Large Burton into the recent Local Plan, ABC broke its word to residents to protect the land from development and retain the incredible landscape and views to the Wye Crown. Winston Michael,

Ashford Independent borough councillor

Concerns have been raised over the traffic impact of the proposed ‘Large Burton’ development