Anger as 725 homes get nod

The meeting began on time last Wednesday but the first 30 minutes or so was a farce as nobody seemed to know what they were doing.

Mr Cole, planning officer for ABC, began by showing slides of the proposed development and explaining where things were in relation to the site.

Mr Cole refuted most of the objections stating that ABC was more than happy with Quinn’s mitigation measures in place.

Councillor Clokie then set out his dismissal of the 1,100 objections submitted by residents, stating that quantity did not signify quality.

He said that houses have to be built somewhere, and if not on this site in Kennington, then they would have to be built in villages “and I am sure we wouldn’t want that”.

Why make it a priority to protect the villages to the detriment of Kennington residents, are we less important?

I am afraid that the battle was lost once Cllr Clokie stated his approval and likewise seven Conservative councillors followed his lead.

When it came to voting, one councillor said she was very disappointed that the overall development lacked forward thinking in ideas and efforts to include carbon neutral designs.

She said the plans harked back to estates built in past decades and we should be looking to produce estates with more flair and imagination.

However, despite her misgivings, she said she would still vote for the application.

The final vote was eight Conservatives for and seven against - a mix of Labour, Independents and Green and one abstention from Cllr Brendan Chilton.

What was noticeable was that not one of the Conservatives live anywhere near Kennington, and several of whom live in villages.

After 15 months since

Quinn Estates submitted its planning application, residents have fought to get the message across that this area cannot sustain this development in many ways.

They know more than KCC Highways how congested the roads are on a daily basis, not just when highways decided to appear once to do an assessment on traffic flow.

I feel the meeting was very rushed as it had obviously been decided to just get it done.

Maybe we were naive to think that our needs and welfare would be a priority for our elected councillors.

Democracy in action, more fool us.

Pamela Welbourn

In a callous example of hiding bad news during this crisis yet again the powers that be let down those that vote them in.

The Great Burton estate steamrolls on probably as we expected it to.

We all look forward to Great, Great Burton, then Larger Burton followed by Lower Wye.

Is democracy as we know dead?

I suppose we all take some responsibility for voting people in but I do get tired of the rhetoric of “it will only get agreed by those above anyway”.

Ashford has the largest population growth in the region and has had its share of developing.

Constantly barraged by the “we need more houses”... but do we here and what sort?

At a time when we are all reflecting and taking the time to slow down it has been great to walk across these fields and admire the views.

Great, too, to take time to say hello and see others enjoying the Garden of England.

Best make the most of it as doubt the steam-rolling will change.

Lee Robinson

Wednesday, May 20 was the saddest day of my life; sad because Kennington residents' overwhelming wishes were ruthlessly bulldozed, and sad because good governance appeared absent.

One asks, where was the open mind demanded of planning committee members?

Firstly, a planning committee member that had reservations about the development was unable to attend, and in accordance with rules, nominated a substitute of a similar mind.

The Conservative whip refused the nomination and instead replaced them with a councillor who supported approval, something unheard of before.

Secondly, the planning committee contains four cabinet members, one being the portfolio holder for planning.

The government planning advisory service recommends the cabinet portfolio holder for planning should not be a member of the planning committee, and indeed other learned documents extend this to all cabinet members.

Thirdly, the agreed reduction in the size of the planning committee, and the change to the political balance of committees brought about by the March by-election, have not been enacted.

This would have seen Conservative majority loss, and could possibly have resulted seven for approval and nine against the development.

Cllr Winston Michael

Ashford Independent, Goat

Lees ward

Dexter Close, Boughton Aluph

How the Kentish Express first reported on the Large Burton scheme in 2016