Kentish Express Ashford & District
Winery plans for farmland
A “massive” winery and visitor centre could be built on farmland in the Canterbury countryside as part of a heavily revised development previously rejected by councillors.
Quinn Estates is having a second stab at the Highland Court Farm proposal, earmarked for land in an area of outstanding natural beauty to the southern side of the city.
The development firm has teamed up with leading wine producer Chapel Down, which currently has its main base in Tenterden.
The plan for the site, outside Bridge, will be just a third of the size of the unanimously rejected original scheme, which included 175 holiday homes.
Having learned from the previous attempt, Quinn Estates has ditched the housing aspect and is instead focusing purely on a winery bid and a new home for Canterbury City FC.
Mark Quinn, chief executive of the development firm, said: “It’s positive as we’re putting a winery on farmland, so it’s not that weird of a scheme.
“It’s effectively an extension of the business park at Highland Court. There’s no housing involved at all - basically just a massive winery.
“We haven’t been able to do anything for the football club yet as they need a home, but we still want to incorporate. That plan is still going forward.
“We’re having to wait and see what the council does with the Local Plan in allocating things before we can proceed further.”
The Chapel Down facility is set to produce thousands of bottles of wine each year.
The company prides itself on being “England’s leading winemaker” and revealed a volume sales growth of 38% in 2020.
A statement from Chapel Down managing director Frazer Thompson says: “The opportunity for Highland Court is to bring exceptional architectural design to deliver the message that Canterbury is the creative leader in the growing food and drink sector, bringing prosperity to the rural economy and delivering a high value and high growth tourism opportunity.”