Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
. . . but it could be short-lived and costly
speak at the Local Plan hearings has passed.”
Rydon Homes applied to build the estate on farmland off The Hill, creating an access by demolishing two homes at numbers 42 and 42a. As a benefit to the community, they had also offered to build a doctors’ surgery on the site.
It has been one of the most fiercely-contested planning proposals in the village in recent years.
In his report, planning officer Steve Musk said the application “represented a sustainable use of the land” which he claimed would not unacceptably impact on the village
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Gallagher urged councillors to turn it down.
He said: “This application represents almost the same level of building in one development as has happened in Littlebourne in the last 25 years. A sudden, 15% increase in housing stock and population is not sustainable.
“Parishioners do not recognise the traffic statistics presented by the applicant and highways.
“There will be about 150 vehicles on this estate and the idea that just under a third of these vehicles will depart and then return during the peaks beggars belief.
“This scheme has been mooted since 2012, but excluded from the land allocation process and now the draft plan for 2014, and our parishioners are asking why it should now be served up again and this time be deemed acceptable?”
Environmental campaigner Emily Shirley said she feared drainage problems from the development could seriously impact on the long-running
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Cllr Ashley Clark was also worried about the drainage issue, despite a condition in the planning consent requiring the sewer to be upgraded. He said he thought the objectors had made very valid points and the application had come in “under the Local Plan radar”.
Cllr Nick Eden-Green said the doctors’ surgery had been put in by the developer as a “sweetener”, but he was worried about the extra traffic on the A257.
He also feared it would be a “closed community” and the development should be rejected because the site had already been excluded from the Local Plan. But Cllr Rosemary Doyle supported the plan, saying it would enhance the vitality of the village and keep businesses viable.
Seven councillors voted against the application and five in favour.