Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
This is the view that £1.3m bought
A billionaire shipping and aviation magnate has snapped up a derelict hospital site which sits in view of his sprawling family manor, the Gazette can reveal.
Barnaby Swire swept rival bidders aside when the crumbling St Augustine’s isolation unit near Canterbury came up for auction.
His family’s £1.26million bid secured the 30-acre plot, which commands impressive views over Chartham’s idyllic Downs.
Swire – whose familyowned company is rated by Forbes Magazine as one of Britain’s largest – owns Grade Ii-listed Kenfield Hall, nestled a stone’s throw away in the valley below.
While the Swires’ intentions are unknown, we can report that they had previously voiced concern over plans by a nearby school to relocate to the site.
James Hole, a partner of Strutt & Parker estate agents which represents the family, said: “It’s been an emotional purchase” for the Swires.
“I can’t say for sure that they want to develop it. It’s possible,” he told the Gazette.
In its sales pack for the site, Savills auction house states that previous freeholders had commissioned plans for 50 homes on the site – though these were never submitted for planning consent.
However, it is possible the Swires could retain the plot as open space.
They have previously battled to prevent developments in the largely unspoiled landscape surrounding their estate – including on the plot
they have just bought.
In 2012 the Canterbury Steiner School, at neighbouring Perry Court, was proposing a move to the former hospital buildings, now bought by the Swires.
At that point the school had already thrashed out a contract with then owner, the Home and Communities Agency, to buy the plot for
£500,001 – with the balance due in December 2014.
Documents lodged with Canterbury City Council reveal objections to the school’s planning application made by Strutt & Parker on behalf of the family.
“This interest stems from the fact that my client lives in the valley below Chartham Downs Road and has direct
views of the site from their property”, a letter dated April 4, 2012, states.
In it the Swires accept that “reuse for education purposes does have the benefit of being particularly suitable to the structures and buildings on site with a good level of surrounding amenity land”.
However, they go on to express concern over access, lighting, elevations of the buildings, boundary landscaping and building demolition.
Steiner was also seeking planning permission for 15 homes on its current Perry Court site – around a mile from Kenfield Hall as the crow flies.
An email from Camilla Swire, Mr Swire’s wife, dated September 2012, shows that the family were vehemently opposed.
It reveals that she had organised a petition among neighbours to fight the plans.
“We are concerned that a residential development in this part of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is not suitable due to its highly visible nature,” her petition states.
A letter on behalf of the Swires from Strutt & Parker, dated April 2012, also states: “It is clear that residential development in isolation would be contrary to all existing policies”.
Both Steiner’s applications were withdrawn in November 2015 and the school’s move never materialised. It is not known why. A spokesman at Steiner confirmed the land at St Augustine’s was bought in 2011 with the intention to relocate, but had sold last week at auction.
She said: “The board of trustees made the decision it was in the school’s best interests to sell the land, therefore there was no reason to pursue that avenue [the relocation].
“It would be wrong to speculate on what Mr Swire plans to do with the land, but we wish him all the best with his purchase.”
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