Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘waits exceed guidelines’
A developer trying to build homes on the site of a disused pub in Broad Oak say he is frustrated by delays in the planning process.
Alistair Noel has applied to convert the former Royal Oak pub into a house and build 14 flats on land next to it.
His application has been with the council for almost six months – even though Canterbury City Council is asked to deal with major applications within 13 weeks.
Mr Noel said: “It’s been 24 weeks since we submitted the application and it is frustrating because we want to get on with the development. This period of time clearly exceeds the guidelines.
“We’ve got every sympathy with those working in the planning department as I’m sure they have very high workloads.
“However, the consequence to the public is that muchneeded homes are not getting built while there is clearly a need for homes in and around Canterbury.
“It’s all the more frustrating for us in relation to our application as it has the support of villagers, of the parish council and of Cllr Heather Taylor.
“We are actually fielding calls from neighbours asking whether it been granted yet.”
The application has yet to go before Canterbury’s planning committee.
Mr Noel added that within the last two weeks, the council had requested information relating to affordable housing.
Canterbury’s head of planning Simon Thomas said: “At this stage, the application for the Royal Oak is currently undecided and we are waiting on the applicants for confirmation that they will provide the amount of affordable housing required under the council’s planning policy.”
The council says 92.4% of major applications are dealt with within the 13-week guideline. These are applications for 10 units or more or for sites of one hectare or larger.
Smaller applications are labelled minor. The council has 65.8% success rate on dealing with them inside the government-set eight-week guideline.