Battle for Blean as campaign launched to stop housing plan

Villagers have set up a fighting fund in a bid to stop plans for a new housing estate on the outskirts of Canterbury.

The campaign has been launched in Blean, where a scheme for 75 homes on farmland off the A290 was refused by the city council last week.

Gladman Developments submitted the fresh plans after its proposal for a larger 85-home estate on the same site was thrown out by the planning committee in February.

But with an appeal to the planning inspectorate on the initial application still to be decided, Blean Parish Council chairman, Barbara Flack, admits the battle to stop the development continues.

Speaking after the planning meeting last Tuesday, she said: “It was a bitter-sweet night because although the city council threw out the plans, the developer has appealed and we know we still have a fight on our hands.”

Gladman had hoped to negate the need for its appeal to run its course by winning approval for the smaller 75-home scheme, but the application was narrowly refused by six votes to five.

Before taking the vote, the committee had considered 60 letters of objection, with inadequate drainage and increased traffic among the concerns of residents.

Ward councillor Ben FitterHarding described the plans as “development of the worst kind”.

But Cllr Nick Eden-green warned a vote against would likely see the developers win on appeal.

He said: “It would be easy to go for the popularity vote, but if we refuse this, there is no doubt in my mind that an appeal for 85 homes would succeed.

“It is in a highly sustainable site – far more so than the similar development at Littlebourne which we approved.”

He added that a government planning inspector considering the Local Plan was not satisfied the council had a five-year housing delivery plan and there were “no solid grounds” for refusal.

‘We are asking for pledges and already have £1,100, but know it will cost thousands’

But the committee agreed with a council officer’s recommendation to refuse the proposal because it is not earmarked in the emerging Local Plan for housing and the site is outside the village confines.

With the decision leaving the site’s future in the hands of the planning inspectorate, Cllr Flack says villagers will do what they can to protect the site.

She says a public consultation in Blean has revealed overwhelming support to commission a planning legal expert to help fight the appeal.

“We are asking for pledges and already have £1,100, but know it will cost thousands more,” she said.

Gladman is likely to echo the argument it put before the plan- ning committee, claiming the city council has not identified an adequate five-year supply of land for housing.

It also says the proposed site near the Royal Oak pub forms a “logical extension” to the existing village settlement, adding the £8.8 million development would bring 78 construction jobs and a boost to local trade.

Gladman planning manager, Diana Richardson, told committee members its appeal on the 85-home application would be withdrawn if the smaller scheme was approved.

She argued that the upgrading of the sewer system to the satisfaction of Southern Water would answer concerns about localised flooding, but villager and drainage expert Geoff Fox warned members it would not be a solution to the specific problems faced on the land.

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Gladman Developments has appealed after fresh plans to build 75 homes, rather than the orginal 85, were again rejected

Picture: Chris Davey FM4544903 Blean residents who are fighting development proposals in the village