Warning of 28,000 more car journeys a day in city

Air quality is latest battleground in fight against 4,000-home Mountfield Park scheme

Clean air campaigners fighting a huge housing development in south Canterbury are planning a second legal challenge – this time against the city council.

They have already lodged judicial review proceedings against the Secretary of State for not calling in the 4,000-home Mountfield Park scheme for a public inquiry.

Now environmentalists are going after the council, claiming it granted outline permission for the development without having an up-to-date air quality action plan for Canterbury.

That is disputed by council bosses who say they are “confident of our position”.

But the city has already been found to be failing pollution tests in several blackspot areas before any of the many planned housing developments have been built.

Emily Shirley and Michael Rundall, of the Kent Environment and Community Network, are leading the campaign.

This week they launched a £25,000 fundraising appeal to fight both challenges with the help of specialist planning barrister Robert Mccracken QC.

Thousands of leaflets are now being distributed across the city urging residents to make a donation to the fighting fund, which she says is “the last chance to save our fields from developers”.

She said: “The government has been told by the High Court that it has to create air pollution plans that comply with air pollution limits in our area.

“Instead, they sit back and refuse to do anything about this development that will obviously make air pollution worse by adding around 28,000 extra vehicle journeys daily to Canterbury’s congested roads.

“We believe the Secretary of State should have called it in and we are also challenging why he has given no reasons for doing so.”

Mrs Shirley says they now want to lodge judicial review proceedings against the city council before it issues formal planning permission to Mountfield Park developer Corinthian following the completion of detailed section 106 agreements.

She said: “Our barrister has agreed to take on the challenges at a cut price because he knows Canterbury well and cares about its future.

“But this is not just about south Canterbury. The traffic generated by this development will impact negatively on all the city and nearby villages.

“We believe in a sustainable Canterbury and we want to see planning proposals which deliver a safer, healthier and a better future for everyone. Already we have £1,700 and have only just started.”

They have also launched a Facebook group called SWITCH (Sustainable Ways Integral to Canterbury’s Health).

City council spokesman Leo Whitlock said: “The council has an air quality action plan in place and air quality, along with the city’s historic setting, was analysed extensively in the report officers submitted to the planning committee and they considered it in detail when making their decision.

“We commissioned specialist advice on air quality and consulted with a number of bodies including Historic England.” A pilot scheme was launched this week to measure pollution in St Dunstan’s.

The trial is being led by Professor Stephen Peckham, who is director of the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent.

He has been an outspoken critic of the Mountfield Park proposal because he fears its effect on traffic pollution in the city centre.

Volunteers are to helping to operate £500 monitoring units in St Dunstan’s at different times throughout the day.

Prof Peckham, who is working on the project with Dr Ashley Mills, said: “We will be investigating the level of particulates in the air which can be especially damaging to the lungs.

“It is just a pilot scheme and to assess the quality of the data we are getting back.

“The aim is then to roll it out across the city so we can get an accurate picture.”

Prof Peckham said he has some sympathy with the city council for being tasked with air pollution monitoring.

“The government requires it to produce an air quality action plan without any extra resources.

But the fact is, other councils have achieved it,” he said.

Emily Shirley - ‘they refuse to do anything about this development which will make air pollution worse’