City homes

Exclusive: man behind giant plan

If Simon Wright’s ambitions for Canterbury match the size of his large frame, the shape of the city is set to change forever.

At 6ft 7in and 19 stone, it’s no surprise the 49-year-old is an ex-rugby forward, but his considerable weight is now firmly behind controversial plans for 4,000 homes in the south of Canterbury.

After 11 years working on the Mountfield Park scheme as chief executive of Corinthian Land, the former bank manager is tantalisingly close to seeing the first brick laid.

The city council granted outline permission for the scheme in December last year and gave the green light for work to start on the first 140 homes, close to the Barton estate off New Dover Road.

But the diggers remain idle because green campaigners -– warning of a drastic spike in air pollution in a city already breaching guidelines – were granted a judicial review which has stalled any progress.

Now, after a recent two-day hearing, a High Court judge is deliberating on whether to order the Secretary of State to call in the plans for determination, potentially delaying construction for up to a year.

For now it’s a waiting game for Corinthian, albeit an expensive one.

Mr Wright said: “Every month we can’t start work is costing £200,000 out of my own pocket, which is money I would rather be spending on offering more benefits.”

Environmental campaigners leading the legal challenge claim the vast housing development, which is one of the biggest in the country, will create an extra 28,000 journeys a day on the city’s roads.

Mr Wright says he “does not recognise” this figure, but adds: “I can’t sit here and say the development is not going to affect Canterbury, but I don’t know where this number has been pulled from.

“I have had the best consultants in the country working out what we are going to do with modal traffic shifting.

“We actually have a travel plan, including a new junction onto the A2 that shows we want to add nothing further to Canterbury city centre.

“Our aim is for Mountfield Park to have a zero traffic effect, but I do understand that will take a hell of a lot of work.”

Mr Wright is also funding a cross-city air quality study to the tune of £500,000 with the University of Kent and is pledging a number of green initiatives in the bid to tackle pollution.

All new homeowners will be given an electric bike, with an electric shuttle bus service running around the new estates, taking residents in and out of the city centre.

A warehouse within Mountfield Park is also an ambition, collecting deliveries and sending them out across the city in electric vehicles to avoid fumebelching trucks coming into Canterbury.

Mr Wright, however, wants the city to go even further in the fight against traffic pollution.

“What’s to stop us building a raised wooden platform around the city for cyclists?” he asked.

Mr Wright says work on a two-entry primary school will begin as soon as building starts on the first 140-home phase, despite no conditions demanding it.

He added: “It is generally accepted that Canterbury needs a lot more homes and we believe south of the city close to the A2 is the best place.

“As the developer, I think we need to step up and do what we can. We have sat down with a lot of the residential groups and had a lot of positive conversations.

“What we have got to do is make sure it is sustainable and done as well as we possibly can.”

The Mountfield Park development in South Canterbury was presented with the inaugural best new neighbourhood award at the annual Housing Design Awards

Corinthian chief executive Simon Wright