Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Concern over garden centre homes bid
‘It’s a narrow lane and we just don’t think it’s safe to have more vehicles coming out into it...’
Plans to build new homes on the site of a village garden centre have sparked safety concerns over the access near a primary school.
The scheme for Preston Garden Centre near Canterbury has been lodged by the owners, who hope to branch out into the property market.
The development of 10 homes is proposed on 2.5 acres of land adjoining the garden centre, which is now said to be “surplus to requirements”.
But the planned site access road onto Mill Lane is worrying residents and the parish council, who say the narrow road is already congested at school times and presents a hazard. Parish council chairman Tommy Gale says that while the applicants have informally suggested an alternative access through the garden centre car park onto The Street, the one in Mill Lane mentioned in the planning application worries members.
“The applicants have been engaging with us but we cannot support the Mill Lane access,” he said.
“It’s a narrow lane which gets
very congested in the mornings and at the end of the school day and we just don’t think it’s safe to have more vehicles coming out into it.
“Any traffic study really needs to be done at these critical times to get a real reflection of the situation.”
He added that the parish council had not been consulted on the proposal for a footpath across a meadow gifted to the village.
The application has also drawn a number of objections from residents.
“Preston does not need more of this type of development,” writes Graham Cooper. “We have in recent years had Preston Grange, various other small builds and are looking at another large development adjacent to Preston Grange. “Robinson’s Meadow is an area gifted to the parish and carving a path through it will destroy its beauty and tranquillity.” “How is another housing development sustainable within the curtilage of the Parish of Preston?” questions Ian Hunt. “The road at Mill Lane is much too narrow to allow much more traffic movements,” he adds. “It is often congested especially during school times and is quite often used as a ‘rat run’ at road closure times in the area.”
David Kelly argues the designs and development plans “do not accord with the essence and cause of a conservation area”. He also has concerns about the welfare of young schoolchildren which he fears will be threatened by increased traffic. A mixture of house types, including two-bedroom and three-bedroom detached bungalows, and four-bedroom and five-bedroom detached houses, are proposed by the applicant “to appeal to a broad range of potential occupants”.
The owners of the family-run garden centre, who recently extended the on-site bistro, concede the area is not currently designated for housing by Dover District Council, but claim it is suitable for development and would not have a detrimental effect on the countryside or village conservation area. Planning agents add: “The design seeks to demonstrate that the development proposal meets and addresses the defined aspirations of the Preston Village Design Statement.” They say the appearance of the planned new homes have been created to suit the village setting and the surrounding area and will have “high quality contemporary architecture and designs, that complement their surroundings”.