Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
GARDEN CITY
▪ 4,000 new homes to 'kickstart' post-covid economy ▪ Plans include two primary schools and new Park and Ride ▪ Crunch decision this week after four years of legal delays
‘The delays to Mountfield Park have been frustrating but the time has been put to good use’
Construction of Canterbury’s biggest-ever housing development is set to start next year - as long as councillors rubber-stamp the plans for a second time.
The 4,000-home Mountfield Park scheme, which will swallow up more than 550 acres of fields to the south of the city, was controversially approved in December 2016.
But lengthy legal battles at the highest courts in the land have seen the huge development stalled for four years, causing the planning permission to lapse.
As a result, the scheme - led by developers Corinthian Land - must be decided upon again.
After poring over hundreds of pages of policy and sifting through public responses, city council officer Ceri Williams has recommended members of the planning committee approve the revised plans at a virtual meeting tonight (Thursday).
Dubbed a “garden city” due to its sheer size, Corinthian says the mammoth complex will “undoubtedly kickstart the local economy” in the wake of the havoc caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme will give a much-needed boost to the city
council in its effort to reach optimistic housebuilding targets, which it is currently falling shy of.
As well as 4,000 homes, the project will also deliver two new primary schools, a new interchange off the A2 near Bridge, sports pitches and a replacement park and ride site.
A new site for the Kent and Canterbury Hospital is also part of the plan, should fresh space be needed for the city’s proposed new-build hospital. Work on the development is forecast to begin next year and be fully complete by 2035. The first 50 houses are anticipated to be finished in 2021,
with the next 150 completed by March 2022.
An average of 300 properties will then be built each year across an area four times the size of Canterbury’s historic centre.
A five-storey apartment building is set to be the project’s “prominent” landmark. The original application, approved four years ago, unsurprisingly proved to be one of the most contentious in the city’s history. Upon returning to committee once again, councillors must weigh up the numerous objections which have since been lodged. Residents groups have raised a series of concerns, such as insufficient traffic management, pollution and lack of healthcare provision. But John Trotter, managing director at Corinthian Land, says the scheme has been enhanced over the last four years.
“The delays to Mountfield Park have been frustrating but the time has been put to good use whereby the project has been enhanced in a number of respects,” he said. “The commencement of a project of the size of this would undoubtedly kick start the local economy at this most critical time and we look forward to progressing the first phase next year.
“One of the company’s first actions will be to provide the initial funding for the council to set in motion the city-wide bike scheme.”
That bike project is part of a £7.5 million initiative to turn Mountfield Park into one of the most cycle-friendly housing estates in England. Each home will be given an electric bicycle, with Corinthian hoping 13% of journeys to and from the estate will be on two wheels. The firm says the start-up funding will be a “major step forward” for the city.
Bisected by the New Dover Road, the land earmarked for development is presently farmland.
It begins from the Barton housing area, spreading south as far as the A2 and west to Nackington Road.
New Dover Road will be the main route in and out of the development, while Nackington Road and Pilgrims Way will also have vehicular access. Campaigners have spent thousands since 2016 challenging the original approval in the courts, but with their efforts being thrown out at every turn, it is likely tonight’s crunch meeting will be one of the final hurdles before Mountfield Park eventually becomes a reality.