Concerns remain over ‘garden city’ project despite changes

Fresh opposition is mounting to the latest plans for a ‘garden city’ development to the south of Canterbury.

A new bid was unveiled last week for the 4,000-home Mountfield Park, which applicants claim will be the UK’S first ‘net carbon zero’ community.

Developer Corinthian was forced to submit a fresh application after planning permission for its original proposal was quashed by the city council following a legal challenge.

The campaigner who led the judicial battle says he will not personally pursue one against the new plans, but will instead hand the baton to local residents’ groups.

Former paratrooper Tom Lynch, of New Dover Road, had forced a u-turn by the local authority after a High Court judge ruled that objections he raised over several elements of the original approval could be considered at a judicial review.

The decision spooked the council into withdrawing the permission it had granted Corinthian for the project, which will swal

low up 550 acres of countryside and farmland.

Mr Lynch says he sees some “sensible” improvements in the company’s new application, including the removal of the proposals for a hotel and conference centre, but believes many substantive problems still remain.

But having spent many months preparing the legal challenge, he is now leaving it to the Oaten Hill and South Canterbury Society residents’ group to spearhead the objections, although will still make

an individual response to the consultation.

Corinthian says the new scheme, although substantially similar, responds to the objections which would have been considered at a judicial review.

The company claims a raft of new measures have been introduced which address the concerns about drainage, affordable housing and transport.

These include accelerating the provision of affordable homes, prioritising green travel, and installing an on-site sewage treatment works to prevent further

pollution of the Stodmarsh Nature Reserve.

But at a Zoom meeting on Monday night, members of OHSCS and the Alliance of Canterbury Residents Associations agreed that despite the changes, the key objections to the huge development, primarily about its location, scale and impact on traffic, remain.

David Kemsley, from ACRA, says nothing in the latest application has allayed members fears about the scheme.

He accuses the city council of “dismissing out of hand” the evidence, especially on traffic, which the groups had previously produced against the first application.

Now he says they are committed to making “a detailed and researched” formal new objection.

“We have not been deterred and willbackupwhatwehavetosay with hard data,” he said.

“There are a lot of professional people among our members, but we will also look to commission experts on traffic and other specialists to support us, and will be setting up a fighting fund for supporters to donate to.”

Mr Kemsley says members consider Corinthian’s claims on traffic movements and a predicted shift to electric cars and bicycles to be “wildly overstated”.

He says the associations also want to see more detailed information on the waste water proposals, including not only how a new treatment plant can cope with 4,000 homes, but also the planned community and commercial infrastructure.

“We only have until January 21 to get our objections in,” he said.

View the application on the city council’s planning portal by searching the reference CA//16/00600.

The huge Mountfield Park development in southern Canterbury would boast 4,000 homes