ON THE FUTURE OF HOUSING IN MAIDSTONE
Residents oppose ‘garden suburb’
RESIDENTS in rural Otham, Langley and Leeds are getting ready for a battle with de- velopers over plans for a 5,000-home “gar- den suburb” in south east Maidstone. Golding Homes, Maidstone’s main social housing provider, has tabled a proposal for a “mini Kings Hill”, over 363 hectares – in- cluding 90% of the parish of Otham. It would accommodate 5,000 homes, em- ployment space and community uses. A road would be built between the develop- ment and Junction 8 of the M20, which would support the development of a busi- ness park near this junction. The site is one of 160 put forward by landowners and developers as part of the council’s call for sites – and one of the most controversial, as a packed hall at Cornwallis Academy proved. More than 300 people attended a public meeting to learn more about the scheme, and were disappointed that representatives from Golding Homes failed to turn up. A show of hands (pictured above) reflected strong opposition to the scheme. Former vice-chairman of Otham and Downswood parish council, David Marchant, said he found it discourteous that the parishes had not been consulted by Golding Homes before the report was re- leased to the media.
‘Long battle ahead’
MAIDSTONE Council has to decide which of the 160 sites submitted can go forward as part of its Core Strategy for future development. Council leader Chris Garland outlined the history of the site and why the council ap- peared to have done a U-turn on an area pre- viously rejected as suitable for development. In 2006, the council identified the Otham
area as a possible urban spread but this was thrown out in 2010, when the council re- alised it did not need somuch housing.How- ever, the Government was once again pressing for more new housing, so the site was back in the frame. CllrGarland said the suitability of sites was governed by national and local planning pol- icy. He added: “The 160 sites will be assessed using local and national planning criteria and many will be unsuitable.” Maidstone’s Liberal Democrat leader Cllr
FranWilson said that, while the boroughwas cognisant of its housing needs, the council had failed to look for the intrinsic value of areas it believed to be important and to pro- tect its open space and cultural assets. She urged residents to mobilise them- selves for a long battle.
Cllr Gary Cooke, KCC member for South
East Maidstone, said: “I amvery sorry Gold- ing Homes chose not to attend. As far as I am concerned, this is not a garden suburb. They are trying to build a patio across the garden of Kent – and that I object to.” Sharing the platform with Cllr Cooke was
Chris Garland, leader of Maidstone Council, Paul Carter, leader of KCC, Dr Hilary New- port, a director of the Council for the Pro- tection of Rural England, Gordon Newton, Maidstone member for Otham and Downswood, and Mike Bottle, chairman of Otham Parish Council. Dr Newport said local authorities should
make the best use of existing infrastructure – not press ahead with more and more devel- opment to the detriment of the environment. Arguing that traffic was the biggest con-
cern, with two roads already being used as a rat-run through Leeds and Otham, Cllr Bottle said: “I am sick and tired of seeing our village being blighted by these develop- ments. We do not want to see Golding Homes or any other developer taking any more of our farmland for housing.” Residents applauded both Cllr Bottle and
John Horne, chairman of the Joint Parishes Group, who pointed out the proposals were recommending a population density twice that of Bearsted, which was already one of
the most developed areas of Maidstone. He referred to the irony of Golding Homes’ suggestion that the “garden city” would have “green grid links”, be “sur- rounded by a necklace of routes” and in- corporate a Leeds-Langley bypass as a “high street”, absorbing the visual impact. Cllr Carter, KCC member for Maidstone
Rural North, said he believed the site was totally unsuitable and the Government’s sta- tistics were flawed. Hugh Robertson, MP for Faversham and
Mid Kent, condemned the scheme as being of “an inappropriate scale” and “in the wrong place”, and urged residents to rally their ar- guments in the same way they didwhen op- posing the Kent International Gateway. He said: “It is extremely unlikely an ap- plication of this size should or would be successful. The arguments currently pres- ent should give us an extremely good chance of sending this one packing.” Cllr Garland and Cllr Cooke urged residents
to gather evidence to fight the plan, stressing that the quantity and volume of opposition carried no weight with the planning inspec- torate, who required firm evidence – not emotional arguments. More details of the scheme are available
from Golding Homes at southeastmaid-
stone@goldinghomes.org.uk
A bad day to hold a board meeting
AN80-page booklet,ANew Settlement for South East Maidstone, has been produced by PRP Architects for Golding Homes de- tailing the plans for the site between the A20 and A274, west of the B2163 Leeds- Langley road, east of Otham Road, and south-west of Junction 8 of the M20. Copies have been sent to PrimeMinister
David Cameron, Eric Pickles, communi- ties and local government secretary. The housing provider explained its ab-
sence at the meeting in a statement: “Un- fortunately, we were neither consulted
KCC has objected strongly to the scheme. Bryan Sweetland, KCC cabi-
net member for environment, highways and waste (pic- tured), said: “KCC will not be supporting any planning ap- plication for a garden suburb to the south east of Maidstone. The development would be remote from Maidstone and raise strong objections of in-
nor invited to themeeting before it was set up and have a board meeting that both the chief executive and director of develop- ment and regeneration need to attend.” The company said it had already replied
to 15 requests for information from mem- bers of the public, and added: “If local res- idents have questions or issues theywish to raise regarding the scheme, then we would encourage them to contact us directly.” Golding Homes said it was “committed
to a full consultation process with both residents and stakeholders”.
Scheme ‘would intrude into countryside’
trusion into Kent’s precious countryside. “This proposed site is far from any railway stations and frequent bus services and in the absence of a major new link road link, it would generate increased rat-running on un- suitable rural roads.” “A new link road will cost up to £100m
and in KCC’s view would require significant funding in addition to the developer’s con- tribution. Such funding is not available.”
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