Report may hold clue to housing Windfall sites could satisfy five-year criteria


COUNCILLORS are asking to see a “secret” report from lawyers as part of a probe into controversial house-building schemes in the borough. Several major schemes could be under


threat following a Maidstone Council inquiry into the availability of land, which some members say has been miscalculated. The argument revolves around whether or


not the council has allowed for windfall sites in its assessment of housing land availability. Figures produced by council officers show a housing land availability of 4.2 years, but some members have argued that the inclusion of windfall sites would push it up to between five and seven years. Several important planning applications – including the development of 130 homes on the former Maps site in Marden – have been granted due to the council’s failure to have a five-year land supply. Representatives of Taylor Wimpey, which


wants to build 600 homes as part of a greater Langley Park development,were in the coun- cil chamber as the scrutiny committee pulled apart officers’ calculations. If figures on future land supply prove to be flawed, this – and several other big building schemes, including those in Barming and Marden – could be shelved. It could mean the council was premature


when it released for development greenfield sites at Bridge Nursery, land east and west of Hermitage Lane, land north of Sutton Road and land north of Bicknor Road prior to com-


KCC figures give an average of 320 windfall sites per annum in Maidstone – which would morethan satisfy theneed for further sites;only 74ayearwould be required to reachthe crucial five-year criteria. Town planner Paul McCreery, who was brought in by Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council, said: “I have been giving evidence for Maidstone borough since 1976, and every year


pleting its emerging Core Strategy. Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council sought legal advice when details of the Lang- ley Park scheme first emerged. As a result, its QC,Christopher LockhartMummery, claimed officers had misdirected Maidstone Council into making incorrect planning decisions. The council sought itsownadvice, and bar-


rister Megan Thomas took the opposite view. However, it emerged at a meeting of the scrutiny committee that a second opinion was sought – and this one had not been revealed to members. Now, as part of a wider investiga- tion into the officers’ methodology, the com- mittee has demanded to see the document – as well as information from other councils in Kent as tohowthey have calculated theirown land availability. Officers argue their calculations must be


based on evidence if they are to hold water – and there is no evidence as to how many of these windfall sites there might be on an an- nual basis. The committee will reconvene


it hasbeen said thatwindfall sites will run out– but windfall sites have increased. Maidstone does have a five year land supply at this time.” The council’s head of planning, Rob Jarman,


said current methodology was more sophisti- cated and rigorous than in the past, so sites which once have been classed as windfall had already been takenintoaccount in the council’s calculations.


once it has studied the data from other local authorities – and the “missing” report. THE council is delaying decisions on some rural housing developments until it resolves the five-year land supply issue. Two applications set to go before the plan-


ning committee were withdrawn at the last minute because they were in open country- side and officers had recommended approval due to an alleged lack of allocated housing sites over a five-year period. A plan for a new five bedroom home with detached double garage at 35 Knaves Acre, Headcorn and the proposed erection of seven homes on land at Hockers Farm, off Orchard View, Detling will now be determined at a later date. A number of applications for the open countryside, where the council’s disputed as- sessment on the supply of housing is a key consideration, are likely to be put on hold. Similar urban sites will be determined as usual.


Annabelle scoops writers’ award


A 10-YEAR-old schoolgirl from Chart Sutton near Maidstone has beaten entries from across the coun- try to become Britain’s Young Journalist of the Year 2013.


Annabelle Majin’s


award-winning article, “Is Poetry Dead?”, combined interviews with aKent the- atre director and her own analysis andwas awarded first prize by a panel of judges. “I was really excited


Annabelle Majin, 10


when I heard that I had won the competition,” said Annabelle, a pupil at


Sutton Valence Preparatory School. “I love poetry, and thiswas a subject that genuinely interested me. In my article I wrote about perform- ance poets who are helping to bring back poetry and spread it to a wider audience. “I love writing and I have nearly finished my first


book,which is about an evacuee who comes downto Kent from London during the war.” Annabelle’s prize is Stabilo stationery worth


£1,000, which she will share with her classmates. Her first assignment will be to write an article for


the children’s newspaper First News, which will be published in the autumn. She said: “It’s not easy find- ing a good subject, but I’m doing some research and I’ve got one or two ideas already. I hope I can meet my deadline!”


Park home appeal rejected


DEVELOPERS of a luxury park home site on the riverbank at Yalding have lost their appeal against Maidstone Borough Council. John Hilden and Gary Haf- fenden appealed against the council’s failure to grant them a lawful development certifi- cate within the prescribed pe- riod. But planning inspector Sara Morgan judged: “If the council had been in a position to deter- mine the application, it would have concluded that the pro- posed use would not have been lawful.” The inspector said the site


only had planning permission for seasonal use – not all year round – subject to a number of conditions. She also argued there was no


existing unrestricted planning permission, as claimed by the applicants. John Hilden and Gary Haf- fenden bought the caravan park in Hampstead Lane in 2010 with a view to creating a 17- home holiday park on the riverbank. Maidstone Council has al-


ready taken court action over alleged breaches of the site li- cence, which was put on hold pending the outcome of the ap- peal. The applicants say an origi-


nal planning consent dating back to 1953, and which con- tained conditions, expired in 1959. But the inspector ruled this was not the case. The inspector concluded:


“The application … sought a certificate of proposed use to


continue the use of the appeal site as a caravan site without conditions or limitations. “It follows from my conclu-


sions that, although the use of the appeal site as a caravan site without conditions would be lawful provided that use was seasonal, use of the appeal site as a caravan site without limi- tations would not be. “I do not have any power to modify the description of the proposed use. “I conclude that the council’s deemed refusal to grant a cer- tificate of lawful use or devel- opment in respect of the continuation of the use of land as a caravan site without con- ditions or limitations was well- founded and that the appeal should fail.”


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330 Brian sells the


shirt off his back A COXHEATH councillor is selling a signed shirt, to raise funds for the Mayor of Maid- stone’s charity. Cllr Brian Mortimer left the


shirt at the Hazlitt theatre for almost a year, during which time all shapes and sizes of per- formers left signatures on it. Names include comedians Jimmy Carr, Harry Hill and Michael MacIntyre, politician Tony Benn, 60s singing stars Gerry Marsden and Wayne Fontana, panto’s Chloe Made- ley and former Chelsea player Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris. Cllr Mortimer said: “It’s get-


ting a bit grubby, but you can’t really wash it!” Cllr Mortimer, who was Mayor of Maidstone two years ago, hopes to raise at least £100 for the Mayor’s charity. All of- fers should be sent to him, in sealed envelopes, c/o Maid- stone Town Hall.


Trees to be felled MAIDSTONE Council has granted conservation area con- sent to fell one willow and one ash tree at Headcorn Manor, ChurchWalk, Headcorn.


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