News | Lenham housing
downsmail.co.uk Locals fear loss of green space
RESIDENTS claim a proposal to build 1,500 new homes in Lenham will blight the village. Maidstone Council’s draft local
plan states that a large number of new homes will be built in Lenham after 2026 if its 19,600- home target has not been reached by then. In a consultation event at Lenham Community Centre, at- tended by more than 200 people, residents were able to grill plan- ners on the notion. Janetta Sams,
who is running as an Independ- ent candidate for Harrietsham and Lenham in the forthcoming borough council elections, after the resignation of her husband Tom, said: “I am very surprised that the 1,500-homes figure has appeared and I would like to know where it has come from.
HANNAH Beames, resident of Old School Close: “We do need housing but I do feel that build- ing near the A20 may be the an- swer because traffic does not have to go through the village. “The village will not be able to cope with the huge level of traffic and the in- frastructure will not keep up with it. “We are already
losing our lovely village to Co-op [see page 29] and this is the beginning of another Maid- stone. It just seems as though we are losing our beautiful vil- lages. The Cotswolds still has beautiful villages but ours are being lost forever.”
“It was mooted about nine months ago at a borough council meeting with officers and mem- bers. At the time, it was laughed out, but now it is in the draft local plan. “I find it difficult to believe that Lenham is the only place that has been suggested as the only area in the whole borough to take this number of homes.We have not got the infrastructure and people are worried about traffic issues. “This will blight the village.” Officers explained at the meeting
that Lenham satisfied the require- ments for a large expansion be- cause it is sustainably located, on the A20 and served by a railway station, has good community facil- ities and land that is relatively flat with a low risk of major flooding. Planners insisted that no land
had been earmarked for the 1,500 homes, but stated that the village would expand to the east and west, with no housing north of the A20 or south of the railway line. Cllr Nigel Godfrey, chairman of
the parish council, said: “I don’t think they would be able to get 1,500 homes in Lenham. They could build them, but the infra- structurewould be a different mat- ter.
“The primary school would
have to treble in size and limit it to people from Lenham, so stop al-
lowing children in from Ashford. “The sewerage system would
have to be upgraded yet again, the doctors’ surgerywould have to be extended, and shops would have to be opened as we could no longer just rely on The Square. “We have to take some new housing but what we don’t want are large estates with no green space in between, which is what we will end up with if we are not careful.” Guy Lister, who runs the village butchers, said: “We will end up like north Kent. If the 1,500 houses enhance the village then great, but if it is a case of chucking a load of houses and a supermarket in the middle of it without any thought, then you can say goodbye to the village.”
Where new homes are planned
THREE sites for new housing in Lenham have already been included in the draft local plan, prompting the following concerns: Ham Lane – 80 homes: traffic. Tanyard Farm – 155 homes: compromising the Kent Downs Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty. Glebe Gardens – 10 homes: flood risk.
Lenham residents voice concern at the local plan housing consultation
Councillor sees
his village grow NIGEL God- frey, chair- man of Lenham Parish Coun- cil, has lived in the village for all of his 67 years. In that time the village has grown significantly with new estates built in the following lo- cations: 1940s Douglas Road. 1950s Honywood Road and Forde Road. 1960s Robins Avenue, Robins Close, Beacon Road. 1970s Cherry Close. Since then, development has been mainly piecemeal and within the existing village boundaries.
‘In London they preserve what they have’
THE dream of swapping city stress for a rural idyll may be about to become a nightmare for Sandy Hayne. A year ago Sandy moved from
east London’s East India Dock into one of the 19 new homes in the Westwood Grange scheme off HamLane, close to the entrance of Lenham Storage.
Sandy was seduced by the
views of green fields offered by her house in the Jones Homes gated development, but she says that within a month of arriving double yellow lines appeared along Ham Lane, and now the green fields may makeway for 80 new homes, according to Maid- stone Council’s draft local plan. She said: “We lived in London
overlooking a nature reserve with- out any parking restrictions. Then we move here and get double yel- low lines, lorries travelling past 24 hours a day – and now we might lose our view. At least in London they preserve what they’ve got.” Jane Edwards also moved to
Homes that now overlook green fields may soon lose their open view to housing
12 Maidstone East May 2014
Westwood Grange about a year ago. There is an average parking ratio of 1.5 cars per home on an es- tate where some properties con-
tain five beds. She said: “I have three childrenwhodrive so none of them can visit at the same time be- cause they have nowhere to park. “Double yellow lines not only restrict parking but encourage ve- hicles to hammer down the road at high speeds.” Cllr Nigel Godfrey, chairman of Lenham Parish Council, says the double yellow lines were painted on the request of councillors to prevent overspill parking from the new estate onto Ham Lane. The road is busy with traffic
going to and from the primary and secondary schools as well as Lenham Storage, and it was felt that parked cars would create a hazard. The measure has also stopped lorry drivers from sleep- ing in their vehicles on Ham Lane at nights.
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