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Local Plan|News


Housing total 900 ‘too many’


THE number of houses that need to be built in Maidstone has been overestimated by the borough council, according to a govern- ment inspector who has slashed the target by 900 homes. The ruling is included in a 35-


page interim report which has just been released on the borough’s Local Plan following a seven-week examination in public at the end of last year. After hearing objectors, includ-


ing parish councils and individu- als, the inspector, Robert Mellor, mainly dismissed their claims and said the borough had acted prop- erly. But he said that the borough’s choice of5%to boost its objectively- assessed housing need as a counter to house price increases was arbi- trary. He considered therewas no indi-


cation the figure would have any effect and therefore ruled it be deleted, resulting in an estimated need of 17,600 new homes by 2031. MrMellor ruled against two sites


in Boughton Lane – one for 180 homes on the playing field at New Line Learning and another plot nearby for 75 dwellings. He con- sidered that extra traffic from those sites would add to congestion at the Swan and Wheatsheaf junc- tions, and rejected the council’s


claim that it was possible to im- prove either to mitigate the added congestion. Mr Mellor said: “The A229 al-


ready carries more traffic than the A274 and is also likely to attract ad- ditional movements due to devel- opment at villages to the south of Maidstone.Alack of capacity at the Wheatsheaf junction is likely to contribute to queues obstructing the Swan junction. Moreover, Boughton Lane is itself already an- ticipated to carry significantly more traffic due to school expansion.” He ordered that both sites should


be deleted from the plan, but al- lowed a third site in the area, for 25 homes at Boughton Mount, to be retained. The inspector said this was a brownfield site and the in- crease in traffic would not be sig- nificant. He said that another site for 40 dwellings at the junction of Church Road and Heath Road in Boughton Monchelsea might also generate additional traffic on Boughton Lane. However, he felt that site should be retained as traf- fic from there had the opportunity to disperse to other routes. Mr Mellor said his interim report provided a “broad overview” to in- dicate where main modifications should be made. His full report is expected in several months.


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No relief for Sutton Road


SUTTONRoad’s house-building allocations can bemitigated by bus lanes and stops, road widening and developer contributions, said Local Plan in- spector Robert Mellor. There could also be improvements to the Willington Street andWallis


Avenue junctions. And there should be a bigger push towards the some- times derided “modal shift” where cars are left at home in favour ofwalk- ing, cycling or public transport, said Mr Mellor. Maidstone must build 883 properties a year to hit the target set in the


Local Plan. It has so far failed to achieve that target in the first five years and inspector Robert Mellor suggested the borough should wipe out the backlog in the next decade, rather than the five years proposed by Maid- stone Borough Council.


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