News | Hollingbourne protest


downsmail.co.uk Homes plan ‘hare-brained’


VILLAGERS inHollingbourne say they are horrified byMaidstone BoroughCouncil’s decision to allow10 newdetached houses on a site they say is not fit for purpose. Dozens of comments sent to


A spokesman for Hollingbourne


Downs Mail by villagers describe the permission as wrong, and the move to put theWindmill Lane site in the Local Plan in the first place as “hare-brained”. In letters toMBC, villagers raised


concerns about the narrow and sharedaccess to the estate; the area’s overloaded sewers; a lack of places atHollingbourne school; gridlock at peak times on Eyhorne Street; the need, instead, for affordablehousing and, potentially, the loss of their vil- lage hall. Reacting to the planning commit-


tee’s decision, North Downs bor- ough councillor Patrik Garten said: “You’dhave to go a longway to find a less suitable site for development. Unfortunately, the committee deci- sion was merely a side-show be- cause it was on the Local Plan and the decision a fait accompli. “The issue nowiswhether the de-


veloper can deliver on themany is- sues not considered ‘planning relevant’, such as the access not being able to accommodate a fire-


Meet council’s


new chairman THE new parish council chairman for Hollingbourne is Adam Ward (pictured). A councillor of 10 years’ stand- ing, his ap- pointment at the AGM in May follows the resignation of long-serving chairmanMike Bedwell. The 48-year -old chartered sur-


veyormoved to the village with his wifeSarahin2002.Their sonattends Hollingbourne School. He said: “We face new develop-


ments imposed upon us by govern- ment housing targets and the failure of the council to provide a mix of housing that includes more afford- able homes in our village;We plan to lookat thisagain,butwehavelimited sitesavailable. “Traffic volumes and the speed of


vehiclesthroughthe villagehasbeen a long-term concern for residents and we will continue to hold talks with the various authorities. The fu- ture of our village hall is also un- clear.”


8 Maidstone East June 2018


Parish Council said: “The general viewis that villagers feel the council has totally ignored local concerns and local knowledge.” Guy Osbourne, from developer


Protesters gather inWindmill Lane, the proposed access to the site


engine or dustcart, and the need to negotiate use of this shared access.” The narrowaccess on to one of the


busiest sections of Eyhorne Street should have spelled its end, accord- ing to long-term resident Martin Foad,who lives opposite theWind- mill pub and the proposed entrance to the newestate. “The road at this entrance is too


narrowand the traffic at peak times is gridlocked. The village has no public parking, except 16 bays on Eyhorne Street, and they are talking about reducing these as part of this


development when 90% of houses here do not have parking. “The driveway to this site is too


narrow and will be unsafe for peo- ple walking to the hall and those using the public footpath.” Describing the decision as amess,


John Holley, from the village hall committee, said: “It isdifficult to be- lieve that the site offWindmill Lane was included as a potential devel- opment site byMBC, in spite of local and parish council objections, par- ticularly regarding the poor, shared access.”


Access and affordability are the real issues here


PATRIK Garten (pictured), bor- ough councillor for North Downs ward,writes: “The planning committee deci-


sionwas amere side-show, andthis developmentmay continue to hover over the village like a bad dragon. The realbattle is a civil one,which is still to come: The question of access rights. While I amper-


mitted to file a planning applica- tion for anything on anybody’s land, Iwouldneedthe landowners’ permission to build on their land. TheWindmill Pub, the house next to it and, of course, the village hall are all major stakeholders in this game.At least one of these still has thepower to stopthisdevelopment in its tracks. The planning committee was


neither the beginning nor the end of this saga. Eighteen months ago, I went


door to door in another part of the village, asking the community about another development. There


was one commonanswerby 90%of all respondents: “Weneedmore af- fordablehousing for our children.” This needwas neither solved by


that development, nor exhausted by the planning committee. Without affordable housing the


village could become an assembly of old fogies and commuter dormi- tories. Under the current local plan,


Windmill Lane will be the last major housing development in Hollingbourne for many years. This gives me some comfort, and I’ll be happy to defend the status quo. If, however, the village and the parish council want more af- fordable housing, this can be ac- commodated too. It is vitally important that if any


further expansion of the village should take place, that it is driven and supported by the villagers. Windmill Lanewas not. Theplanning committeebrought


this hare-brained idea a decisive step forward. The main thing is nowfor the community toworkto- getherwithall stakeholders to alle- viate the forthcoming problems with this site.”


Country House Homes, said it would be hard to reassure residents sufficiently, but added: “We have no problemwith the approval andwill beprogressing thedevelopment.We are a safe pair of hands and we do understand.” A £33,240 contribution from


Country House Homes is under- stoodto bedestinedforHarrietsham School and £248,595 for affordable housing has yet to find a home. Maidstone council planning com-


mitteemember Cllr TonyHarwood proposed the application be ap- proved. He said after the meeting: “TheWindmill Lane site is a strate- gic (if small) housing allocation within the new Local Plan, ap- proved by Maidstone’s Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Trans- portCommittee, full council andlat- terly a government inspector.”


wrong, even when it is so obviously wrong? “It will precipitate such a lot of other issues, like what will happen to the village hall. Michael Gray Hollingbourne


“


Village hall now at risk


How do the planners get it so


”


THE Planning Committee was told that the landlord of the vil- lage hall, the EI Group PLC (for- merly Enterprise Inns), has so far declined to renew the 20-year lease, pending a decision on the planning application. There is now a risk that notice


could be served, leaving Holling- bourne requiring a new hall, at an estimated cost of £1million. A spokesman for the parish


council said: “Many people in Hollingbourne are of the opinion thatMBC would have amoral if not legal obligation to stump up for a new Hollingbourne village hall if we lost the present one as a consequence of its decision.”


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