downsmail.co.uk
Call to remove plots from 4,000-home plan
LAWYERS for the owners of 63 acres of land earmarked for the borough council’s controversial 4,000-home Lenham Heath scheme have demanded that the plots are formally removed from plans.
In March, Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) agreed to allow their sites to be dropped – but they have not been told officially. A third version of the Lenham
Heath “garden community” pro- ject is due to be published but pressure group Save Our Heath- lands (SOHL) claims it is being withheld to avoid scrutiny. A SOHL spokesman said:
“MBC appears to have something to hide. If their new masterplan is so compelling, why are they not sharing it with residents whose taxes have been used to pay for its development?” SOHL says three out of the eight large landowners have opted out
of the scheme and the remainder have not signed up.
MBC has signed a deal with the public sector housing provider Homes England and will step aside from its role as “master de- veloper”.
SOHL said the 63 acres could
have accommodated 1,000 homes. A recent policy and resources committee meeting heard that no further progress had been made on the project since the local gov-
ernment elections in May. But there were calls to seriously negotiate a railway station with Network Rail.
The SOHL spokesman added:
“The incoming administration has committed to tighter control on the spending of public money, as well as putting an end to un- elected officers calling the shots. “The Heathlands project is symptomatic of the acute failures of the last administration. “We are hoping to see far greater transparency going for- ward, and that should start by sharing the latest masterplan without further delay and hope- fully ending the blight and sheer misery many residents in Lenham have faced over the last two years.”
Maidstone Borough Council
was approached on June 14 for comment but, despite repeated re- quests, has not yet responded.
News Parish records
THE parish at Holy Cross Church in Bearsted has recorded the fol- lowing deaths, baptisms and mar- riages. Parishioners Anne Dengler and Andrew Packham have died; Mathilda Hawks, Winifred and Joseph Boakes and James Hunt have been baptised and Sophie Lowther and Joseph Judge were married.
Roof blaze
SIX fire engines tackled a mystery roof fire in Loose Road at around 10.20am on June 15. The Technical Rescue Unit was
also in attendance. No casualties were reported. Loose Road was closed in both directions while crews worked at the scene.
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