Impassioned pleas from three parish councils failed to stop a bid for 85 homes on a pear orchard from being approved.
Coxheath ward councillor Claire Kehily and representatives from Coxheath, Linton and Loose Parish Councils all spoke emphatically against plans for the development known as Beacon Park off Heath Road in Coxheath, but to no avail.
Their objections were not to the estate itself, which they conceded was well designed, but that any more development should take place when the local infrastructure in Coxheath – particularly the provision of fresh water – was already creaking at the seams.
Cllr Kehily (Green) said: “Like myself, residents are unhappy about this proposal. They are saddened and fed up.
“The prime concerns are the very real and present dangers and impacts it will have and the effects on our lives going forward.
“This is about the lack of infrastructure and its increasing failure to serve even existing needs and demands.”
“And there is anger that our concerns are ignored time and time again.”
She said: “The local doctors’ surgery (Greensands) cannot cope with current patient levels.
“A simple blood test is now at least a month’s wait. A GP appointment is almost impossible to procure.
“The proposed primary school extension was shelved last year, and the school is so oversubscribed that even children living in the same road as the school have been unable to secure a place.
“Improvements at Linton Crossroads were costed in 2021 at £2.2m, and will now cost another £500,000. How far will the £170,000 contribution from this development go towards that?”
“And yet more ridiculous build-outs will turn Heath Road into a slalom at a snail’s pace.”
Cllr Kehily continued: “Coxheath regularly has power cuts and almost constant roadworks on the surrounding roads that sometimes virtually maroon the village.
“Our pipes and old mains are already failing; this needs to be dealt with before this plan is approved.
The councillor went on to say how in June there were three consecutive nights when Coxheath had no water.
Cllr Heather Weaver, from Coxheath Parish Council, also raised the water issue, saying “there is nothing in these plans to address that,” but she added that the parish was also “deeply concerned” about traffic on Heath Road.
She added: “Traffic is regularly backed up from the Linton Crossroads to the Greensands medical centre.”
It was also pointed out that although the council’s planning officers said the site had been included by the Government inspector in the last Local Plan Review, in fact, 17% of the proposed development site went beyond the area outlined in the development plan.
Cllr Jim Andrew, for Loose Parish Council, was concerned about coalescence between the villages, saying that the northern boundary of Coxheath was growing ever closer to Loose.
But, he also spoke about the lack of infrastructure, saying the site was unsustainable.
Although the applicant was offering to widen the footpath outside the development site, after that, the pavement along Heath Road was very narrow, even though it was heavily used by schoolchildren heading towards The Cornwallis School.
The councillor pointed out that traffic data used by the applicant in their traffic analysis had been gathered in 2021, when the country was still coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Linton and Loose Ward councillor, Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem), raised concerns on behalf of Linton Parish Council. He described the Linton Crossroads as “a severe accident hotspot”.
Cllr Clark said the application would lead to an unsustainable increase in traffic volumes along Heath Road.
He added how the Greensands Medical Centre was “under immense strain” with some patients being redirected to Headcorn for treatment.
However, Guy Osborne, the owner of the development company, Country House Homes, told last Thursday’s planning committee that there had been some changes following a discussion with KCC highways.
They had agreed that a proposed build-out in Heath Road would now be dropped and instead, Heath Road would be made a 30mph limit, along its entire length. It is currently 40mph in parts.
Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) said: “Since this site was included by the government inspector for this number of homes in the Local Plan, the principle of development is not up for discussion.”
He said “all the statutory consultees are happy,” and he proposed the application be approved, with just one minor amendment to add solar panels to the affordable housing units.
The councillor added: “I absolutely understand the residents’ concerns, but those concerns relate to the whole of Kent and indeed to the whole of South East England.”
Cllr Harwood added that water supply issues were covered by national legislation and MBC had no say in the matter.
He was seconded by Cllr Mark Nagi (Lib Dem), who said the developer had gone “above and beyond” to provide a good design.
But Cllr Mike Summersgill (Green) noted that South East Water, which was responsible for drinking water in the area, had not been consulted, and asked why not.
The council’s head of planning, Rob Jarman, who is currently working out his notice with the council, said they were not a statutory consultee. The law required water suppliers to provide adequate supplies to any new development.
However, officers did clear up one mystery. The Beacon Park applicant had offered to upgrade a pelican crossing on Heath Road to a puffin crossing, as part of its traffic mitigation measures.
This had confused residents since there is no crossing on Heath Road.
Officers explained that one condition of a recent grant of planning permission to a different developer, at Greensands Place for a care home, retirement bungalows and a hospice, approved in June, required that developer to provide a pelican crossing.
The two developers had now got together, and Country House Homes will pay the extra to have it installed as a puffin crossing. So the firm will be upgrading a crossing that currently isn’t there.
Puffin crossings are like pelican crossings in that they have traffic lights activated by pedestrians pushing a button, but they are superior to pelican crossings in that they have infra-red cameras that keep the lights on red for traffc all the time there is a pedestrian on the crossing, instead of changing after a set time interval.
A planning condition requires that this crossing would have to be installed before any new home was occupied.
Cllr Fay Gooch (Ind) said she “really felt the pain of the people who gave their views to us this evening, especially about the water.”
She said: “I wish there were more that we could do, but we have to consider the planning regulations.”
“I wish I had a magic wand, but water is a national issue and we need a decent Government that will do something about it.”
However, she was concerned that no improvements had been carried out to “flipping Linton Crossroads,” as there was already an “oven-ready “ plan for their upgrade.
But Cllr Harwood reminded his colleagues that in July 2023, KCC had applied to Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) to use previously gathered CIL funds to finance that “oven-ready” plan to improve Linton crossroads, but MBC had refused to release the funds.
He said: “It is history. It was another administration, but it occurred, and I remember the borough councillor for Boughton Monchelsea at the time (Cllr Steve Munford) was very unhappy at that decision.”
The planning committee voted unanimously in favour of granting permission.
The approved application will include 34 affordable housing units, plus a 1.78-hectare Local Nature Reserve, to be supervised by a separate management company.
In addition, there would be 0.55 hectares of public open space and a “Greenway” allowing for a cycle/pedestrian link connecting local public rights of way.
Off-site works will include the relocation of west-bound and east-bound bus stops on Heath Road. There will also be a provision of public art, in the form of a warning beacon, as a landscape feature.
The developer will contribute £875,892 towards education provision and £170,000 towards an upgrade of Linton Crossroads.
The council recently published its updated land supply position, which shows that as at April 1, it could demonstrate only 4.5 years of housing supply – below the government’s required minimum of five years.
In such circumstances, the government insists that a “tilted balance” should apply, in favour of allowing any development unless there are exceptional reasons for refusal.
Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.
Use application reference 24/504496 to find the correct project.
