Fury as Angela Rayner seizes control of plans for 8,400-home new ‘garden town’ in Kent so she has final say instead of ‘totally gobsmacked’ locals_Nhy
Angela Rayner has enraged locals after taking control of a garden town plan just as councillors were preparing to block the development for thousands of homes.
The Housing Secretary stepped in as Swale Borough Council was making the decision on whether to allow divisive plans for 8,400 new homes near Sittingbourne.
Just three hours before planning officers were due to vote on the proposals, they received a letter telling them Ms Rayner was taking over.
Planning officers had recommended that councillors vote against the plans by Quinn Estates.
But now The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is headed by Ms Rayner, will have the final say – and councillors and residents are afraid she will approve them despite the local opposition.
The first application for the new development asks for permission to build 7,150 homes, primary and secondary schools and a hotel.
An additional 1,250 homes will also be built under a second proposal, including sheltered and care accommodation, a school and a motorway relief road.
Swale Council was deluged with letters of objection, with more than 700 residents voicing their concerns.
The Deputy PM, pictured at a development site in Basingstoke, is spearheading the Government’s bid to deliver 1.5m new homes over the next five years
The first part of the applications for the new development asks for permission to build 7,150 homes, primary and secondary schools, and a hotel
Swale Council has been deluged with letters of objection, with more than 700 residents voicing their concerns
Prior to the general election, Labour pledged to deliver 1.5million new homes over the next five years.
Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, said the Government will revive top-down housing targets for local councils.
She revealed the collective total for these local targets would be just over 370,000 homes a year.
She rejected suggestions Britain is ‘too crowded’ or that there is ‘no countryside left’, saying: ‘The vast majority of England is still very green and will remain so.’
The Government hasn’t explained why it stepped in on the decision in Swale.
Conservative councillor for Swale, Julien Speed, said he and the local community are ‘gobsmacked’ and ‘furious’.
He told The Telegraph: ‘The Government has completely pulled the rug from under our feet and taken that decision away from us. I just think it’s totally unacceptable.’
And Terry Thompson, the Green Party councillor, said the move has undermined his constituents’ confidence.
Campaigners say approving it would be a ‘deadly mistake’, despite developers saying the garden village – which could turn out to be one of the biggest housing developments in the UK – is ‘entirely suitable’ for the area
Angela Rayner rubbished ‘nonsense’ claims Labour wants to ‘concrete over’ the countryside
Local Carol Goatham worried that Ms Rayner could set a precedent for intervening in planning decisions, asking: ‘Is there going to be any decision made by Swale?’
Ms Goatham, of the Farm Fields & Fresh Air campaign group, told KentOnline: ‘We’re totally against development on the best and most versatile agricultural land. To think that it could all be concreted with more and more housing – Sittingbourne already has a problem with GP services.’
‘It would set an awful precedent for every other developer in the borough who would want to bring forward mass housing developments.’
Campaigners say approving it would be a ‘deadly mistake’, despite developers saying the garden village – which could turn out to be one of the biggest housing developments in the UK – is ‘entirely suitable’ for the area.
Quinn Estates argue in planning documents that ‘the proposals are entirely suitable for the site in terms of land use, amount of development, access, layout and appearance’.
The firm added: ‘Ultimately it will become a vibrant garden village settlement within the borough, transforming the local area, as well as adding regionally significant benefits to the surrounding area as a whole.’
It said it could be ‘the most sustainable development in the south east.’
But every neighbouring parish council – Bapchild, Bredgar, Milstead, Teynham, Doddington, Lynsted, Tonge and Rodmersham – has objected.
MP Helen Whately, who represents Teynham and Lynsted and West Downs, said: ‘Taken together, the extra 8,400 houses of Highsted North and Highsted South will more than double the population of the two wards. They will fill green fields between villages with houses, completely changing the rural character of the area.
‘The sheer size and scale of this development will mean residents who currently live in the countryside will suddenly find themselves consumed into an urban area.’
A spokesman for Quinn said previously that Swale Council was putting politics ahead of its residents, and that such schemes should not be decided by local councils.
They said: ‘We are incredibly disappointed that our infrastructure-led proposals for Highsted Park have been recommended for refusal despite being supported by the current local plan and receiving wide support across Swale and Kent.
‘This is a prime example of local politics standing in the way of national
