An outline application to build 450 homes on fields off Shottendane Road in Margate has been submitted to Thanet council.
Gladman Developments says the proposal will include the homes – with affordable housing – a new distributor link road connecting Hartsdown Road, Shottendane Road and Manston Road, two new roundabouts, publicly accessible children’s play areas and recreational routes.
The s 19.53ha site is made up of two arable fields either side of Shottendane Road.
Bronze Age remains
A Heritage assessment report says the site is within an area with a high level of archaeological remains. At least two Bronze Age barrows are known to have been located within the south eastern area and they survive as below-ground remains. These were part of a wider barrow-cemetery, with other barrows located outside the site.
Burials associated with an Early Medieval cemetery were recorded on Manston Road, adjacent to the site, in the 19th Century. Archaeological remains, including the barrows and the area adjacent to the known cemetery, will be preserved in situ.
Archaeological remains elsewhere within the site include an enclosure and field boundaries of Iron Age date, and low-density prehistoric remains including pits and ditches. Where archaeological remains are not to be preserved in situ an appropriate scheme of archaeological recording works will be agreed.
Designated heritage assets close to the site include the Grade II Listed Shottendane Farmhouse and the Grade II Listed Railway Convalescent Home and St John’s Cemetery.
The report concluded that development would potentially result in some limited, negligible (less than substantial) harm to the Grade II Listed Shottendane Farmhouse, the Grade II Listed Railway Convalescent Home, and the Grade II Listed Gates and Gatepiers at St John’s Cemetery, as well as the wider non-designated cemetery as a whole.
A design document for the development says: “The vast majority of the existing trees and vegetation should be retained and strengthened where possible, with new tree, thicket and wildflower planting. This new planting will mitigate the loss of sections of the existing hedgerows to allow for the vehicular access point into the site.”
Gladman Developments Ltd produced leaflet covering the application proposals which was delivered to residents. A public consultation event was also held in March.
The new homes will be a mix of detached, semi-detached, terraced homes and apartments, with a percentage allocated as affordable housing.
There will be two new roundabouts; one from Manston Road and the other from Shottendane Road, with a further priority junction taken from Hartsdown Road.
Open space and a large new park are also proposed. A new cycleway will also be provided through the development alongside the distributor road, which will link Hartsdown Rood with Manston Road.
The proposal can be viewed on Thanet council’s planning portal, reference OL/TH/20/0847
A decision is yet to be made.
