Dozens of objections have been lodged against a reserved matters application for the first phase of a 214 home development in Minster.
Outline planning permission for the scheme was granted permission last September despite councillors’ concerns over traffic, school places, adequate medical facilities and the number of houses on the site.
The total application area is 34.67 acres, with proposed residential development and associated open space and services on approximately 32.27 acres and a reserve site of 2.40 acres proposed for the future extension to Minster Cemetery.
The land on the west side of Tothill Street, Minster, is owned by St. John’s College Cambridge and Spanton Farms Limited. The site is on a Special Protection Zone.
Now Savills has lodged the latest documents with Thanet council on behalf of Barratt David Wilson Homes for 133 dwellings, including details of layout, scale, landscaping and appearance. The first phase is the northern area of the site and covers 9.96Ha of land. It will be accessed via a new junction onto Tothill Street.
The development has provoked new objections with concerns including the loss of Grade 1 agricultural land, loss of habitat, traffic congestion and overlooking. There are also concerns about design of the homes and complaints of inadequate consultation, missing documents and lack of a construction plan.
Minster Parish Council has not raised an objection but said several matters, including biodiversity and the differing affordable accommodation needs, should be considered.
Last year councillors raised concerns that there would not be sufficient school places at Minster and the plan for new youngsters in the village to go to a proposed Manston Green primary school was inadequate with the risk that that school may not be built in time – or at all.
Councillors also raised concerns that traffic mitigations to add an extra lane at the Tothill roundabout and pay £166,000 for junction work at Spitfire Way were not adequate to cope with a possible 200-300 more vehicles trying to enter and exit the village.
Some amendments have been made to the scheme including the materials used and moving plot 108 further back from Tothill Street.
Concerns raised by Minster Action Group, set up the fight the development proposal, include changes to the height of houses and drainage ditches, the surface water design for the site, and work taking place on site before a biodiversity method statement has been approved.
A call to resident by the group says: “This site will be built over many years and will be nothing like the village has ever seen before in terms of impact on quality of life for all of us and we need to send a clear message via our comments that although we cannot stop the build, we care enough about our fellow villagers to demand that the design of the site is the best it can be, looking out for the best interests of everyone and that community engagement starts before the first piece of earth is dug.”
The documents can be seen on Thanet council’s planning portal under reference R/TH/22/1393
