A village protest will be held in Monkton objecting to road lay-out changes planned as part of a 49-home development on a greenfield site.
Monkton Residents Association is organising the protest and say it is likely motorists will be held up in a display of how they anticipate the new lay-out will affect traffic flow.
The development on a field off Monkton Street was approved in December, with conditions, at appeal after Thanet council refused it three times. The decision was made on the basis that Thanet council cannot demonstrate it has a 5 year supply of land for housing. Developer Heyhill Land was also granted costs against the council.
But residents say they are concerned about road changes including a one-way system at the narrowest point in the village, a waiting area outside the village school, a path build out reducing road width even further and a loss of parking.
Monkton Residents Association chairperson Beth Johnson said: “These (changes) will affect everyone who uses Monkton Street and are only necessary to enable the correct sight lines for a development of 49 houses on the field behind Nos. 96 – 102 Monkton Street, which has recently been agreed by an Inspector after three refusals.
“These changes will involve a one way system at the narrowest point in the village and from the plans that have been seen so far appears to show that the waiting area will be immediately outside our school. They will also involve losing most of the parking on this stretch of road by the use of yellow lines, and this includes those properties who have no off street parking.
“These aspects of this planning application appear to have been totally ignored by all parties except villagers, for example the impact on access to and from the properties of some existing residents will be affected in a very detrimental way, already leading to some houses being put up for sale. “There also appears to have been no consideration given to the fact that the fumes from vehicles waiting to pass through the one way system will be right outside the school, despite the evidence that vehicle emissions affect children the most.
“For these reasons, and the fact that Monkton does not need another 49 houses in addition to all the developments which have and are currently taking place, we feel that although unfortunately we cannot appeal the decision we must take some action to make the feelings in the village known.”
The village protest will take place on Saturday 25th February, at 10.30am opposite the school. Beth added: “Although the plans for this road layout change are not yet formalised this protest will possibly involve us in holding up traffic in a way we anticipate it is likely to be held up, should the changes take place.
“We would therefore ask that anyone using Monkton Street on that date be aware that this is happening and whilst we apologise for any inconvenience it may cause we ask for your understanding and patience whilst we are taking this action.
“As these changes will affect all users of Monkton Street, we would of course welcome anyone from the local area who would like to join us in this protest.”
According to the appeal document from the Planning Inspector, Heyhill Land will have to provide 10 new public parking spaces. These will be within the development site, which has 100 spaces earmarked for future residents/visitors. The application, which resulted in dozens of objections, will include pedestrian and cycle access.
TDC have already ruined Cliffsend, with Minster and St. Nicholas going the same way… can’t they leave at least one Thanet village alone?
It all depends on the Local Plan.
There was an excellent prospective plan that restricted the number of houses built and where they might be built.
This was booted out by the then UKIP/Tory TDC, leaving us with the grim situation we’re now in.
TDC tried to stop it, they refused it 3 times. The appeal was approved ‘on the basis that Thanet Council cannot demonstrate it has a 5 year supply of land for housing’. Yet if the former airport had been approved for housing development…..
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t cheer on the airport development and cry about houses being built elsewhere.
Why can’t we have both? We had villages AND an airport for almost 100 years.
There are plenty of other places around the country to build.
“There are plenty of other places around the country to build.”
Ofc you’re a nimby. Ofc, you are.
And you’re an anonymous nobody that doesn’t exist.
Ofc, Peter, I’m a figment of your imagination. *insert sp00ky noises* Or conversely; You know I’m right and you’re flinging crap at the walls to see what sticks.
100cc’s copium for Peter, stat.
What is Ofc? A new type of fried chicken?
Nimby
There are indeed plenty of places to build but the issue here is the government is dictating to TDC what they have to allow to be built here.
TDC can’t say to the government department, ‘Please tell another authority to build so we don’t have to.’
I think thanet is popular for developers because land is cheaper to purchase. If farmers refused to sell off land this problem would not arise .But money talks
Yes,thanet is very popular with developers They love the area for many reasons one being they already own prime easy to develop land which they have landbanked and leased to others while they decide either to sell or build on.
Build back better !
Probably also because every single developer knows that, having not built enough, TDC’s decisions to refuse permission will always be overruled on appeal….with costs awarded.
Indeed. Its almost as if there is no money left in farming, so farmers sell up and live a vastly more comfortable life than they ever could of, as farmers. More power to em. Especially as it means more housing for those that desperately need it.
Side bonus. Its fun watching nimbys melt down.
If only there was a big brown field site near by
Err…
How many months will the road be closed while they put in a new sewer system for this one.
The last disruption meant that my elderly mother was unable to get a bus along Monkton Road for months.
Classic nimbyism on the part of Monkton Village. If people could think of the bigger picture rather than their own outlook or back yard then the outputs would be better for all. Lots of self interested talk here.
Nimbyism; yes, but is there really much of a bigger picture? Thanet: Very densely populated for Kent (and the SE: V densely populated for the UK) An awful Doctor/Patient ratio, and if we’ve learnt anything from the Ukraine war, it’s that we’ve got to stop building on farmland.
LEss than 8% of the uk is built on.
“it’s that we’ve got to stop building on farmland.”
With the rise of places like Thanet Earth and the incoming “vertical farming” boom about to happen, not really mate.
The “vertical farming boom” is already under threat due to massively rising energy prices. Vertical farms which were heralded as “the future” are laying people off and reducing operations as their price differences compared to greenhouse operations is too high for consumers.
nimbys
Have you got the media covering the protest? It might be worth seeing if you can get a local TV news team down if you haven’t already done so. Then you can highlight all the infrastructure problems already in Thanet. I will try to make it to the protest if I can.