By Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Esson
A move to pause major housebuilding projects across a district has been defeated at a fiery Thanet council meeting last night (October 12).
Heckles from the public gallery blasted new housing targets with supporters of the proposed halt saying “planet Thanet will be destroyed” if it was not agreed.
But the Labour administration at Thanet council condemned the move as “gesture politics” while all other parties in the council backed it.
The motion was first mooted in July calling for a three-month moratorium on planning applications of over 10 homes in the district due to fears over crumbling local infrastructure.
Green councillors Mike Garner and Tricia Austin, put forward the debate but a decision was deferred to allow TDC officers to research the legal implications of such a move.
A report presented ahead of the full council meeting on Thursday (October 12), recommended members reject the bid on grounds it could prompt government intervention and high costs.
Introducing the motion, Cllr Garner told the packed council chamber at the Civic Centre in Margate the pause was intended to “allow for a review into the impacts the current housebuilding programme is having across Thanet”.
The St Peter’s representative specifically cited the state of Southern Water’s infrastructure in the district as a worry, which has recently seen sewage controversially released into the sea around Kent.
He stressed the motion “isn’t proposing that all building work in Thanet should stop, as much as some here might like that to be the case”.
There are 748 homes currently with planning permission for construction in the district, he pointed out from the report, and made clear those should continue.
Cllr Garner detailed statistics from the officers’ report which show there are 1,551 long term empty homes in the district, and almost 5,000 when including holiday lets and second homes, prompting an observer to loudly say “disgusting” from the gallery.
“I do not believe it is at all unreasonable for us to act on our residents’ concerns,” he concluded, to a round of applause from the public gallery.
In response, leader of the council Rick Everitt (Lab) said: “The administration absolutely recognises the level of public concern about the scale and location of planned development in Thanet.
“No responsible council could pass the motion in front of it tonight.”
The Newington representative stressed to the room that if the council paused planning applications, it would “simply be decided elsewhere on the same policy basis, without local democratic input”.
He added the council would also face legal costs attached to fighting decisions and lose income from planning application fees.
The officers’ report notes how if the council passed the motion, developers could choose to bypass the local authority and apply for planning permission directly through the government’s Planning Inspectorate.
“A pause would imperil the affordable housing that we desperately need in this district,” Cllr Everitt continued.
“Voting for it tonight knowing it cannot be delivered is not serious politics, it is simply performance, and our residents deserve better than that.”
During a later item at the meeting, £12 million funding was agreed to be released to finance further affordable housing schemes across the district.
The Conservatives, the council’s opposition group, backed the housing pause proposal.
Group leader Cllr Reece Pugh said when they were in the council’s driving seat before being defeated in May, the Tories “did a hell of a lot trying to fight the housing numbers”.
“It is in the best interests of residents to support this motion, to pause any major new consents across the Isle,” he added.
Cllr Phil Fellows (Conservative) said: “A number of us have been calling for a moratorium on house building and large planning applications in Thanet and also looking at ways we can we call in the local plan to have the numbers re-looked at.
“Every request has been met with a no, it’s not possible. This was a chance for us to draw breath and step back and take stock of what us as councillors, and as a council, are allowing to happen here in Thanet.
“Our health services are maxxed out, our roads are constantly clogged, our water and sewage system are in meltdown, it’s clearly an unsustainable position to be in, and it’s definitely unsafe. No one can argue these points.
“The local plan is certainly creating more issues than it solves. That’s for sure. And to be clear I did not vote for this Local Plan. My village of Birchington is under siege from developers, with one planning application alone for 1600 houses on grade one agricultural farmland. If you think about that number..1600 and that won’t be the end of it… then you can clearly see the destruction that is coming for our village life forever. It’s absolute madness and it’s tragic for all of us that live here.”
Cllr Kristian Bright (Lab) told the room “none of us want to see houses built on greenfield, I think we’re all agreed on that”.
But he added: “We need new houses, there is a housing crisis in this country.”
A member of the public loudly mumbled “bull****” at his mention of the housing crisis.
“This is purely about gesture politics [and empty words],” Cllr Bright added.
Cllr Will Scobie (Lab) said: “The way to change this is to have some political stability and not have motions saying we should stop development.”
Shortly after, a member of the public called out: “There will never be enough housing, it’s about time you realised that.
“Planet Thanet will be destroyed before you realise there will never be enough housing.”
Cllr John Davis (Con) told the room “we are traumatised by what is going on,” with development.
“We need a firebreak, we need to send a robust message across the chamber and to parliament that this community has had enough.”
Cllr Tricia Austin (Green) seconded the motion, decrying the “fire and brimstone” predictions of officers about the consequences of the potential pause.
When time on the debate ran out, chairman of the council Cllr John Edwards (Lab) attempted to move to the vote, with residents and councillors shouting at him to allow continued debate.
One resident cried “down with autocracy”.
A call for a recorded vote was defeated, but the ruling Labour majority opposed the motion, with all others voting for, and it did not pass.
‘Disappointed’
Following the meeting, Cllr Garner said: “”I’m obviously disappointed the motion was defeated but, even though the debate itself too often descended into shouty political point scoring rather than a reasoned discussion, at least we were able to air some of the issues that residents have repeatedly raised with us.
“The issues themselves, which include a Southern Water infrastructure that isn’t ‘fit for purpose’, GP services increasingly under pressure, and an increasingly congested road network, won’t be going away.
“Although, as a district council, the provision of these services is not our responsibility, the Green group of councillors will continue to press for action to be taken when promised improvements aren’t delivered.”
