A public meeting of Westgate and Garlinge Action Group against housing development on farmland will discuss a letter by MP Sir Roger Gale to the Minister of State for Housing, asking what powers Thanet council has to “tear up the currently approved Local Plan.”
Sir Roger sent the letter to MP Lee Rowley at the beginning of May. In it he also asks if Thanet can produce a new Plan that “protects what little is left of our agricultural land and seeks to base further housing development upon an adequate supply of supporting medical and educational infrastructure.”
He criticised Thanet council for not taking action to revise the Local Plan – a blueprint for housing and infrastructure up to 2031- due to waiting for changes to national planning policy and awaiting the outcome of legal challenges to the development consent order for Manston airport. He adds that the local authority says it is now awaiting clarification on the 2014 ONS figures that housing need is based on.
In the letter Sir Roger says: “It is absolutely horrific to see the amount of farmland that has been sacrificed to the enormous housing estates that themselves make no provision for supporting infrastructure,”
The letter has also been sent to Rishi Sunak.
The Westgate and Garlinge Action Group will discuss the letter at its next meeting on Wednesday (May 29) at the Bake and Alehouse from 7pm. The meeting is open to anyone who wants to learn more about the group.
An action group spokesperson said: “Our group is not a political group, and we work alongside all councillors of different political preferences who, like us, want to protect our precious and high grade farmland from the current destruction caused by developers.”
The group says they are grateful for the raising of the issue of the loss of Best and Most Versatile (BMV) farmland in Thanet to housing developments “based on the unanimously agreed ‘over-predicted’ housing targets for the area.”
The group say the Local Plan needs to be revised now as “National Planning Policy Framework has added protection for our BMV farmland and our housing figures are not ‘mandatory,” but say members have been told housing target figures cannot be changed until the latest ONS figures are published, which will not be until 2025.
The group is particularly concerned about the plans for 1600 houses on farmland in Birchington and 2000 homes on agricultural land at Westgate and Garlinge.
Sir Roger, five Thanet District Councillors and two Kent County Councillors, have written to the Secretary of State to call in the Birchington application submitted by Ptarmigan Homes.
They say: “The plans for this application have been changed considerably and serious concerns have been raised by locals relating to many aspects, none the least of which being the lack of secured funding for the North Thanet Link Road and its impact on the community.
“We are deeply concerned the area will become covered in half-built roadways leading to nowhere, which will be the very least of the problems to be faced by villagers.”
The group say action is needed now to protect agricultural land or it “will be the end of farming as an industry for many farmers, the loss of the wildlife and habitats which make our open spaces so healing and peaceful for our population.
“Roads are regularly being closed causing traffic mayhem on a daily basis. Businesses are losing customers adding even further pressure on their finances, while locals are dodging vehicles driven by frustrated and impatient drivers along what are usually quiet residential side streets.
“Once our farmland is turned over to concrete the incidence of flooding and sewage releases will increase even further and once again our beaches will be closed, just as the precious summer season of business opportunities should begin.
“We want this madness to cease, for the good of everyone on the island, and return our farmland to our farmers and workers. We must retain the identity of Thanet to one of seaside towns that welcome visitors to enjoy our beaches and countryside and work towards building only homes that we need, for the people of Thanet, on brownfield sites only.”
Leader of Thanet District Council, Cllr Rick Everitt said: “The council understands the anxiety in the community about the loss of Thanet’s agricultural land to housing, which is why I wrote to the Secretary of State last year asking him to call in such planning applications in Thanet, but the response from government made clear that they were not prepared to do that.
“The external planning inspectors already consider the infrastructure that is needed for a site to be viable as housing and won’t approve the local plan without that. The challenge for any district council is that delivery of most of it is in the hands of other public bodies.
“Making changes to our existing local plan requires a lengthy statutory process involving external examination. The timescale is not in the council’s control and it is measured in years. The government has also announced changes to the plan-making process, but is yet to provide full guidance on the methodology.
“Our plan is relatively new. It was only sent for examination by Full Council in 2018 and then adopted in 2020. However, even if we were in a position to proceed to examination with a new one now, we would be bound by the same 2014-based population projections which led to the need for 17,000 homes in the current one, because the government has delayed updating the statistics until next year.
“In fact, we already know that using this methodology would identify a need for thousands more homes and multiple additional sites which are simply not available in the urban area, so it makes sense to wait until we can base our new plan on more up to date numbers which should reflect the lower actual population growth since 2014. The timing is not about Manston.
“We also need to be clear that whatever the eventual number required, there is no prospect that an updated local plan will result in sites currently allocated for housing being removed. There is no practical mechanism to do that and a new plan is not a way to prevent development already in the pipeline. If we do not make timely decisions on applications based on the existing plan, they will simply be made by government planning inspectors instead.”
Action group meeting
Westgate and Garlinge Action Group Against Housing on Farmland holds public meetings on the last Wednesday of every month at the Bakehouse Westgate which is opposite Westgate United Services Men’s Club.
