A proposal to use the former student accommodation at Northwood Court – by the Nelson College Broadstairs campus which formerly belonged to Canterbury Christ Church University – to accommodate up to 86 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children has been withdrawn.
The application, validated last November, had been made by Ready Homes with the site identified by Kent County Council (KCC) as being a suitable location for the Reception Centre to provide specialist accommodation and support the UAS Children’s Service.
Ready Homes is a provider of social services care leaver accommodation under a contract with Kent County Council and also contracted by the government to find and operate accommodation for people awaiting asylum claims.
Planning documents said: “The need for this bespoke type of accommodation derives from the County Council’s statutory responsibility for UAS children entering the United Kingdom via the Port of Dover.
“KCC are required to provide accommodation, safeguarding and support to children and young people and as part of this, the UAS Children’s Service is required to identify Reception Centre facilities within Kent boundaries.”
The application prompted hundreds of letters of objection to Thanet council’s planning portal.
A letter confirming the application is now withdrawn was published on the TDC planning website today (August 7).
The proposal had been for unaccompanied youngsters to stay at the Reception Centre for up to an eight-week period before moving on via the National Transfer Scheme (NTS). The scheme has been established to enable the safe transfer of UAS children from one local authority to another.
Northwood Court contains 85 ensuite bedrooms arranged in a series of flats, a warden flat, a laundry room with bike, bin and smoking shelters. Four car parking spaces are provided within the gated complex with a further fifteen car parking spaces allocated to the west of the building.
A second, unrelated application from Jamie Copland of RW (Margate) Ltd for a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) with 84 rooms is still live and yet to be decided.
Mr Copland, who already owns other HMO buildings in Thanet, proposes the 84 Bed HMO which is split into ‘units’ across the floor levels with a shared kitchen for each unit.
Application documents say: “The proposal offers much needed housing accommodation in an area that has seen significant increase in demand for HMOs. The site is also very well positioned with good transport links and with in walking distance of shops and areas of employment.”
The HMO application can be found on Thanet council’s planning portal under reference F/TH/24/0690
The building has been empty since the university left Thanet in 2018.
Planning permission was granted on 19th October 2023 for the change of use from student accommodation to proposed workers accommodation in association with Thanet Earth but this proposal did not progress any further.
Prior to that, in 2022, the site was procured by Clearsprings Ready Homes which has a 10-year contract to manage asylum seeker accommodation in England and Wales, and briefly used to house people seeking asylum.
