A planning inquiry will be heard this week after the developer hoping to build 200 properties on agricultural land off Cottingham Road in Cliffsend appealed Thanet council’s rejection of its plans.
Land promotion business Richborough submitted an outline planning application for the properties in January this year, with 60 earmarked as ‘affordable’ homes.
The site is on land adjacent to the St Augustine’s Cross.
In June Thanet council refused the plans on six grounds:
- Significant harm due to the location and proximity to the Grade II Listed St. Augustine’s Cross
- Lack of archaeological assessment or field evaluation works, including trial trenching, which given the sites potential to include remains of high significance, particularly a Roman road/track, could result in harm from development works to archaeology of significance that requires conservation
- Development that encroaches beyond the existing urban boundaries of the village within the Wantsum North Shore Landscape Character Area, resulting in the loss of openness to the edge of the village
- Failure to submit sufficient surveys for breeding birds and bats, potentially resulting in harm to farmland bird habitats and protected species,
- Increased recreational pressure on the Thanet Coast and Sandwich Bay Special Protection Area (SPA), and Sandwich Bay and Hacklinge Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI),
- Failure to enter into a legal agreement to secure affordable housing, and the delivery of the necessary planning obligations
Richborough said the proposals include a buffer area with no development to avoid noise from the railway and Richborough says it will preserve the view and setting of the Grade II Listed St. Augustine’s Cross.
A consultation website claims there will be highways improvements along Cottington Road and “a multifunctional green space that includes play areas for all ages, orchards, parks, gardens, and sustainable urban drainage systems, while enhancing biodiversity.”
Sixty-four letters of objection were sent to the council raising concerns including lack of need for the housing, lack of facilities in the village to serve more residents, loss of farmland, impact on St Augustine’s Cross, impact on wildlife, inadequate road capacity and more.
Cliffsend Parish Council
A lengthy objection from Cliffsend Parish Council highlights those concerns and says the applicant’s Community Needs Assessment “is highly misleading and factually incorrect” noting claims of no added pressure on GP, hospital or dentyal services.
The parish council also raises the issue that the site is not allocated for housing in Thanet’s Local Plan.
The submission says: “Neither the proposed site nor the additional dwellings are included in the TDC Local Plan. The TDC Local Plan has identified over 17,000 new dwellings and associated sites for Thanet. They are clearly listed in TDC Policy SP13, including the allocation for Cliffsend.
“Cliffsend’s allocated development has recently been completed. This application is over and above the agreed allocation and areas for Thanet in general, and Cliffsend in particular. No reason has been submitted by the developer to explain why policy SP13 should be over-ridden.
“TDC Policy SP01 states that the primary focus for new housing developments in Thanet must be in the urban areas. Cliffsend is not in an urban area. It is in a rural area.
“It should be recognised that Cliffsend has increased in the number of dwellings by 21% over the past 5 years. Currently, there is a separate planning application under appeal for an additional 141 dwellings in Cliffsend – again, in excess of the Local Plan. If the appeal is granted (a result is expected imminently) it would result in an increase of 38%.
“This additional proposal for a further 200 dwellings, which is also in excess of the Local Plan, would result in an increase of 63%. Even if the appeal for the 141 dwellings is not granted, this current application would result in a total increase of 46% for the village, without the supporting infrastructure. This is simply not sustainable.”
Minster Parish Council
Minster Parish Council has also objected on grounds including additional development is unsustainable, an unacceptable increase in traffic at the Cottington Link Road junction with Sevenscore Roundabout, loss of countryside and harm to the characteristics of the Wantsum North Slopes Landscape Character Area, irreversible loss of best and most versatile agricultural land, increased recreational pressure on the Thanet Coast and Sandwich Bay Special Protection Area (SPA), and Sandwich Bay and Hacklinge Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and harm to the setting of St Augustine’s Cross.
The application site is on 9.44 hectares of land across two separate arable agricultural fields which are either side of Cottington Road. Some 87% of the agricultural land within the site boundary is classified as Grade 2 (very good quality) and 13% as grade 3a (good quality).
The land is not allocated for development in the Thanet Local Plan but was put forward for consideration during the council’s call for sites in 2021.
The Planning inquiry will open at 10am on Tuesday, 4 November and is currently scheduled for 5-6 sitting days with Planning inspector Benjamin Webb BA.
The decision is expected to be issued on or before 15 December 2025.
The almost 300 planning and appeal documents can be viewed on Thanet council’s planning portal, reference OL/TH/24/1473
TDC make the right decision. But what will the Planning Inspectorate have to say. Will TDC be overruled and presumption take precedence? Let’s hope not and let the TDC decision stand.
When is this rape of our valuable national and local asset, our farmland, going to stop?
Sheer money grubbing wickedness. Stop the boats and massive immigration, we are full up and cannot feed ourselves as it is.
We don’t need more housing we need mass deportation. Stop ruining our homeland to accommodate people who have no place here and don’t want to contribute or assimilate
I totally agree with Ton & Anon.
If this land is not allocated for housing in Thanet’s Local Plan and is prime agricultural land it should automatically be rejected by both TDC and the Planning Inspectorate. Any other decision would be making a mockery of local plans and shows development takes precedence over feeding the population.
Polly step-up here and fight for what we deserve.
‘affordable’ homes is not an excuse to do what you like. The appeal should go the same way & no chivvying until they get their way.
TDC were told this would happen when the useless Thanet Parkway station was sanctioned.As for the NIMBY stuff; in 1914 we imported 65% of all our food, some 18.1m tons,now we produce around 65% of all our food, but waste 20% of it.Thanet has more urban terrain (15.9%) than every district in Kent apart from Dartford,however, it’s farmers who are selling the land.
It doesn’t take much for some to start implying immigration is the cause of all our ills. In the US, Trump’s ICE goon squads are hammering businesses, because immigrants do the work that locals won’t do.With a creaking economy like ours,goon squad economics will only make things worse.
We do need housing, not affordable or 5 bedroom estate houses, but social houses and starter homes.
This time the officers have recommended rejection and the developer has seriously failed to carry out even basic stuff, so it might fail on appeal.