Thanet council is holding a drop-in event this afternoon to discuss plans and designs to build 25 accessible council homes at Highfield Road in Ramsgate.
The drop-in takes place at the community hub in Westwood Cross from 3pm to 6pm.
The Highfield Road plot adjoins the back gardens of existing houses and is adjacent to the sports facilities at Jackey Bakers Rec. It has previously been used as parking, particularly for Sunday League members.
It was allocated for housing in the Thanet Local Plan in 2020, originally with a plan for 27 houses.
In March 2023, Cabinet members agreed to the transfer of the strip of land for the delivery of affordable housing.
The report stated the land had an assessed capital value of between £900k and £1.12m. The housing will be a direct build project within Thanet council’s Phase 5 house build scheme.
Of the 25 properties, nine will be 4-bed homes, ten 3-bed, four 2-bed and two 1-bed. The proposal is that 18 will be fully wheelchair accessible properties with through lifts
There will also be a focus on biodiversity net gain, communal planting and shared community access.
Deputy council leader Helen Whitehead says there are currently 14 households on the housing register with family members who require through lifts, meaning the completion of the project will result in them all being housed with the facilities required.
The council’s most recent Housing Needs study identified the district needs 548 new affordable homes each year to meet the needs of the local community.
In November 2022, Cabinet reviewed the council’s housing development programme and agreed to allocate an initial £7.9m to a phase 5 programme, with potential to deliver 25-30 units in the financial year 2025/26. The site off Highfield Road will be the main part of this.
In July 2023 Council approved an affordable homes delivery target of at least 400 homes by 2027. This target included a mix of new build acquisitions, refurbishment, and TDC’s own construction programme.
The proposal is subject to planning permission.
If planning permission is secured, TDC will build the homes to be let to people on the Housing Register, at genuinely affordable rent. Most of the homes will be specially adapted for people with disabilities or long-term health conditions.
The council’s Strategic Housing team will be at the drop-in to discuss the plans and answer questions.
People can share their feedback via an online survey on Your Voice Thanet, until Friday 19 June.
Find the survey at: https://yourvoice.thanet.gov.uk/en-GB/projects/highfield-road
Anyone who can’t complete the survey online can request a paper copy by calling 01843 577000.
The proposal also includes a landscaping scheme and improved public right of way.
The planning application will be submitted in summer 2026. This is subject to feedback received during the public engagement.
If approved, work is expected to start on site in spring 2027 and should take around 15 months to complete. Residents could move in from summer 2028.
There are a number of trees along the land strip and this has prompted concern from some residents.
One resident has launched a petition, saying: “I love going into my garden and seeing the lush green canopy, the birds chirping, the squirrels busying as well as hedgehogs and bats going about their business at night. This landscape isn’t just a backdrop to my daily life; it’s a sanctuary that offers peace, fresh air, and a connection to nature.
“But the local council is planning to replace this precious woodland with yet another development project, threatening not only my cherished view but the very existence of the wildlife that calls it home.
“The council must listen to its residents and prioritize environmental stewardship over short-term financial gains. We can’t afford to lose any more green spaces to concrete jungles.
“Join me in urging our local council to halt the destruction of our wooded land, protect our wildlife, and commit to sustainable development practices.”
Find the petition at: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-destruction-of-local-woodlands-highfield-road-jackey-bakers
I do have sympathy for those residents in Highfield Road whose houses back on to this new development. But I guess all the time Labour are in charge their rights and views will always get trumped by more and more “super exciting” houses being crammed in everywhere.
i agree with the above comments it sums it up , the problem with all of these new houses they are not for locals , just have a walk around sainsburys or lidls you will see who gets those new builds around there .
Agreed, Labours operation scatter is in full swing.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve pointed this out now, but you have to be on the Thanet Housing Register to be eligible for Council Housing.
Tdc can’t cope with the bins they have, and people in Thanet and nearby are already struggling for basics like water and sanitation. Why not follow Tonbridge and West Malling council’s example and halt all new house building?
I think, Helen, they are referring to the general influx of new people in a short space of time to Thanet in whatever housing they move to.
The issue is greater than the small but still inadequate provision of council housing.
Our amenities and infrastructure cannot cope and it is causing serious discontent, understandably.
Your excitement is not shared by those who see the bigger problem.
The fact that these homes will provide decent homes for people with disabilities just gets lost whilst the majority issues are not addressed.
The public have had it with ‘good news’!
You’ll never convince her (until presumably her own house has no water).
I wish the new tenants well, when they finally move in, I hope they have many years of enjoyment in their new homes. A really positive development, the inclusion of disability access within the properties has to be welcomed. The plans and site layout looks well though out, facing onto the parkland, incorporating different family size units, which are desperately required by local people and new arrivals to the area, who will form this new multiethnic housing community. On this occasion the council and Helen should be congratulated. The return to council house construction is a game changer, saving so much money in the long run, for the taxpayer compared to housing benefit payments to private landlords.
Does it escape you that the council receives housing benefit payments from the taxpayer too? As for renovating old buildings, the council is going to be spending around 400k per flat in edgar road , an absurd waste of public money and the council will receive housing benefit payments after.
Thank you Gerard. A lot of work has gone into this plan and I’m exceptionally proud of all the Officers involved in bringing it to this point.
Any chance you could explain how it’s all funded and where each tranche of funding comes from to Gerard in particular and rest of us in general. Is any of it coming from the general fund under the temporary housing rules?
All this council wants to do is build build build.
Try renovating some of the buildings in disrepair around Thanet to help ease the need for houses.
This was the car park for Jackey Bakers and now people park dangerously by Sainsbury’s roundabout and its impossible to walk safely when its being parked on by contractors or footballers.
Labour is a absolute joke and TDC is an even bigger joke.
No doubt they’ll have to take a bit of the park to build on too!!
Living close to Jackey Bakers, this ill thought out decision has been hanging over the head of locals for a few years.
The loss of habitat is my biggest concern as it’s almost nonexistent in Northwood.
The ideologically driven Labour Party, may talk a good game on green issues, but the razing to the ground of this particular habitat illustrates they are just empty vessels uttering meaningless and worthless words.
Frankly, Labour can go to heck. This is an ugly, stupid and politically sociopathic decision that will ignore the locals who will have to put up with the disruption and change in the area.
Thanet is being ruined before our eyes, and within two generations, Thanet will look like Male Island in the Maldives.
How much has the housing department of tdc transferred to the general fund for the land? Or has the circa 1 million asset just been passed over? Hard to be.ieve land with planning for 25 houses is only worth 40k a plot. Might raise more on the open market and help provide the 1.6 million needed to balance the budget.
I encourage readers to walk around this green space that will obliterated and fully sacrificed at the altar of council greed.
I signed the ongoing petition. Unfortunately, the petition could have 25,000 signatures, but it won’t make any difference. Similar to the public information session at Westwood Cross.
The obvious disrespect this development shows to the highly impacted Highfield Road, residents by all parties involved is disgraceful.
The Highfield Road area has enough social housing, and shouldn’t be expected to carry a heavier load.
The loss of one of the last significant woodlands in Northwood, illustrates what a throng of green hypocrites Labour are on environmental issues.
When Labour, come begging for my vote I’ll throw this issue right in their face. They can all shut up now about their green obsession . Just go to heck.
Now you know why trust in politicians is at rock bottom.
Hypocrisy and greed abound.
If housing development continues apace for the next 20 years, Thanet will resemble Male Island in the Maldives.
It’s unconscionable and the end of a decent quality of life here. As the residents bordering Jackey Baker’s will soon find out.
I’ve posted 3 comments on the Jackey Bakers development fiasco. None have been posted. Reasons?
God forbid, the great unwashed can’t make justifiable salvos against the national government and our ever wondrous TDC.
The Jackey Bakers development is a profoundly stupid decision based on council greed and national government ideological obsession.
I encourage the public to have a look around at the habitat that will be razed to the ground before it’s gone forever .
The ecological zealots that have infiltrated Labour, will look like the eternal hypocrites they are when the wildlife in this habitat take yet another hit.
In a generation or two Thanet, with this unrelenting mania of house building will resemble Male Island in the Maldives.
When our parks are expropriated in the future to quench the thirst for land for houses you will know the last nail in Thanet’s coffin will be truly driven.
Sorry, the spam filter was a bit over enthusiastic
This is an absurdly stupid and unnecessary decision.
Just because they can build at JB’s, doesn’t mean the TDC should.
The lack of concern over the quality of life for the residents in the front of this proposed development is breathtakingly uncaring.
Labour should never again preach about green and environmental issues after they raze to the ground one of the few remaining wildlife habitats in Northwood.
Thanet had better get a grip on the obsession and mania around house building.
We will turn Thanet, into Male Island, in the Maldives.
Rather than build on it, they should make it a carpark again to prevent all those parking on the grass on the link road by Sainsburys, mounting the kerb to park there every weekend and now week days with the construction staff.