A group of Margate residents held a peaceful protest outside Thanet council on Wednesday (October 15) to raise awareness of plans to build 150 properties on the former Royal School for Deaf Children site.
The protest, which took place while the planning committee met inside the building to discuss other applications, was also to call for transparency, wildlife protection and allocation of the full 30% requirement of affordable homes if the development is approved.
Geronimo Estates LLP has submitted a planning application to build a mix of 2, 3 and 4 bed terraced, detached and semi-detached properties along with a single block of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments.
Plans also include a play area, a community building, vehicle access from Victoria Road – which will be widened-and two points at Park Crescent Road and links for pedestrians and cyclists.
However, only 10% affordable housing – equalling 15 homes- is proposed rather than the standard 30%.
Documents on behalf of the developer say “it is not viable to provide the full quantum of 30% affordable dwellings.”
Land sale and new owners
KCC put the site up for sale last year with ‘positive’ pre-application plans to build 185 houses.
The authority had previously paid £6.8m (exclusive of VAT) for the land in 2020. No updated details have been added to Land Registry for the sale to Geronimo Estates.
However, the developer borrowed £3.6m from Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, creating a charge on the deaf school land.
Details for the project are displayed on the website of Square Bay property company which has two listings under officers/ controlling companies of Geronimo Estates, alongside 15 other companies from England, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Virgin Islands.
The residents say the most recent sale details for the 12.8 acre site in Margate are not clear due to a lack of publicly accessible information.
They also say the myriad of businesses linked to Geronimo Estates means it could make accountability for abiding by any planning requirements difficult.
In a statement published on a temporary website created to raise awareness of the planning application deadline and increase local engagement, it says: “The planning applicant is Geronimo Estates LLP acting for the owner within a multi-entity group structure. The land and application currently sit within a wider corporate group using separate entities. That can be normal in development, but it makes long-term accountability harder.
“Residents are asking the council to secure clear, enforceable conditions before any consent: name the freeholder exactly as on Land Registry; publish the ownership chain in plain English; secure funding up front for public space and habitat care; bind all obligations to the land so duties transfer if the site is sold; and require simple annual public reporting on affordable housing, biodiversity net gain and public access.”
Residents’ website
The website content advises residents to read and engage with the council’s online planning portal and also offers alternative routes for locals to share their views. including a resident statement that people can sign, and the simpler option for people to email their views to the group.
A spokesperson for the group said: “We are not an organisation or a charity, we are just local people who have loosely formed a residents group in the last week to find out more about this planning proposal, and work out how we get to have a say on how it might affect our town.
“Local people are too often left out of important processes like this, and we want to support anyone who finds the planning portal hard to use. Their views matter just as much as anyone’s.
“People have different reasons but, so far, everyone we have spoken to agrees this proposal does not feel right for what our town needs.
“We know that our councillors work hard to support this town and the people of Thanet, so, in preparation for the next stage of decision making by the planning committee, we aim to gather as many views as possible directly from local people in Margate.”
Affordable housing
Concerns include the reduction of proposed affordable housing to just 10%.
The residents group says: “TDC’s Strategic Housing response says the proposal offers 10 percent affordable housing where local policy expects 30 percent and recommends an independent viability review. There is no commitment to social rent.
“Residents are asking for the full 30 percent with a portion at social rent, plus firm limits so new homes do not drift into short-term lets.”
There is also concern that properties will be out of reach for Thanet people, with one of the group saying: “How can a development of this size in the centre of our town be plausible if it does not tangibly support us, the local people? Margate residents contribute to and lift up this town. We set up and run soup kitchens because there is deprivation. We are the social workers, nurses, gardeners, and lots of us are renters.
“We are hospitality staff for tourists, and run businesses on a shoestring…
“Thousands of people in Margate are on the housing register, waiting for a home. More are struggling as the rents keep rising, and yet we still keep this town alive. So how can we be so overlooked? It is an insult. Who do the councils expect will serve the community and tourists if residents can’t actually afford to live here anymore?”
Health services
Health services are another worry. The NHS response estimates around 321 extra residents registering with The Limes and Bethesda surgeries and requests £185,523.
However, the group is concerned that there is no action outlined to create GP capacity before people move in. They say a binding plan is needed so GP services are delivered before occupation.
Biodiversity
Lastly, questions are raised about the proposed removal of 51 scattered trees plus five within woodland, loss of priority hedgerow, a slow-worm population needing major mitigation and bat activity at the site. The group wants an independent check of the biodiversity figures, retention of the highest-value trees and hedgerows, bat-friendly dark corridors and a 30-year management plan that is funded and monitored.
Affordable housing numbers and biodiversity requirements are within the remit of Thanet’s planning department, However, the delivery of health services and the contents of Land Registry documents are not.
Square Bay
The Square Bay team has five directors and four non-executives. The latter includes Pin Chakkaphak, once dubbed the ‘takeover king’ and blamed for a role in the 1997 collapse of South East Asian financial economies.
However, in 2001 the High Court ruled that the Chicago-born former Finance One boss should not face extradition back to Thailand on charges of embezzling £35m.
The court decided there was insufficient evidence of dishonesty on the charges he faced and the actions had been taken through loopholes in Thailand’s financial regulations.
Mr Pin said he had been made a scapegoat for the financial disaster. He did not return to the country until the 15-year statute of limitations on his case had expired.
Finance One was the largest of 56 finance companies shut down during the Asian Financial Crisis.
How to view and comment on the application – reference OL/TH/25/0996
Expiry: Tuesday 28th October 2025
Documents: https://planning.thanet.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=T2HDY0QEIXL00
View and submit comments: https://planning.thanet.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=T2HDY0QEIXL00
Residents’ group website: https://sites.google.com/view/wearemargateresidents
The site
The Royal School for Deaf Children was shut down suddenly in December 2015 after The John Townsend Trust, which ran it, went into administration.
The distressing closure of the school and Westgate College resulted in some 500 job losses and scores of children left without a specialist school placement.
The land had been earmarked for a new secondary school but in December 2021 this proposal was ditched for a second time by KCC following discussions with the Department for Education over the forecast of reduced pupil numbers in the district.
In 2022 the site was put forward by KCC for a potential 200 home development as part of Thanet council’s Local Plan review.
An update to the Thanet Local Plan – a blueprint for housing, business and infrastructure on the isle –was due to be extended to cover the period to 2040 – and included the need for land/sites to accommodate an additional 4,000-4,500 dwellings.
KCC sold the five hectare site this year with Geronimo Estates borrowing £3.6m from Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, creating a charge on the deaf school land.
Geronimo Estates held a public exhibition to show the plans in June at St John the Baptist community centre.
No doubt-The council will give it the go-ahead regardless what people think like westwood cross-That never should have been built.
I notice none of any profit made is staying in england either. 😞
I love it when DFLs complain, without irony, that Margate has become too popular and is being developed…
It appears on the surface that KCC purchased the land for £8,160,000 (inclusive of VAT) and may have sold it for £3,600,000. Excluding legal fees that appears to be a loss of £4,560,000 for council tax payers. Perhaps one of our County Councillors can investigate and confirm the situation (albeit the transaction may have occurred under the previous administration) ?
If the purchase monies were borrowed from a bank based in Thailand; the loan secured against said land; and one of the development company associates being of Thai descent – it does not take a genius to join the dots.
If planning consent is granted, the value of the land increases. The investor then makes a quick and substantial profit on monies that have been fronted by a third party.