Garden centre to be knocked down for homes

Medway Council says this scheme meets the demands of growing families

Plans to knock down a garden centre and turn it into 12 homes to meet the demands of "growing families" have been approved.

Medway Council green lit proposals from Provectus Developments on Wednesday to build on the site of the Dillywood Garden Centre in Higham.

Opponents of the scheme said the road network and site may be unsuitable for the volume of cars.

Councillors at the planning committee praised the design of the scheme and called it an "acceptable" development in a "classic grey belt" site.

The plans will see the existing buildings on the site in Dillywood Lane, north of Strood, knocked down and a barrier of trees planted around the edge, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Councillor Adrian Gulvin said: "We need some quality housing in Medway, four-bedroom houses are not often built here, there is a shortage of that.

"These will be bought by people moving from three-bed homes, as their families grow, which will release those three-bed properties for others."

Higham Parish Council and the Dickens' Country Protection Society submitted letters of objection to the project.

They claimed the site represented ribbon development, where a line of homes are built alongside existing highway, and required changes to the road network to make it safer.

Councillor John Williams, who represents Strood Rural, also wrote an objection to the scheme saying it would stretch local infrastructure too far and damage the countryside.

He added: "The roads leading up to the site are very narrow single lane country roads with passing places and very eroded banks with limited lighting.

"The increased traffic will put unacceptable stress on the local infrastructure."