Plans for new winery given council approval

Chapel Down has secured council approval for its planned new winery

A Kent-based wine producer has secured permission for a new winery after a planning committee voted to back the development.

Chapel Down's plans involve an 11,900 sq metres (128,000 sq ft) winery and up to 8,000 sq metres (86,000 sq ft) of warehouse at Canterbury Business Park, off the A2 near Bridge.

Concerns were raised about the site being built in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

However, councillors were told Chapel Down had looked at 89 sites across seven Kent districts and this was the "most suitable".

Chapel Down's new venture was originally approved by Canterbury City Council (CCC) in April.

After objectors threatened a judicial review of the approval for the £32million development, however, CCC quashed its own decision.

On Wednesday evening, CCC’s planning committee revisited the application and voted to back the development with nine votes in favour and four against.

The development is proposed to be at Canterbury Business Park

Councillors raised concerns about the constructing a warehouse in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB)

Chapel Down chief executive Andrew Carter, who attended Wednesday's meeting, said his company sees a future for the region "as celebrated as that of Champagne for it being a world class wine region".

The company's Tenterden site, at Small Hythe Road, has the capacity for up to 2.5 million bottles of wine.

"In order to deliver our long term ambitions we require a purpose built winery facility with the capacity to produce at least 6 million bottles by 2032,” Mr Carter said.

The company hopes to plant a new vineyard on land between Wye and Chilham in 2024.

Katie Miller, planning manager at the Kent Downs trust and part of its AONB team, urged the council to scrap the plans.

“The expansion of the wine industry is neither a national nor local priority reflected in planning policy and the benefits could be delivered by development outside of the AONB,” she said.

Cllr Dan Smith added: “I don’t think we need to make use of an area of outstanding natural beauty for this development."