Campaigners fight to stop 1,350 home development

Peter Slaughter said he was concerned about local wildlife

A group of local residents are stepping up their campaign to fight what they have said would be the "largest ever development" in their part of Kent.

An outline planning application has been made to Canterbury City Council to build up to 1,350 homes near Brooklands Farm, close to Whitstable.

Supporters of the Save Brooklands Farmland group are objecting to the plans with concerns including road safety and the impact on the environment. No date has yet been set to hear the application.

The developers, Hallam Land, have been approached for comment.

A detailed application for the development could follow if the council decides it is an appropriate site for development as part of its local plan, which is still out for public consultation.

'Barely coping'

According to the application, the development would feature "retail, commercial, office, health, and community uses" and include a primary school, a SEND school, business spaces, landscaping, pedestrian and cycle routes, and new A299 slip roads.

But Peter Slaughter, of the Save Brooklands campaign, said there were many reasons why a campaign to prevent it had been launched.

He said road safety issues had been "completely ignored" and further concerns included the impact on wildlife and ancient woodland, sewage pollution on the coastline, plus a "stretched" and "barely coping" local health service.

"For me, one of the biggest issues is this development will unlock a whole lot more in the future, by building improved connectivity to the road network," he said.

Kath Jones had concerns about how the development could impact traffic

Another campaigner with Save Brooklands, Kath Jones, said: "With the addition of thousands of new cars Whitstable will simply be gridlocked.

"A development of this size will take possibly a decade to build and the noise and the heavy vehicles on the roads will be just appalling for all local residents and people within miles of the area."

A Canterbury City Council spokesman said it was in the process of developing a new local plan for the district, and Brooklands Farm was proposed as a development site within the draft.

They said the authority was "in the process of considering" the application and would be making a decision "in due course".

They added: "No final decisions have been taken on the local plan yet.

"We will prepare the final draft version early next year, at which point the government will appoint a planning inspector who will hold a public inquiry.

"We understand some people may wonder how a planning application for a site can be submitted while the local plan is still at a draft stage, but developers are allowed to do this, and we must determine the application on its merits like we would any other application."