Plans for more than 150 homes on edge of Kent village with no affordable houses
Plans for more than 150 homes and a shop on farmland have been unveiled – but no affordable housing is included
Plans for more than 150 homes and a shop on farmland have been unveiled – but no affordable housing is included.
Paynes Development Ltd is asking Swale Borough Council (SBC) for permission to build 152 homes in Bobbing, near Sittingbourne.
The field proposed to be built on is about the size of 10 standard 11-a-side football pitches and is off Quinton Road and Sheppey Way, to the west of the A249.
Access to the new estate, which would consist of 132 houses and 20 flats, would be via Quinton Road, according to planning documents.
A new “local retail unit” selling food and a creche are also proposed – with some of the flats above the retail unit.
The developer argues: “The site itself is of low landscape value, as it is surrounded by major highways, which limit its visual prominence and sensitivity.
“While the site is currently underutilised, it holds strategic value as a sustainable commuter location, offering excellent transport links to surrounding towns and employment hubs.
“This makes it well-suited to residential development.”
Pre-empting environmental arguments, they continue: “There is no denying that development will result in the loss of an arable field, which will be home to numerous species.
“However, the measurement of the impact a development is having on a site (Biodiversity Net Gain) shows that for a site of this size, the impact is minimal.”
Applications of significant size are usually meant to include affordable housing – meaning homes which are either sold or rented at only a percentage of the market rate.
However, this development proposes none at all.
“The application is not proposing to provide an affordable housing contribution on-site as part of the scheme,” the planning statement reads.
“The Financial Viability Assessment prepared by Rapleys finds that on a 100% open market basis, there would be a viability deficit with no surplus generated to support any affordable housing provision.”
“Financially viable” developments are those which make 15-20% profit on gross development value, under government policy.
When housebuilders show that a development would not generate that amount of profit, they are legally allowed to avoid providing the amount of affordable housing they would usually be expected to.
Cllr Richard Palmer (Reform UK), who represents Swale West on Kent County Council, said: “We are crying out for affordable housing.
“They developers pull the heartstrings but still make the profit – that’s my own personal view.
“We should be holding these developers to account and making sure they do what they say they will and they can’t worm out of it.”
As an outline planning application, this bid only gives permission for a development of up to 152 homes in principle on the site.
There would need to be future planning applications to decide the specific layout and design of the estate.
It is not yet known when SBC’s planning committee will decide on the outline application, but a target deadline of December 19 has been set.