Chartham Consultation Issue

Rosie Duffield is behind Chartham, Wincheap and Thanington who object. go here to see the comment.

Canterbury City  Council conceded that Chartham needed to be consulted now is your chance to make a difference!  If you live in Shalsmford Street, Mystole, Perry Court, Rattington street. St Augustine’s or anywhere else shown in the map on  page 12 of the Chartham Village Design Statement which can be found here,

email your Ward Councillors 

Quinn’s development of 400 houses plus business allocation, when combined with 750 houses at Thanington  has the potential to put pressure on Chartham’s  infrastructure, traffic and  setting.  Chartham currently has Chartham & Stone Street contains approximately 2,854 households.
This was not taken into account by the planning inspector when the area was put into the Local Plan. Canterbury City Council is soon going to consider the Environmental Impact Assessment.

Unless Chartham residents comment as individuals, this will get rubber stamped. If you care about the setting of Chartham, you have a chance to act.

Urban spill over the horizon won’t help Chartham, which is designated as a rural centre in the Local Plan. If there’s development it’s better in the heart of the village.This is what the Parish Council’s excellent Design Statement says. With a new vineyard and the station it’s perfect for rural tourism close to the City. The promoter mentioned the protection at neither Local Plan meetings nor in the Environmental Impact Statement. that part of the land is allocated to be added to the AONB. The City Council missed that part of the land was in the parish so Chartham wasn’t consulted until a month ago. How’s that helping?

go here to find out how

This proposed development will have a significant visual impact on many areas around Canterbury, from the A28, Chartham, including St. Augustine’s, the conservation area, Bolts Hill, St. Mary’s Church, the train station, the Village Hall playing field, Cockering Road and many other local areas. 

View the in-depth map showing where the development may be visible from, by opening this page and looking at Figure 10.5 on Page 7. 

Cumulative Effects with Nearby Development

 click here for the story back in 2016,

The Pentland Homes development for 750 houses at Thanington has started. 

The 2 sites at Cockering Road are effectively 1 site in the Local Plan. So they should have some design in the infrastructure that links them and also gives access off the site without using the A28 or the existing roads . At the moment there is a concern that this is not happening between QUINNS and PENTLAND HOMES. They don’t seem to speak to each other which does not bode well for the detail and success of the venture.

“The proposed development, known as Thanington Park, includes a business park, community centre, allotments and sports pitches, as well as a wildlife corridor linking to the adjacent Larkey Valley Wood nature reserve.

It would also include a new slip-road linking the A2 and Wincheap as well as a park and ride service to whisk residents to and from the city centre.

The slip will allow drivers to skirt around the city’s edge and avoid daily jams on the routinely clogged inner roads to the north.”

Click here to see the promises made in the presentation boards  for Thanington Park’s development for 750 houses ALONE.

Then in March 2017,  With a headline,

Canterbury: Quinn Estates bosses submit plans for 400 homes at Cockering Farm in Thanington

the Kentish Gazette came the News that Mark Quinn, who had been involved in the original plan for Thanington (click here), was now proposing to develop on further protected land in the area.

The council has now passed a 64-bed Care Home on Cockering Road near Manor Close despite widespread local protestation due to existing parking problems combined the lack of parking, impact upon neighbours and out of scale building. The application hasn’t satisfied the Kent County Council Ecologist’s advice to make a dormouse survey. They cut down trees in the bird breeding season.

Canterbury City Council decided to approve the care home despite strong objections. In doing this they effectively blocked off any access from Thanington Park at this point into Cockering road.

,click here for the news story

Significant Light Pollution Risk

Currently this is a greenfield site and it is not lit at night-time. The proposed development would completely change this, impacting wildlife, the neighbourhood and destroy the rural setting that currently exists at the River Stour.

Animals

This area is well known for the Dormouse. This development will degrade their natural habitat, introducing light, noise, cats and dogs, humans, over 1150 houses to this area. 

The environmental impact assessment identifies a total of 6 bat species including the Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Nathusius’ Pipistrelle, Myotis spp, Long-eared sp. and big bat (Nyctalus / Eptesicus spp.)

The Soprano Pipistrelle is a priority species, as are many of the others listed, which are protected by law.

This area is known as Larkey Valley yet this development will add to the loss of Skylark habitats and this development is next to Larkey Valley Wood, an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) with animals such as Skylark,  Starling, House Sparrow, Yellowhammer and Dunnock, Slow Worm, Common Lizard and Stag Beetle.

Air Pollution

The Wincheap Society have made a website which has huge amounts of information about Traffic Nightmare in Wincheap, the problems with the plan for a 4th A2/A28 slip road which has been passed, (incoming from London), the dangers of the new , (application passed), access to Thanington Park via a contraflow on the existing incoming sliproad from Dover.

Water Pollution

info

Loss of Amenity

info

Increased traffic on all routes approaching Canterbury

Info at https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/developers-target-summer-build-for-123195/

See here for information on the impacts on Thanington

The Wincheap Society have made a webhttps://wincheapcampaigns.wordpress.com/site which has huge amounts of information about Traffic Nightmare in Wincheap, the problems with the plan for a 4th A2/A28 slip road which has been passed, (incoming from London), the dangers of the new , (application passed), access to Thanington Park via a contraflow on the existing incoming sliproad from Dover.

Urbanization of Cockering Road and footpaths.

Canterbury City Council says on page 143 in its Local Plan, adopted in July 2017,

Policy T 16 Rural lanes  “Rural lanes which are of landscape amenity, nature conservation, historic or archaeological importance will be protected from changes and management practices which would damage the character, and where possible be enhanced.”

Despite Cockering Road fulfilling each of these qualities, is there mention of Policy T16 in either the Environmental Impact Assessment for CA//17/00519 or in either of the planning officers reports yet presented? Not one. you can access these documents by going to the Canterbury City Council page for the planning application here.

Cockering Road is a Roman road. It formed the main road from Ashford and beyond.  It would have been a route of pilgrimage fromWinchester at the time of Chaucer as would have been footpath 464 which runs through the length of the site. It was marked as the main road in 18th Century maps.

Cockering Road is, in the section which will be affected by CA//17/00519, currently a rural road. The development will change all that. Parts of hedgrerows bounding the road will be removed for a spine road. Glimpses through the hedgerow of distant North Downs scenery will be replaced by an urban development.

The fields next to the road are bounded by hedgerows making wildlife corridors from Larkey Valley Wood SSSI (site of special scientific interest).
The application for the at Thanington for 750 houses, due to improved grassland and woodland mitigation planting, is unlikely to affect this section of the road other than by considerably increasing traffic along the road. The one-way entrance at the Chartham Downs end of the Cockering road already sought to address this problem.

Quinn’s outline development as proposed will result in over 3/4 km of hedgerow being be pulled out, mainly within the site but also on Cockering Road for a road splay for a spine road opposite Old Manor House. A considerable length of the hedge on Milton Manor Road will also be removed where considerable earth moving is planned to introduce a roundabout to provide access to the business district. The building of 1150 houses will inevitably introduce more traffic.
There have been Archaeological finds in the fields on both sides of Cockering Road, from prehistoric, Roman and medieval periods.
At gateways and where hedgerows are thin views can be seen from this ridge, over the Stour valley, to the opposite ridge of the North Downs.

The EIA for the development for 400 houses plus business allocation has failed to take account of the impact upon this rural road.

Cultural Impact on setting of World Heritage Site

Consultation problems

Thanington Parish Council

1.   Thanington Parish Council have been battling this for nearly 4 years now and are still at it. They believe that the real issue with the proposal is the traffic and pollution issues. They are still battling to make CCC and KCC see the issues with the proposal in these areas but it is a very uphill task as you are battling common sense versus politics and in some areas just a total lack of understanding and experience with the issues and the area. A lot is on record and to date issues we raised The access at the care home site. CCC  decided to approve the care home despite strong objections. In doing this they effectively blocked off any access at this point into Cockering road. 
2. The 2 sites at Cockering Road are effectively 1 site in the Local Plan. So they should have some design in the infrastructure that links them and allows exit off the site without using the A28 or the existing roads. This has been raised but so far no joy as the 2 developers don’t seem to speak to each other which does not bode well for the detail and success of the venture.
3. Thanington Without commissioned a traffic report and even considered a Judicial Review as this survey showed severe discrepancies between the reality and what the Traffic Assessment submitted by the Developer said. This was presented at the application hearing for Thanington Park and not given any credence.   We feel the developers predictions are based on unrealistic expectations of modal shift and this shows a drop in traffic predicted from these applications. Though common sense will tell you that 1100 houses MUST contribute significantly to traffic figures . 
4. There are severe issues with environmental pollution now on the A28.Thanington has commissioned an air monitoring survey which is still ongoing. CCC are aware of this but again seem to be relying on the developers reports for confirmation. Slow moving traffic is the biggest generator of air pollution so any increase in traffic congestion on the A28 will increase pollution.
5.  Instead of getting an independent report on both traffic and air pollution KCC & CCC rely on reports commissioned by the developer. Negative information might harm the development progress. KCC want the 4th slip road off the A2, CCC want infrastructure improvements which there is no money available to provide. The developer will fund these, in theory, so all focus is getting the development through regardless of any logical reasons or issues why it should not proceed.
6. The main issue with the Cockering Road site is traffic. KCC Highways picked that up and made the developer look at proposals and funding for a Wincheap relief road. They have proposed an option that uses the Wincheap industrial estate, but it comes out at the Maiden’s Head pub before the railway bridge. There is one problem with it. The bridge going into Wincheap roundabout is the pinch point and these schemes do nothing to ease that.
7. These developments were incorporated into the local plan because CCC did not have 5 years housing stock in their draft plan when submitted to the National Planning inspector for consideration.  QUINNS were sitting there in the wings with proposals for 1100 HOMES. The inspector told CCC they must consider these, and despite being rejected originally as unsuitable, they where then incorporated into the Local plan as designated sites. That is why Thanington Park has been approved and I fear they will approve Cockering Road despite significant issues that have not been effectively dealt with.

Wincheap Society

Go to this link.