Limes Land/Wates Planning Appeal Allowed

A planning appeal for land between Woodchurch Road and Appledore Road, Tenterden has been allowed by the Planning Inspectorate.

Permission has been granted for an outline application for the development of up to 141 residential dwellings (50% affordable) including the creation of access points from Appledore Road and Woodchurch Road and creation of a network of roads, footways, and cycleways through the site. The application also includes provision of open space including children's play areas, community orchards, sustainable urban drainage systems, landscape buffers and green links all on 12.35 ha of the site. (Save for access, matters of appearance, landscaping, layout and scale reserved for consideration). Full planning permission is also permitted for the change of land use from agricultural land to land to be used as a country park (8.66 ha), including community orchard and land to be used as formal sports pitches (3.33 ha), together with a pavilion to serve the proposal and the surrounding area. Including accesses, ancillary parking, pathways, sustainable urban drainage systems and associated landscaping.

Cllr Neil Bell, Portfolio Holder for Planning said: “The Council is very disappointed by the Inspector’s decision as it felt strongly that this was not a good development for Tenterden which would adversely impact the landscape and character of this part of the town.

“Whilst the Inspector himself agreed that the scheme would be contrary to parts of the Local Plan, which was adopted as recently as 2019, it seems as though in arriving at his decision to grant permission he has placed significant weight on the wider housing land supply position in the borough, which as we know, has been affected by the situation at Stodmarsh Lakes in Canterbury and the resultant constraints on the Council being able to grant permissions for new housing development in the eastern half of the borough for the last 18 months.

“Consequently, the Council will be writing to Ministers to seek their support for both a solution to the Stodmarsh issue and an explicit recognition that it should not be used as a reason to allow housing developments that are not sustainable or compliant with the Local Plan to be permitted on appeal. In the meantime, we shall continue to resist fundamentally unacceptable schemes and defend them robustly should appeals be lodged.”