Church Road, Otham

At their meeting of June 25th the Planning Committee confirmed their indicative vote of May 28th and refused both applications, although these applications needed to be reconsidered by the Policy and Resources Committee as officers had issued serious costs warnings.

The committee met on 13th July and decided by 11 to 4 that both applications should be refused.

The grounds for refusal mirrored those previously determined by the Planning Committee:

1. Whilst mitigating increased traffic congestion on Deringwood Drive, the proposed improvements to the Deringwood Drive and Willington Street junction will result in severe traffic congestion on Willington Street contrary to policy DM21 of the Maidstone Borough Local Plan 2017 and Paragraphs 108 and 109 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

2. The proposal will result in worsening safety issues on Church Road to the south of the site which have not been addressed and due to the constraints of the road are likely to not be addressed by the application proposals and the mitigation proposed is not sufficient to overcome the safety concerns contrary to policy DM1 of the Maidstone Borough Local Plan 2017 and Paragraphs 108 and 109 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

The applicant had previously lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate on the decision to refuse the outline planning application for up to 440 houses.

They are expected to lodge an appeal on the decision to refuse the full planning application for 421 houses.

The appeals will be heard at a Public Enquiry.