NAAG's OBJECTION RESPONSE TO
GLADMAN LAND's PLANNING APPLICATION
TO BUILD 840 HOUSES ON HERMITAGE LANE (12-06-17)
GLADMAN LAND's PLANNING APPLICATION
TO BUILD 840 HOUSES ON HERMITAGE LANE (12-06-17)
The New Allington Action Group was formed by residents in the Allington area some four years ago to oppose the development on Land East of Hermitage Lane and over-development within the surrounding area of Allington and Hermitage Lane.
In recent months Maidstone Borough Council and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council have approved planning applications for a number of developments in the Hermitage Lane area which is resulting in over-development bringing traffic congestion and air pollution to the area surrounding these sites especially Allington. Unfortunately the boundary line splits Hermitage Lane between the two boroughs resulting in part of Hermitage Lane being under the administration of Maidstone BC and the remainder by Tonbridge & Malling BC which is causing the Lane to be over-developed with housing and the open green space available to residents to walk their dogs safely and taking away the beautiful panoramic views which up to now they have enjoyed whilst walking in the area.
Serious problems will result from your proposed development as follows:
Your statement that every council is required by the government to boost significantly the supply of housing and to make planning decisions and demonstrate their need for more housing and additional deliverable sites to meet this demand and maintain a five year housing land supply is fine but the problem exists that to build thousands of houses without giving due consideration to how an area will cope and how the infrastructure can be improved to cope with the influx.For this reason New Allington Action Group say this site should not be developed because without upgrading the infrastructure this area cannot cope.
Barbara Woodward
Secretary NAAG
In recent months Maidstone Borough Council and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council have approved planning applications for a number of developments in the Hermitage Lane area which is resulting in over-development bringing traffic congestion and air pollution to the area surrounding these sites especially Allington. Unfortunately the boundary line splits Hermitage Lane between the two boroughs resulting in part of Hermitage Lane being under the administration of Maidstone BC and the remainder by Tonbridge & Malling BC which is causing the Lane to be over-developed with housing and the open green space available to residents to walk their dogs safely and taking away the beautiful panoramic views which up to now they have enjoyed whilst walking in the area.
Serious problems will result from your proposed development as follows:
- The infrastructure is inadequate to cope with the number of people who will come into the area when all developments are completed which is already causing major problems because local schools are over-subscribed, as with doctors, dentists as well as Maidstone Hospital and roads cannot cope with the volume of traffic. Readily up-to-date data for the infrastructure of an area should be seriously considered at planning application stage to confirm it is capable of providing sustained services to new residents rather than allowing such applications to be agreed causing the problems this area is now experiencing. Problems which will continue to increase whilst developers are given permission to build high density housing.
- 840 houses on this site is an extremely high density which will contribute towards, as previously stated, over-crowded roads, schools, doctors’ surgeries, dentists and above all Maidstone Hospital. The sheer volume of cars which will be generated by this number of houses will add to the already congested traffic in the area.
- There is already a crisis within the NHS due to the lack of GPs available in Kent to fill all the vacancies which exist due to the number leaving the service, a situation which will not improve with so much over-development in particular areas.
- Although the site is officially in the Tonbridge &Malling Borough Council area and you talk of the historic value of Aylesford this site is some 3 miles from Aylesford High Street whereas Allington, Maidstone is only yards from your site. Therefore it is these residents and area which would be affected on a daily basis by the site being developed.
- The benefit of your proposed housing reflecting the local history and vernacular cannot be associated with Aylesford when the site is closer to the area of Allington, Maidstone and therefore such a benefit does not exist.
- The link road from Poppy Fields Restaurant across your proposed site out into Hermitage Lane will not alleviate any traffic problems; it will increase them, simply because the entrance and exit from the site will be into areas of already serious traffic congestion.
- How will such a link road alleviate the existing traffic congestion between Coldharbour Roundabout and A20/Hermitage Lane junction? unfortunately all the exits to the London Road and M20 have already reached capacity.
- Any improvements to the Poppy Fields roundabout to increase the current capacity will not alleviate the problem because the site will be generating more cars into that area, and by present day standards that could mean at least 840 cars but more as most households have more than 2 cars.
- The land being made available to Kent County Council for improvement road works at the junction of A20 and Hermitage Lane will again need to be substantial to improve the present traffic congestion in that area because the whole of Hermitage Lane needs improving.
- If air pollution levels are to be reduced in the surrounding area of your proposed site then a vast reduction in traffic congestion will be required and only major road improvements to this area can reduce traffic congestion and air pollution levels which constantly exceed EU levels. Also mature trees lend themselves to cleaning the pollution from the congested roads and too many mature trees are being cut down and the landscaping on these housing developments are only replacing extremely young trees and will not be sufficiently mature enough for many years to help reduce the dangerous pollution from vehicular traffic.
Your statement that every council is required by the government to boost significantly the supply of housing and to make planning decisions and demonstrate their need for more housing and additional deliverable sites to meet this demand and maintain a five year housing land supply is fine but the problem exists that to build thousands of houses without giving due consideration to how an area will cope and how the infrastructure can be improved to cope with the influx.For this reason New Allington Action Group say this site should not be developed because without upgrading the infrastructure this area cannot cope.
Barbara Woodward
Secretary NAAG
