Item 17, Page 133 - 198                    

Land to the South of Cross Keys, Bearsted, Kent

Ref No 15/504795

Additional representations have been received from local residents raising the following concerns:

·         The management plan does not specifically mention the bridge into the site and costing for its maintenance.

·         There is no mention of SUDs in the management plan 

Officer response:

At committee on 16 April 2015 Members resolved that:

‘That the details of the long term management plan for the open space, woodland and ecology park referred to in the heads of terms of the S106 legal agreement must be reported to the Planning Committee for approval prior to completion of the S106 legal agreement’.

I would stress that it is only the long term management plan (principally to cover the open space area, woodland and ecology park) that has been requested to come before members, not the principle of the development which was resolved to be approved at the previous meeting, and not the details of the estate management and the access bridge. 

Notwithstanding this the maintenance of the bridge would be covered by the service charges paid by the owner / occupiers of the houses and taken form the sinking fund accounts indicated in Appendix 5 the Management Plan.  The bridge would constitute major repair works referred to in the report.  The bridge would also be covered by a warranty from the infrastructure provider in the initial years.   

As stated previously planning would not normally consider the maintenance contributions per se as this would require an assessment (means testing) of the individual occupier of each house to see if these were affordable.   Invariably, it will the purchaser for each unit to determine whether the service charge is reasonable to provide for the management of the estate.

Details of SUDs will be assessed and controlled by the council through the conditions of the planning permission. 

Recommendation:

My recommendation remains unchanged.