Consultations

Bredhurst Parish Council (consulted as an adjoining Parish) has made the following comments in a joint response to this application and application MA/11/1002.

‘Bredhurst Parish Council discussed both these items at its meeting on 7^th September 2011.  The site in question is on the boundary between Bredhurst and Detling parishes and development of any kind will impact greatly on the residents of Bredhurst as the main access road is through Bredhurst.

Although within the AONB, the site in its current condition could most accurately be described as a landfill site.  Previous owners over many decades have used the area to dump hundreds of tons of various waste material and the site in its present condition is not only an eyesore but also harmful to the environment.  Whilst Bredhurst Parish Council would not support an application for residential dwellings on a green field site within the AONB, the site in question is a brown field site that has no attributes associated with AONB land.  It is a commercial site which has fallen into a state of total dilapidation and the proposed housing development would be a distinct improvement that greatly improves the quality of the surrounding AONB.

Bredhurst Parish Council has been informed that, should the residential application fail, the current owners will have no option but to resume commercial activities at the site.  This location is more suited to residential rather than commercial use.  There are already residential dwellings along Kemsley Street Road, which is the main access road to the site.  This is a narrow rural lane with sections of single track carriageway and blind bends which is heavily used by both walkers and horse riders.  The access is totally unsuitable for HGV vehicles which would be inevitable if commercial use resumes.

For the above reasons, Councillors voted unanimously to object to the commercial application MA/11/1002.

For the residential application MA/11/1351 Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the application and would like to see it approved. 

In addition, they requested that both applications are referred to the Planning Committee to allow the merits of the residential development over the commercial development to be publicly debated.’

Amendments to recommendation

None