Green Belt housing scheme refused permission by council

Not every single housebuilding scheme is necessarily approved. Although it might sometimes seem otherwise, inappropriate developments can be defeated – and this was demonstrated in the refusal of planning permission for 150 houses at Meopham.

CPRE Kent had objected to development of the site west of Norwood Lane, which lies on Grade 2 agricultural land within the Green Belt and is allocated for housing in Gravesham Borough Council’s draft Regulation 19 Local Plan, published for consultation last month. The council’s planning officers had recommended the scheme be approved.

The plans were also opposed by our friends at Green Not Greed, who enlisted a speaker to highlight the issues with the application. A special mention is due for the work of the group’s James Ferrin, who is also member of the CPRE Kent Gravesham committee. He said: “The committee stood firm and applied the law properly. Meopham’s Green Belt deserves that level of scrutiny, and now it has it.”

We had maintained throughout that Taylor Wimpey’s speculative proposal had not been Plan-led and conflicts with local and national planning policy alike. We questioned whether the scheme met the criteria for so-called ‘grey belt’ or if “very special circumstances” had been demonstrated.

Development would have potentially led to unnecessary loss of best and most versatile farmland and cause clear harm to the rural setting and landscape character of Meopham – and, as such, should be refused.

And on Wednesday last week (May 13), GBC’s planning committee agreed, stating the proposed development would undermine the purposes of the Green Belt and was in an unsustainable location when it came to transport and services.

• To read CPRE Kent’s submission to GBC on the scheme, click here