How does it feel? The impact of mass development on local people

In March last year, people in the villages of Blean, Tyler Hill and Rough Common, near Canterbury, learnt that some 250 acres of greenfield land between their villages had been included as a site for a 2,000-house “rural settlement” in the draft Canterbury District Local Plan 2040.

The site, which is owned by the University of Kent, contains ancient woodland, streams, ponds and productive farmland. It is rich in biodiversity, providing a habitat for a range of protected species, and provides an important wildlife corridor between the East and West Blean woodland complexes. Further, it has been designated an area of potential rewilding and biodiversity enhancement by Kent Wildlife Trust.

The impact of the news on local people was great – and of course an example of what many people across the county are experiencing in the current political climate of ‘Build, build, build!’.

Over two weeks of November 2024, social researcher Rachael Reilly carried out a study in which she listened to the voices of local residents, campaigners and community leaders to understand what drove their concerns and the impact of the Blean development proposal on their lives.

Rachael says: “Too often the views of local communities are drowned out in technical planning processes and ‘consultation’ is restricted to the rigid confines of the statutory planning system.

“Residents who do raise their voices are dismissed by politicians and the media as ‘nimbys’, ‘blockers’ and ‘naysayers’ who hold up developments and stall economic growth and there has been little attempt to understand their viewpoint and perspective. This report aims to present an alternative perspective to this narrative.”

CPRE Kent supported Rachael’s research and provided editorial comments and a foreword to the report. CPRE Kent have co-published this report, alongside the Community Planning Alliance, Kent Wildlife Trust and UCL Anthropology Department.

The report comes in a short form and a long form, along with an executive summary. You can read them here:

To read the short report, click here

To read the long report, click here

To read the executive summary, click here