Sir Roger Gale says: Bridge, then houses.

Herne Bay MP Sir Roger Gale says a proposed development in Hillborough should not go ahead until Blacksole Bridge has been built.

He has called for a trade to be made for the site near Altira Park, which has been earmarked for 1,000 homes. He says developer Kitewood Estates should build Blacksole Bridge in exchange for approval of its plans.

A long-running stand-off has halted development at Altira Park because of a clause the council included in the initial contract with Kitewood. It said it would not have to build Blacksole Bridge until 17,000 sq metres of its business park had been developed.

Sir Roger said:

"I am not averse to sensible plans for properties but my absolute priority is Blacksole Bridge. If Altira have a determination to acquire land and build houses, we should not be interested unless they build the bridge. I know the city council, in its infinite wisdom, put in a condition that they would not have to build the bridge until they have built on a certain amount of land. Now they want something else. If they want that, then they should build the bridge."

However, Sir Roger qualified this by saying he felt 1,000 homes would be too many for Hillborough. He said:

"I think the density would be too high. I am not prepared to see the city district housing needs and problems dumped on Herne Bay."

The Kitewood Group director Mike Dolan said:

"I think it would be premature for me to comment in any detail on the draft Local Plan because at present it is just a draft. It has to go before the Overview and Scrutiny committees and the Executive of the council before being published. It is quite possible that changes will be made as part of that process so I believe the appropriate time for me to comment is when the actual outcome is known. Suffice to say that we are greatly encouraged the land has been recognised as suitable and appropriate for development."

The Details

A new primary school would be part of a 1,000 home development at Hillborough. It would also include a community hub, doctor's surgery and local shops. The development would be accessed on a link road to the Thanet Way, via Altira Park.

Some smaller parts of the development would be accessed from Sweechbridge Road. These would benefit from a new slip road to the westbound carriageway of the Thanet way at the Heart-in-Hand junction. Developers would also have to contribute towards the cost of a Herne relief road at Strode Farm.

HB Gazette 9th May 2013

Superstore proposal - your thoughts

Hello again Hillborough people. As you may have noticed, there's a proposal for a new Sainsbury's superstore just down the road at Altira - click here for details.

What do you think of it? Good news or bad?

Add your comments below.

Concerns: sewage, roads, schools and more

Dear Sir,

After our local residents meeting, I would like to express mine and my families dissatisfaction on the proposed development by Kitewood Homes. Quite clearly the infrastructure of Reculver, Beltinge and Broomfield is not designed to cope with such a development.

My main concerns amongst many others are as follows:

• Sewage:  The current sewage system in place is inadequate in coping with the demands that the additional Barnes Way estate has created.  Medway Cleansing Service (MCS) sewage teams are regularly seen clearing the waste as the current tannery plant at Hillborough cannot meet the areas current demands.
• Roads:  The area is of a village / semi-rural area, therefore the roads are completely inadequate to meet the demands of a new housing estate.  People will not simply join the Thanet Way to get from A to B, most residents avoid the poor connection onto the Dual Carriageway and access the local amenities via the existing road network. Add to this the heavy plant that would be incumbent to the area, should this development get approved, the roads will be only fit for the agricultural vehicles that used to farm the proposed land!
• Schools:  As stated in the Local papers, a school has not been promised – and even if it had – the area does not need another primary school.  My children when at Grammar School age will have to travel out of the area.  Promising land and passing the problem on to Kent County Council is not the answer, we all know they prioritise Canterbury over surrounding areas!
• Homes & Jobs:  I would welcome a development such as this… if Herne Bay surrounding areas was a business magnet with car plants or such like.  If this were so, and had the area not had any available property or brownfield land then we would welcome development.

Whilst my property backs on to the proposed field, and I will lose privacy and daylight, my real concern is that the proposal is on Grade 2 Agricultural land.  By building on this the development will hand more demand for imported products and of course this will be followed by price increases for products in demand. A sensible option would to follow Government Guidelines and prioritising building developments on brownfield land, not on perfectly arable agricultural land. We do not have a business centre and there are many available units in better areas than the Altira Estate.

As mentioned, I have extreme reservations on this proposed development.  We must take in consideration of Herne Bay's Redevelopment proposals, are we simply abandoning a perfectly good town centre and attempting to build another beside it, with no infrastructure?

I trust you will use and forward on my concerns on this poor choice of placement for a development.

Kind regards,

AR, 6th Jan 2012

Gale's View

The proposed development of Hillborough is highly contentious. Nobody would deny the likelihood of a need for more family housing to serve the interests of the growing population of Herne Bay. Balancing that need with the protection of the townscape and the rural environment is going to require, however, a very great deal of thought and care and I do not personally believe that the present aspirant developer, Kitewood, has to date applied anything like sufficient diligence to their proposition.

I note that in response to my observation that the outline plan offered to the people of the town for 'consultation' recently was "a mess" Kitewood have suggested that they did not, for example, claim that they would "build a new primary school". Unfortunately not only I but local councillors were standing silently and listening when Kitewood's spokesman said precisely that!

The developer is seeking to give the impression that a great and philanthropic gesture will be made and that, additionally, the much needed Blacksole footbridge will emerge from this scheme.

In answer to questions it has become apparent that at the time of the public exhibition Kitewood had not even consulted with Kent County Council, as the education authority, over the need for a new primary school and was only "in the process of negation" to acquire land, from Network Rail, that they do not own and without which the footbridge cannot be built.

Setting aside the fact that the "gift" of a small parcel of land and some cash under a Section 106 agreement does not constitute "building a new primary school", local residents are acutely aware that the real need to the East of Herne Bay is for a new secondary school to obviate the requirement for all of those families living in Reculver, Beltinge, Broomfield and even much of the town centre to send their children past their "local" school and off to Whitstable, Canterbury or even Faversham and Thanet to be educated. Secondary Schools, of course, with their demand for playing fields, take up a lot more land and, incidentally, preserve a lot more green open space than primary schools. I would hope very much that the City's planners will bear this very much in mind when considering any application for the development of this area and will, in the light of the provisions of the Localism Bill, ensure that their local plan clearly reflects this need while that opportunity still exists.

There is, then, the suggestion that "hundreds" of jobs will be created and, finally, that a new supermarket will serve the needs of what will amount, embracing belting and Reculver, to a new village.

Altira Park shows no sign, at present, of attracting the job-creating industrial and commercial investment that was indicated when that consent was granted and, indeed, were it otherwise then the Blacksole footbridge would, by now, have been built under the terms of that permission. Where, therefore, all of this new employment-generating interest that is going to provide the work for the families resident in New Hillborough is to materialise from it is hard to see. And I think it is fair to say that we now have sufficient evidence to know the likely effect, upon local small village shops and even upon the Town centre, of new supermarkets.

No responsible Member of Parliament should seek to preserve his or her constituency in aspic and I do not seek to do so. That we will need new family homes and new opportunities for employment for the young people of The Bay is a given. I believe, though, that we are entitled to demand that the scale and infrastructure needed to support any new development is subject to meticulous care and to the greatest possible scrutiny before any plans are passed.

I would like to think that if Kitewood wish to win the hearts and minds and support of the people that I represent then they will take a deep breath, return, literally, to the drawing board and come forward with a proposition that demonstrates both that they intend to first meet their existing commitments and to then show a proper respect for and understanding of the area in which they wish to build.

Developer's anger over MP's criticism

Developer Kitewood has slammed Bay MP Roger Gale for "vulgar populist grandstanding" after his outspoken criticism of the company's planned development in Hillborough. After reading his comments in last week's Herne Bay Times, Kitewood director Mike Dolan said:

"I am very disturbed at Roger Gale's comments, not least because it strikes me as vulgar, populist grandstanding to take a stab at the developer community when his own government's policy is precisely what we are pursuing.

I refute the suggestion that Kitewood does not deliver on its promises. It is Mr Gale who inaccurately propagates that impression. Mr Gale is wrong when he says Kitewood has said we are going to build a primary school. Nowhere have we said that. We have said we will donate land for the construction of a primary school if the community wishes to have a primary school and that we will be paying a substantial amount of money to the local authority which they can, of course, use for the construction if they so chose.

Interestingly, one of the matters that emerged from the exhibition is that there is a significant sector of the community which believes it would be more worthwhile to have a middle school or a secondary school and this is something we intend to address when we conclude an analysis of the comments we have received.

It is wrong of Mr Gale to say we could not build a bridge over the railway without acquiring land from Network Rail. He should be aware Network Rail will facilitate construction of a bridge if we pay a ransom. We have said we will pay their ransom. I suggested to Mr Gale at a meeting in July last year at restaurant Table Table that he may be able to use his influence to prevail on Network Rail to moderate their ransom demand to bring forward the development before we reach the trigger point where we are contractually obliged to carry out the work or cease further development of the Altira Business Park. I have not heard anything further from Mr Gale since that meeting.

We are taking a constructive and diligent approach to this project and listening to comments. We refuse to be the whipping boy for past political failings. The Margate Road bridge is a dangerous disgrace that should have been dealt with long ago, well before any Kitewood project was even mooted."

Herne Bay Times 16th Sep 2011