Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has allowed on appeal a 550-home, mixed-use development on farmland near four Grade II-listed buildings at Ramsgate Kent, in an area without a demonstrable five year supply of deliverable housing land.
The outline application had been turned down by Thanet District Council.
Developer East Kent Opportunities and Rosefarm Estates PLC proposals also involved up to 63,000 square metres of office space and a local district centre with convenience retail and community healthcare facilities.
The inspector who held the recovered appeal recommended the scheme’s approval. In his decision letter Pickles agreed.
He concluded that
“the moderate harm to the setting of nearby listed buildings merits considerable weight, but that this harm is limited and is in fact outweighed by the scheme’s significant benefits which also merit considerable weight”
Meanwhile, Dover District Council has approved outline consent for the comprehensive mixed-use redevelopment of part of the 73-hectare site of the former European headquarters of pharmaceutical company Pfizer at Sandwich, also in Kent, despite no contribution towards affordable housing and local schools from the site’s owner and developer Discovery Park Limited
The permission was for up to 500 homes, 1.2m square feet of new commercial/education space, a 200-bedroom hotel and ancillary uses.
The officer’s report recommending approval said the lack of affordable housing and school provision was “regrettable” but acknowledged the developer’s argument that making such provisions would make the project uneconomic.
