Folkestone housing plans delayed amid sewage fears

Plans for nearly 100 homes in New Romney have been sent back to the drawing board amid flooding fears.

Transcript

00:00A rural area with a growing population and plans for 96 homes here in New Romney haven't

00:07gone down well with locals. Their main concern flooding if the development is ever given

00:13the green light.

00:14We regularly get two to three feet of water and it extends right into the field itself

00:20where there's plans to be a house right into the corner there. And I'm worried about one

00:25impact this is going to have on the amount of water and of course the runoff which could

00:31be contaminated.

00:33That fear particularly emphasised with raw sewage warnings in the town.

00:36I think it was 2009 there was a comment made at the time from Southern Water saying that

00:43the sewage was out of date and needed a lot and it was suffering. There was no extra capacity

00:51and since then we've had 1,500 houses built. So I mean the capacity is absolutely awful.

00:57This week the proposals went in front of Folkestone and Hive's planning committee. The councillors

01:02were warned that refusing planning for flooding and sewage issues would be difficult to sustain.

01:07And again the report sets out that we've got no objection from Southern Water, no objection

01:12from the Environment Agency, no objection from KCC in their capacity as the local flood

01:19authority. So again if planning permission were to be refused on that basis and it went

01:26to appeal we would have to provide technical evidence to demonstrate that those statutory

01:33consultees, the advice they have given us is incorrect.

01:37Developer Pentland Home says the proposals they've put forward are sustainable for the

01:42local community.

01:44KC Ecology has confirmed it is satisfied from an ecology perspective as has KCC Drainage

01:51and the EA in respect of drainage. Parking levels are compliant with KCC and the council

01:59standards and KCC confirmed that the proposals can be accommodated in the highway network.

02:05However plans have been sent back to the drawing board with many councillors saying the local

02:09infrastructure is being pushed to the brink.

02:12The last 25 years in Romney alone we've built something like 4,000 homes in the last 12

02:17years and we don't see any benefit from it. Our schools are struggling for numbers, our

02:22doctors have huge waiting lists, you can't get a dentist. So until the infrastructure

02:26is in place then I want to stop the building of large development.

02:31Designs for new homes in this field will now be altered but even if that's rejected the

02:36developer already has outlying planning permission for 87.

02:40Gabriel Morris in New Romney.

02:42New Romney.

02:43New Romney.

02:44New Romney.