00:00Rolling hills, sweeping countryside and scenic views – soon to be no more, as controversial
00:07development plans have been picked up by the University of Kent.
00:11The acting Vice-Chancellor has confirmed that the University will plough on with these plans
00:16on fields on the north side of the University campus, despite the Council having deleted
00:21the site from its local draft plan.
00:23Plans involve developing fields in Bleen, a village on the outskirts of Canterbury and
00:28north of the University's campus into a 2,000 home estate.
00:33Well the Bleen is a wider area, it's huge, it stretches all the way from over in the RSPB
00:39right to Wilder Bleen where they've got the bison.
00:42This huge swathe of land is all connected and it's all connected by nature and if we lose
00:49essentially this connectivity we'll never get it back and so it's not just what the
00:55community might lose, it's what nature will lose.
00:58This comes as a curveball after a similar draft to develop on University land by Canterbury
01:03City Council was dropped following protests last year.
01:07A key campaign group here is Save the Bleen who rallied against the initial plans and proffered
01:12alternative development options for the University such as the Bleen Biopark involving combining
01:18recreational space with reforestation and habitat restoration.
01:23environmentalists and campaigners, this recent news is deeply concerning.
01:29People are opposing it because it destroys an enormously important strategic area for wildlife.
01:34It's part of the Bleen woodland complex and it's also, it would threaten three really distinct
01:41communities, three different villages. It would just turn it into a big sprawl of housing that would
01:45also impact hugely on the infrastructure of North Canterbury. We know that the roads here just
01:51cannot take the number of cars, probably 7,000 car movements a day that you would get with 2,000 houses.
01:58We approached the University of Kent for comment and they explained that they've been working with
02:03local stakeholders including Save the Bleen and strongly believe that this development is the best solution
02:09for Canterbury, the University and the wider South East region. They have identified a development
02:15partner and are working closely with them to bring forward a responsible, sensitive and sustainable
02:20proposal including identifying the most sustainable disposal strategy. This will include continuing to
02:27work with the City Council and County Council to resolve issues that they have identified including transport.
02:33Canterbury Council's local plan consultation is open until Tuesday, so for Save the Bleen, the fight is far from over.
02:43Megan Shaw, KMTV, in Canterbury
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