Sorting the fact from fiction

We’ve probably had more press coverage in that last few days than at any other time during this campaign. With Kent County councillor Keith Ferrin calling the proposed development of 5,000 homes the equivalent of a modern day slum, the CPRE strongly opposing the scheme and a very successful turn out to our recent public meeting, we have at last had our chance to outline the opinion of public feeling towards this scheme.

Nick Sharp, the site director says in an article this week “the proposed density – about 49 houses per hectare – was significantly less than that of Victorian terraced homes, at some 70 to the hectare.” Adding that “It is the Government that dictates housing density, not us."

Well lets just take a moment to look at what is being said here, firstly it’s the Science Park that is asking for the housing, not the government and secondly the Government does indeed set targets under PPG3 which outlines that between 30 and 50 dwellings per hectare should be achieved. No one is forcing the Science Park to build 49 dwellings per hectare, which is at the top end of the scale. In fact no housing in the Swale area has ever been built to such a high density and I would question whether you would find this kind of average density for a large estate like this anywhere else in the country. I sure that inner-city developments reach this density, but when was the last time you had 5,000 dwellings on an inner –city estate.

Mr Sharp also goes on to say “the plans will be three primary and one secondary school which must be built under legally binding agreements”. Now what makes this statement particulary interesting is that in the meeting they held the evening before their public exhibition  only a few weeks ago they talked about four primary schools and a secondary school, but worse still is the fact that using the Kent Education Authority rates you would actually need five more primary schools and one secondary school.

“There will be all sorts of houses” he says, well yes but mainly flats, it’s the only way to achieve the density that they themselves have quoted in the press.

Finally before I provide you with some figures to put this also into some kind of perspective, I’d like to correct the East Kent Gazette, which misquoted both myself and Clair Hutchings.

Clair did not say that 9,000 houses were already in the draft local plan, the figure is 7,500 of which 6,600 are in Sittingbourne. I also did not claim that 5,000 houses would represent a 30% expansion of Sittingbourne, but that the 5,000 in conjunction with the 6,600 already in the plan would represent a 30% expansion of Sittingbourne.

Anyway here are some factual figures, so that you can formulate our own opinions.

• The housing would stretch some 3 kilometres from Bapchild cricket pitch across the back of Bapchild and joining with the yet to be constructed Fulston manor development.
  
  
• The infrastructure requirement assumes 5,000 properties on 321 acres (130 hectares) of land.
  
  
• Along with the existing plans to develop 6,600 it would result in a 30% expansion of the town in the next 10 years.
  
  
• This leads to a development on average 39 properties per hectare (gross), which is at the top end of the scale (PPG3 states between 30 and 50 dwellings per hectare).
  
  
• It would consist of two discrete development areas
  
  30% 1,500 Affordable housing on 26ha of land 57.69 / ha
  70%  3,500 open market on 104ha of land 33.65 / ha
  
  
• Sonora fields one of the largest developments in the Swale are is only 950 dwellings on 37ha of land 25.68, less than 20% of the size of our proposal.
  
  
• For a development of this size, the largest ever undertaken in Swale, this would constitute inner-city style development. Nothing like this currently exists in Swale.
  
  
• Anticipated breakdown of housing
  
  Flats 1,500
  Terraced 500
  Semi-detached 2,500
  Detached 500
  
  
• Schools are constructed retrospectively, where are your children going to go to school until all the new schools are developed.
  
  
• Current school has 204 pupils
  
  
• Using the Kent Education Authority rates we would require
  
  4 x primary schools for 420 pupils
  1 x primary school for 210 pupils
  1 x secondary school for 900 pupils
  
  
• Anticipated residential population using National Statistics Census 2001 for Swale Borough Council is 2.44 people per property x 5,000 = 12,200
  
• Using the national average of 1,990 patients per GP we would require two medical centres each with 3 GPs