Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their families or friends.

The Chair will ask Members if they have any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) or disclosable non-pecuniary interests (DNPIs) to declare in respect of items on the agenda. Members with a DPI in an item must leave the room for that item and may not participate in the debate or vote. 

Aside from disclosable interests, where a fair-minded and informed observer would think there was a real possibility that a Member might be biased or predetermined on an item, the Member should declare this and leave the room while that item is considered.

Members who are in any doubt about interests, bias or predetermination should contact the monitoring officer for advice prior to the meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Chair welcomed the Applicant’s Agents, members of the public, Members and officers to the meeting.

The Council’s Planning Consultant (Major Projects) introduced the outline application which was for 63 dwellings and all necessary supporting infrastructure including internal access roads, footpaths and parking, open space and landscaping, drainage, utilities and service infrastructure works at Land North of Lower Road, Eastchurch.  The Planning Consultant explained that the item had been deferred for a site meeting following issues raised at the Planning Committee meeting on 9 March 2023 that concerns raised by Eastchuch Parish Council and local residents had not been addressed.

The Planning Consultant said that whilst the development was outside of the defined boundary of Eastchurch, officers view was that it was a sustainable development.  Officers also considered the development would not have a negative impact on the landscape and the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) considered the site had a low-medium susceptibility to change. 

The Planning Consultant reported that Kent County Council (KCC) Highways and Transportation raised no objection, subject to conditions.

Parish Councillor Mike Brown representing Eastchurch Parish Council, objected to the application and raised the following points: Eastchurch was the only ‘proper’ village left on the Isle of Sheppey and should be protected; this would be an overdevelopment of Eastchurch; the proposed access was in a dangerous location with poor sightlines; concerned that it would lead to more development and ultimately result in Eastchurch being joined with the Kingsbury Manor estate; the village of Eastchurch already had a shortage of GPs, had no dentists and experienced issues with water supply, sewage and powercuts; and the infrastructure could not support further development.

Local residents spoke against the application and raised points which included:

·         What provision had been made to protect and relocate the barn owls, newts, slow worms and other wildlife?;

·         had the impact of light pollution from the site been considered in terms of potential harm to bats and other wildlife?;

·         the developer had a responsibility to protect the wildlife;

·         concerned that KCC Highways and Transportation raised no objection, had they carried out a traffic count on Lower Road?;

·         the development would be detrimental to the local streetscene;

·         the important village gap needed to be protected to maintain the separation of Eastchurch and the Kingsbury Manor estate;

·         would cause demonstrable harm to the landscape;

·         any additional housing in Eastchurch would adversely impact the already pressured infrastructure and local amenities in Eastchurch;

·         Lower Road was already not able to support the amount of traffic coming into and from the eastern end of the Isle of Sheppey especially during the summer months;

·         Lower Road was an accident blackspot and the proposed development would make that worse;

·         emergency vehicles already had difficulty accessing Eastchurch and the proposed development would exacerbate this;

·         Lower Road was already heavily congested and gridlocked during peak hours;

·         supported the designation of brownfield sites in Queenborough for development but not in greenfield sites such as this one;

·         concerned the proposed community garden and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 803.