Furious villagers fear controversial plans for a wastewater management site to support thousands of new homes will “devastate the community”.

People living in Shadoxhurst, near Ashford, worry it will cause a foul stench as well as noise, air and light pollution and say it needs to be stopped.

Hodson Developments, one of the developers at the new Chilmington Green estate, has submitted the proposals for the site next to a pumping station which is currently being constructed on land off Chilmington Green Road.

The firm says it is required as part of the wastewater infrastructure needed for the development further along the road.

But those living in Tally Ho Road and Magpie Hall Road feel it is not fair they have to put up with it being right next to their homes, as it will not serve their properties.

Gloria Day has lived in Tally Ho Road for 31 years and says she has never had any problems until 18 months ago when a sewage stench from the new housing estate emerged.

“The smell from the development was coming into my house,” she said.

“Why should we have to put up with it when it is not to do with our houses?”

Ms Day’s daughter, Kim McKenzie, lives in Magpie Hall Road and says she does not want to see her mum go through another bad experience.

“The smell needed to escape somewhere and it happened to be in mum’s house. She could not sit in her garden because of it,” she said.

“We tried to contact Ashford Borough Council (ABC), Kent County Council (KCC) and South East Water and ABC asked her to keep a log and rate how bad the smell was each day on a scale of one to 10.”

The smell has finally eased – but she fears it could come abck if the wastewater management site is built.

If approved, the facility would be visible from Stubbs Cross Post Office at the top of Tally Ho Road.

Jo Walia, who owns the business, says she fears the smell from the plant could put her customers off.

“We had such bad trouble when work was being carried out here about 18 months ago,” she said.

“As a business owner, I got no response and I do not want it happening again.

“Last time, there was such a bad smell it would put customers off coming to the shop.

“I am only trying to run a Post Office for my community so I just wanted some thought and for someone to come forward and listen to us all.

“No one is happy here to go ahead with it so we want our points to be raised and heard.”

Borough councillor for Kingsnorth and Bridgefield ward Ray McGeever (Ash Ind) says he worries the application has been rushed.

“The documentation for this project really affects the people of Stubbs Cross and I would urge ABC to really look at this closely and decide if this project is relative to the bigger picture,” he said.

“I believe it is not. The big picture is to get some sort of sewage development plan that enhances the whole of Ashford and not just inconveniences everyone in Stubbs Cross.

“These people will suffer noise pollution, odour and light pollution right through the night.”

He added the site is far too close to the houses in Tally Ho Road.

“It has not been looked at properly,” he said.

“There is potentially a problem with it being far too close to the clean water pumps which serve a lot of Ashford.

“Now, we are going to put a sewage plant right next to it which, to me, does not make sense.”

Andy Geer also lives in Tally Ho Road and can see where the site would be built from his bedroom window.

He says it would be an eyesore and cause multiple types of pollution in the community.

"It would cause light, noise and air pollution as well as traffic disruption with lorries going in and out,” he said.

“I saw on the news that there are 825 sewage spillages per day from these sites.

“I think they are deciding to put it near our homes because they do not want it near the new homes they are trying to sell. It is purely for financial gain.

“We let the pumping station application go because we could see the need but we feel the developers did a stealth application for the sewage plant because they say it has to go next door.

“Everyone here has all chosen to live in a rural community and we have had to stand by and watch the green belt getting built on.

“Shadoxhurst and Stubbs Cross have now become a suburb of Ashford. We all understand there is a need for the extra housing and we do not disagree with that, but the lack of planning for the infrastructure for the roads, sewage, waste, schooling and for the businesses has been really under-thought.

“For us now to have to potentially accept a sewage treatment plant on our doorstep is just the last straw.”

Mr Geer says a community action group will be formed and says the council must hold an open consultation.

“We feel there are plenty of alternatives and it could be sited further away from existing communities,” he said.

“The community is not being considered and we are not going to stand for it any longer.

“We have put up with so much in this area – the developments, the pumping station and watching our green belt disappear – but this will just devastate our community and we need to put a stop to it.”

An ABC spokesperson said a lot of comments have been received on this application so far.

“We have undertaken a consultation on the planning application in the normal way, with letters to neighbours and site and press notice,” they said.

“The consultation ends on May 26. We’ve received a lot of comments from residents in the past couple of days and all comments will be considered as part of the council’s assessment of the application in due course.”

The estimated decision date on the application is July 21, 2023.

Hodson Developments has been contacted for comment.