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More on KentOnline
Planning permission for an outdoor adventure park at Bluewater is set to be given the green light next week.
An application for the Hangloose Adventure Centre was submitted last year and a decision on the project will be made at a Dartford council next Thursday.
If approved it would see multiple activities, including a zip wire, gravity swing, skytrek obstacle course, rock climbing and a sky diving machine come to the cliffs of the Greenhithe shopping centre.
Further details in the application show an adventure platform with an airbag that would see people freefall onto the airbag, or they can choose to go down a giant slide.
The proposed project hasn't gone down well with residents who have sent nearly 100 letters of objections since the plans were announced.
A public consultation that was held in November 2018 into the plans received 71 letters of objections, with people raising a number of concerns "relating to noise, vehicles parking in St James Lane and impact on bio-diversity".
As a result the applicant asked that the application was held in abeyance before returning to hold a second consultation, where they informed residents that due to the length of time between consultations, their response from the first one in November would 'hold little weight'.
The second re-consultation resulted in 25 letters of objection and one letter of support.
Those against the plans highlighted issues including how visitors would likely park in surrounding areas, the problem of litter and light pollution and how some residents are unaware of the application and will be affected by works.
One letter of support highlighted that there was not a similar type of adventure park like this in the south East and that it would "benefit local groups such as the scouts".
The agenda for the development control board meeting next week concluded that the key issues of the proposal are traffic/parking, noise, appearance/design and natural conservation.
It also recommended that planning application be granted for the adventure centre, subject to conditions.
What do you think about the plans? Let us know at dartford@thekmgroup.co.uk.
