Land which provides a ‘green edge’ to Deal will have 100 new homes built on it.

The patch of land at Cross Road, on the southern edge of the town, has been set for development since outline planning permission was granted in February 2021.

Despite receiving 34 objections from residents, the plan for 100 detached homes at the site has been given the green light to move ahead after being approved by Dover District Council’s planning committee.

Residents had sent letters of objection to the authority arguing the development would result in a loss of open green space, additional traffic, and potential harm to nearby animals.

At the meeting, Cllr Peter Jull (Con) spoke up against the development, arguing the undeveloped rural land currently provides a “green edge to Deal”.

He added: “The landscaping scheme proposed fails completely and miserably to mitigate any of the landscape harm this development is going to cause in views of the wider landscape from across the valley.

“It’s my view that the landscape harm with the proposed landscaping scheme substantially outweighs any benefits in planning terms, and therefore it needs to be revised in some way."

Fellow Conservative Cllr David Beaney, however, backed the proposal, with some reservations.

He said: “Though I sympathise with my colleague here to the right of me [Cllr Jull], we’re talking about 100 houses, you’re not going to hide them behind a couple of trees, so I think we’ve established the visual impact is already there and the landscaping impact is there.

“This development has already been passed at outline stage and unfortunately as much as I sympathise with my colleague I can’t imagine we’re going to do anything to change that now."

A council officer assured members that the plans involve a “substantial amount of planting,” including birch trees which can grow to 30 metres.

Cllr Trevor Bond (Con) argued that the plans for a SuDS (Sustainable Drainage System) pond was “totally contrary to our local development plan”.

SuDS ponds are ponds which form part of a water drainage system, and temporarily hold wastewater.

However, a council planning officer responded: “Having a SuDS as part of a layout is a typical feature of a deve

lopment of this nature,” adding that the Environment Agency made no objection to the plan.

Cllr Roger Walkden backed the plans, telling the committee: “The layout looks good to me, and the houses are not on top of each other, the scale of houses is the same as the outline planning permission, the landscape to me looks good, plenty of trees and shrubs and hedges.”

Council planning officers stressed to members that the plans are “considered quite a spacious development”.

“The properties are detached there’s a good level of space between the properties, and this will give the impression of a lower density development when it is viewed from outside or round the site boundaries,” the officer added.

Some residents had written in to complain that the planned houses wouldn’t include electric vehicle chargers, but council officers told the meeting that each unit at the development will have a charging point.

DDC’s planning committee approved the development by seven votes in favour and two against at a meeting in December.