It’s been more than five years in the making, but now a planning application for 100 homes and a football pitch is finally making headway.

Dean Lewis Ltd first submitted its proposals for an area of farmland off the Old Ashford Road in Lenham back in September 2019.

The project was very nearly decided in May 2020, when Maidstone council officers brought it to a planning committee recommending approval.

But Natural England, a statutory consultee on such planning proposals, objected to the scheme because of fears that pollutants would enter the River Stour, which rises in Lenham, and would damage the Stodmarsh Special Area of Conservation (SAC), near Canterbury.

The application has been in limbo since. But recently, the applicants have submitted new data on how their wetlands mitigation measures would protect the river and have filed a new application.

It includes tweaks to provide a wider landscaped frontage of 30m along Old Ashford Road, and a new area of wetland treatment works within a separate field to the south of Mill Wood.

The proposal is a hybrid application: it seeks just outline permission for the 100 homes, with all details of house types and layout reserved for a future debate.

But it also seeks full planning permission for a change of use of a large part of the site for the provision of public sports.

The company intends to set out one senior-size football pitch, along with room for a pavilion and a car park, and will gift the land, which is large enough for further pitches to be added, to Lenham Parish Council.

The parish has not finalised its intention for the land but is thinking along the lines of possibly two additional football pitches and a multi-use games area (MUGA) that could accommodate netball, basketball and tennis.

What ends up there will depend partly on what Sports England agree would make a satisfactory replacement for the existing senior and junior sports pitches at the William Pitt Playing Field.

Council chairman John Britt said: “Only once the new sports provision off the Old Ashford Road is fully up and running, will we look at re-developing the William Pitt facility.”

He said that again the council had no firm plans, but might consider a development where older folk might wish to down-size.

The Dean Lewis application site covers 11.6 hectares overall on the eastern edge of Lenham, below the Ashmill Business Park.

The location was favoured by the Campaign to Protect Rural England which suggested it was shielded from view by the industrial buildings, but one business owner there warned that their proximity could have an adverse effect for the residents of the proposed new homes once built.

Sebastian Thomson, of Inline Track Welding, based on the Ashmill Business Park, in Lenham, said: “We very often use pieces of equipment that exceed 130DB in sound in open spaces and with no sound protection inbetween us and the proposed housing, I'm sure a lot of complaints will arise.”

He suggested the new residents would also not like living next to the firm’s 24-hour security floodlighting, nor would they likely appreciate that the firm’s premises were taller than the average house, meaning they would be overlooked.

Natural England has also not yet committed itself to whether the firm’s extended mitigation measures were acceptable.

It said: “We will need further information.”

The site is allocated for housing in both the Maidstone council Local Plan and the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan.

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Details of the application can be found on the Maidstone council website. Look for application number 19/504724.