Demolition has started of the former Maidstone Nurses Home.

Workers moved on to the site off Hermitage Lane at 7am yesterday.

A concerted effort to save the building by neighbours, by Liberal Democrat PPC Jasper Gerard, and by local councillors failed to convince the former owners, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, to find a new use that would keep the building, which has been a significant feature of the local landscape since 1923 when it was opened by HRH Princess Mary.

Instead Bellway Homes plans to redevelop it and the adjacent Oakapple House and Pagoda Building, formerly an NHS walk-in centre, as a single housing estate with 41 “market” homes and 28 “affordable” units - although the scheme has yet to be granted planning permission by Maidstone council.

Graham Barkshire, the chairman of the Springwood Oakapple Residents Association, said: “It’s very sad, but we know the site is going to be lost to housing.

“What we have to do now is to make sure we get the best development possible. At present the scheme runs far too close to Hermitage Lane and there is a big question over how the sewage will be dealt with as Southern Water has already advised that the present system will not cope.

“Residents have also received very little information from the contractors about the details of the demolition, which in some cases is taking place very close to people’s homes.”

*Details can be viewed on the Maidstone council planning portal at www.maidstone.gov.uk

Planning application 14/500412 refers.