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A drive-thru KFC could be coming to Snodland after all.
A planning inspector has overturned a ruling by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council and granted planning permission for a fast-food restaurant at Hollow Lane on appeal.
The decision will come as a blow to the 300 or more residents who wrote in to object to the scheme ahead of the council's decision to refuse permission last June.
To add salt in the wounds, the inspector, Cullum Parker, declared that the council had failed to put forward any reasonable grounds to justify its refusal and so has awarded costs to the applicant, Zenacrown Ltd.
Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, was among those who objected to the scheme.
She said: "I am appalled by the decision from the inspector and would love to know whether he actually visited the site and, if so how, on earth he thinks that a KFC in the middle of a residential area and near a school is at all acceptable.
"I shall be encouraging the council to appeal against the inspector’s decision in the strongest terms.”
Cllr David Lettingon (Con) is the ward councillor for Snodland West.
He said he would be approaching the borough's solicitor to see if there were any grounds for challenging the inspector's decision, but said: "I think it's unlikely there could be a legal challenge."
He said: "It is incredibly disappointing.
"There are lots of vacant units in the town centre where it would have been more appropriate to have this business.
"I'm not against KFC itself, but we don't need it close to a secondary school and in such a prominent position at the entrance to the town."
Cllr Lettington said: "We already have McDonald’s and a Costa Coffee planning drive-thrus to the north of the town at Vantage Point, with building under way now. But there is no appetite for another drive-thru here."
The KFC is planned for an old oast house just off Malling Road that has stood empty since early 2018 when it was vacated by Britannia windows.
The borough council's decision to refuse permission back in June was by a majority vote of 18 to one.
The scheme includes a drive-thru lane and 29 car parking spaces. The developers previously said it would create 45 part and full-time jobs.
The borough had refused permission on the grounds of the detrimental affects of noise and disturbance to neighbours.
The inspector noted that although the street was "predominately residential", there were a number of businesses, including a hand car-wash, petrol station, and the Freemasons Arms public house nearby.
The developer had provided evidence from acoustic specialists to indicate that "level of activity expected to take place both at the entrance to the site and also within the site itself, would have no unacceptable impact upon the occupiers of the nearest residential properties,’ but the council had submitted no contrary evidence.
The inspector said: "I conclude that the proposal would not result in an adverse effect on the living conditions of nearby residents."
He dismissed the concerns about proximity to a school and national worries over obesity because the council had not used them as a ground for rejection.
He went on to say: "In only providing vague, generalised or inaccurate assertions about the impact of the proposal, I find that the local planning authority has acted in an unreasonable manner. I am therefore making a full award of costs."
But opponents are still hoping that a KFC might be avoided.
Cllr Lettington said: "The developers initially had an alternative plan: to convert the oast and develop the site for 10 houses.
"I shall be appealing to them directly to adopt that scenario. It would be much more suitable for the area and an historic oasthouse, with its roundals restored, would make a much better impression on those entering the town."
A spokesman for the borough council said: "We are aware of the decision of the Planning Inspectorate and are currently reviewing the content of the decisions."
The planning inspector's decision can be found here.
Read more: All the latest news from Malling
