A “catastrophic” bid for more than 100 new homes has been approved on appeal despite residents’ fears it will accelerate their village’s transformation into a town.

A government inspector has quashed Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s (FHDC) original rejection for 132 properties on farmland next to High Knocke Farm in Dymchurch, Romney Marsh.

It comes almost three years after developer Redbridge Estates first submitted plans for the 15.5-acre estate on a plot owned by East Stour Developments.

Despite attracting more than 100 objections, council officers originally recommended the scheme be approved in June last year.

However, FHDC’s planning committee threw out the proposal after deeming it to be “unacceptably harmful to the visual amenity of the area”.

Ten members voted to reject the scheme, with two abstaining.

The committee added: “The location of [the] development proposed lying outside the established settlement edge together with its scale would have a significant adverse urbanising impact on the open countryside, out of character with, and eroding the sense of openness that characterises the area.”

Redbridge appealed the verdict five months later, arguing in planning documents that the development would in fact benefit existing villagers.

It said: “We have established the application site represents a logical, highly-accessible southern extension to Dymchurch which is exceptionally well-related to the settlement centre and a range of day-to-day facilities and services.

“It will be capable of providing a contribution to the supply of affordable homes and provide substantial financial contributions to further benefit Dymchurch’s local community.

“It represents a significant opportunity to deliver logical and sustainably located new homes for permanent residents, capable of supporting the vitality and viability of an otherwise heavily tourism-reliant settlement.”

Of the 132 homes, Redbridge stated 92 would be privately owned, with 87 of them houses with between two and five bedrooms, and the other five two-bedroom flats.

A further 40 social and affordable properties were earmarked in the form of 10 flats and 30 houses.

This was alongside 305 car parking spaces.

Yet despite concerns Dymchurch’s population would increase by almost 20% from 3,750 to about 4,450, an official from the Planning Inspectorate has now given the development the go-ahead.

When explaining their reasons for upholding the appeal, the inspector overseeing the application explained: "The appeal site is a primarily undeveloped open area of grazing land.

"While the proposal would result in a significant change in the character of the site, the visual effect on the wider landscape would be limited given the context of the site adjacent to the densely packed development forming the urban area of Dymchurch.

"The site is in an accessible location with access to the public transport network and future occupants would have the ability to walk and cycle to local facilities and services.

"In addition, the substantive evidence before me indicates the traffic generated would not exceed the capacity of the highway network.

"I am therefore satisfied there would be no significant adverse traffic impacts associated with the development and no unacceptable risk to road safety.”

It was also noted that flooding concerns can be solved by Redbridge managing surface water via three catchment areas through a series of piped networks and underground attenuation tanks.

The decision though comes despite FHDC not adopting the site, which is about 400 metres from the centre of Dymchurch, in its Places and Policies Local Plan 2020.

A total of 15 development sites were instead earmarked for Romney Marsh - none of which featured Dymchurch, but instead the larger towns of New Romney and Lydd.

Cllr Tony Cooper believes this should have been a major factor in the scheme not being given the green light.

The Labour representative for Romney Marsh said: "It's a huge disappointment to be honest.

"There were a number of concerns with the proposal.

"The main thing was the visual impact and then things like infrastructure and flooding.

"But it also wasn't in any development plan.

"Folkestone and Hythe's Local Plan [2020] says any major development on Romney Marsh should take place in New Romney - not Dymchurch.

"So High Knocke was not mentioned in that Local Plan and, quite frankly, as a greenfield site in the countryside, makes the decision hugely disappointing."

Villagers argue the estate will create problems for residents wishing to access public services.

One, Brian Morton, said: "We have seen Ashford develop to an enormous size with major building and housing estates.

"Soon we will be linked to them, St Mary's Bay, New Romney and Hamstreet if this type of development is approved with further housing applications."

High Knocke’s Peter Turner added: “If you are not local to the area you will not understand the loss the village of Dymchurch has suffered by the way of amenities.

“Several years ago it lost a GP surgery (Dymchurch Surgery), which only left one to accommodate the residents.

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“I do not believe the GP surgery would be able to adequately accommodate so many new patient registrations to be able to offer timely clinical appointments and treatment to all patients registered [there].”

After FHDC’s decision to originally reject the scheme last year, Redbridge later submitted a second application for the plot and reduced the number of proposed homes from 132 to 125.

A spokesperson for RDA Consulting Architects - the agents behind both submissions - has since told KentOnline this latest bid is to be withdrawn following the appeal verdict.