A grandad says he is disgusted after learning an orchard - which he believed would be retained as a wildlife buffer between his home and a new estate - is to be built on.

Steve Aldous, from Minster, has been critical of suggestions that the trees would be protected, while a borough councillor claims SW Attwood & Partners ‘misled’ neighbours.

Read's Orchard, which is owned by the Read family, was mentioned in SW Attwood's plans for the Barton Hill Drive estate of 700 homes that was given council approval in 2020.

Steve and his neighbours were under the impression the green area would be kept as a nature haven to separate the new development from their properties.

However, two years on, it has been made clear that the Read family were the owners and have since applied for their own planning permission for nine homes on the disused land, which has been an orchard since 1933.

This was refused twice by the council but has now been approved by a government inspector on appeal.

Steve, 69, from Parsonage Chase, said: "The inspector had a good look around and decided that the orchard is of no use to anybody meaning it can be smashed down and made into houses.

"It's a small, small area of abandoned woodland, adjacent to our homes.

"What follows this old orchard is currently farmland, but that farmland is owned by SW Attwood & Partners, who have secured planning permission for their 700 properties.

Some disappointed residents believe, rather than having been “misled” by the Attwoods, Swale council had agreed that the land could be retained as a buffer zone.

Steve, a grandad-of-two and retired book-keeper, added: "Because of the approved plans there will be no buffer zone, that is why us residents are so frustrated with these new house plans.

"That little wildlife haven that was promised is going to be turned into houses. It's going to be demolished. It's going to be bulldozed."

The development proposed on the orchard is for an access road, nine properties with associated parking, landscaping and a new orchard.

Conservative councillor for Minster Cliffs, Ken Ingleton, feels that residents were hoodwinked.

He said: "People locally were misled by the SW Attwood developers who definitely did not own the orchard land.

"They had no right to make the statement that they would keep the orchard as a buffer zone.

"The actual owners of that land weren't very happy and therefore made their own application which was turned down originally by the council but later approved by the government inspector."

Despite worries over the wildlife in the area, Read's Orchard's plans do include the enhancement of an existing pond and the planting of a new orchard to provide a buffer between the proposed development and the nearby Grade II-listed Parsonage Farm.

Stephen Attwood, senior partner at SW Attwood, stated: "SW Attwood & Partners approached the owners of the orchard to the rear of Parsonage Chase, the Read family, on several occasions so that this land could be included in the planning application that was the subject of the appeal.

"SW Attwood wished to involve this land or the owners so that the requirement of Policy A12 Part 1c could be met.

"This policy requirement in the Swale Local Plan sought the 'retention of existing features, including existing hedgerows and the overgrown orchard to the rear of Parsonage Chase.'

"As the owners wished to secure planning permission for the development of their land (which they have now achieved on appeal) they declined to work with SW Attwood and the planning application and subsequent appeal on land at Barton Hill Drive excluded the orchard land."

Approving Read's Orchard's plans, on August 11, government inspector Martin Small said: "The proposed development would not harm the setting of Parsonage Farm, resulting in a neutral effect on the significance of the listed building, and that the setting would thereby be preserved."

To read more about the planning application click here and enter the reference number: 20/506107/OUT.

A spokesman for Swale Borough Council said: "We accept the decision of the planning inspectorate to grant permission of the development of nine homes at Parsonage Chase in Minster.

"The inspectorate highlighted that it would represent sustainable development and we’ll now work with the developer to manage the impact to Parsonage Farm which is a Grade II-listed building.”

The Read family have also been contacted for comment.