The first phase of a huge 1,400-home village next to a Kent shopping centre has been given the green light.

Land next to Manston Court Road in Ramsgate, a stone’s throw from the Westwood Cross complex, has been earmarked for the scheme after plans were first proposed in 2018.

The first stage is known as Westwood Village One and includes 900 homes and a primary school.

It was given outline approval by Thanet District Council (TDC) in 2019.

The homes, proposed by Greenacre and The Riverside Group, were given the nod alongside new community facilities and shops.

A reserved matters application (RMA) was later submitted to TDC in May 2023 to get the first half of Westwood Village One over the line.

This has now been approved, meaning full planning permission has been awarded for the first time to any part of the overall scheme.

It comes as the second phase of 451 properties saw a RMA submitted in September 2024 and is still awaiting a decision.

Meanwhile, Westwood Village Two was launched by Rooksmead Residential in December 2023.

It will feature the remaining 500 homes, a secondary school, children’s play areas and a new link road between Haine Road and Manston Court Road.

An outline proposal remains under consideration by the council on this application, which, if granted, would overhaul farmland the size of 42 football pitches.

Both phases will sit side by side and fill the land between the shopping centre and Manston Solar Farm.

Riverside is carrying out the project across the three phases on its land - which TDC allocated for use in its local plan - over a 10-year period.

All 449 properties will be classed as affordable homes divided between 157 socially rented and 292 shared ownership and rent-to-buy houses.

Twenty-four will have one bedroom, 134 homes will feature two bedrooms, 218 will comprise three bedrooms and the remaining 73 being four bedrooms in size.

The homes, between two and three-storeys tall, will be accessed via a newly-created spine road linking to Haine Road on the western side of the development.

However, when phase one was originally put forward, residents raised concerns it would “ruin” the countryside.

MP for North Thanet at the time, Sir Roger Gale, also objected with concerns about the plans intruding on to neighbouring land.

His views were echoed by both parish councils - St Peters and Broadstairs Town Council and Manston Parish Council - who similarly opposed the plans.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area, visit the Public Notice Portal.

Yet information submitted in planning documents by ECE Architecture, on behalf of Riverside, says the development will provide a range of benefits.

It read: "The scheme should help create a sustainable community.

"The homes created within the development should provide a wide range of dwelling types and sizes creating a wide range of 100% affordable homes.

"The village does require more infrastructure to accommodate the growing population.

"The site forms part of a larger masterplan mix-use development that will provide Westwood with a sustainable new residential-led mixed use community that meets the need of both existing and future residents."