More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A former Tonbridge and Malling borough councillor, Daniel Markham, is beefing up the local campaign of opposition to development on Broadwater Farm in East Malling with a series of webcasts.
The ex-BBC producer plans to interview local councillors and residents to raise awareness of the planning application for 800 homes which is expected imminently from Berkeley Homes.
Mr Markham said that with the community having already lost the battle to prevent building on a nearby site at Forty Acre Field, East Malling now stands "at a tipping point."
He argues the development at Broadwater Farm - which is included in Tonbridge and Malling council's stalled draft Local Plan - will effectively bring the Kings Hill Estate to the doorsteps of East Malling residents.
The land is currently grade A farmland and the proposal includes cutting a new access to the estate through a conservation area to reach West Malling Station.
Mr Markham argues that the executive homes will do nothing to meet the housing needs of local people and the route to the station, he says, indicates that they are aimed primarily at those moving out of London.
East Malling parish councillor Stuart Millson, whom Mr Markham interviews in the first podcast of the series agrees, quipping: "Welcome to the London Borough of East Malling."
Cllr Millson said: "East Malling is facing this tidal wave, this oil slick, of housing that is going to spew out over irreplaceable orchard and farmland."
Mr Markham, with the fruit fields proposed for development behind him, asks viewers to imagine the scene, not just with 800 homes but with all that entails - "4,000 litter bins and 2,500 cars."
To view Berkeley's master plan for its proposed development, click here.
To read about opposition to the scheme from the Broadwater Farm Action group, click here.
To view Mr Markham's video in its entirety, click here.
