As Canterbury City Council puts forward plans for thousands of new homes over the coming years, the authority is hosting consultation evenings across the district to hear the public’s views.

One such night in Whitstable ended up rowdier than expected, as Dan Esson reports…

It was about midway through the meeting that Darrell Back grabbed the microphone.

“No matter what we say - people here who live in Whitstable, Tankerton, it doesn’t matter what we say - you don’t want to listen to anything,” he told the council officials at the front of the room.

Eliciting rapturous applause from the 100 or so people crammed inside the town’s Umbrella Centre, he continued: “This is heavy, right? I’m vexed. The council, the planning, they listen to nothing - it don’t matter what you say, they ain’t going to listen.”

Mr Back, himself a resident of Hyde Homes’ new-build estate Whitstable Heights, then added: “What we need is everyone in Whitstable - every single person needs to get together and fight this thing, and stop this and say something. There’s no care or compassion for anyone you’re building around, no one.”

As a council officer attempted to retrieve the mic, Mr Back protested, apologised, then exclaimed: “Everyone has to stand up - everyone, if you don’t they will bulldoze you over.”

Another thunderous applause followed.

It’s fair to say those gathered at the meeting were not entirely enthusiastic about Canterbury City Council’s (CCC) plans for 3,750 new homes in and around Whitstable.

The local authority is currently consulting residents on its draft local plan, which governs development across the district from 2025-2040, with 9,346 new-builds planned in total.

On Wednesday night, scores of residents from Whitstable and further afield had packed into the Oxford Street venue to hear a presentation from council bosses.

As the meeting began, CCC’s head of policy and communications Leo Whitlock stressed that the authority would be “holding developers’ feet to the fire”.

“I don’t know where the people are coming from who need these houses in this area…”

Another officer explained: “We want to maximise opportunities that exist on brownfield development.

“The district doesn’t have a huge amount of brownfield land - but where that is available we try to prioritise that.

“For example, there’s about 1,000 homes to be provided within the Wincheap industrial estate.”

Another officer later explained the council’s plans for transport - the much-vaunted “bus-first strategy.”

When she mentioned parking - prices for which have recently spiked under the district’s new “banding system” - the heckling began.

“It’s ridiculous this pricing point - it’s rubbish,” cried one attendee.

“Why not just put signs pointing people up to Bluewater?” jeered another.

Once the questions section began, the temperature in the room gradually rose.

The first came from a Blean resident querying policy on sewage treatment plans for new developments, such as the 2,000-home settlement proposed for land north of the University of Kent’s city campus.

The second point came from Dr John Ribchester, GP and director at Whitstable Medical Practice.

“We’re very concerned that there’s no specific mention of general practice or community health plans,” he said.

“Our three neighbouring centres at Chestfield, Whitstable Harbour and Estuary View are full.

“We have no spare consulting rooms and we would very much like to work with you to make sure the people in this hall and all new people in this area have decent NHS health services.”

After a round of applause for the doctor, an officer stressed that the council works closely with the local NHS.

The controversial Brooklands Farm site - allocated for 1,400 homes off South Street in Whitstable in the draft plan - was also raised. One resident said it was widely unpopular when the council consulted, yet these views have been “ignored” with its inclusion in the latest draft.

It was at this point that Mr Back took hold of the microphone and had his say, with the atmosphere in the room growing to a steady fever pitch.

The next hour and a quarter consisted of residents grilling council staff, with seemingly not a mind in the room changed from the views they had when they came in.

This is a town well-known for being a “Down from London” (DfL) hotspot. But only one person openly declared they hadn’t been born and raised in Whitstable - coming from Wales by way of Derbyshire.

Another attendee said: “The number to me looks massive, and I don’t know where the people are coming from who need these houses in this area.

“Where’s the employment for all of these people coming from?”

“Most of us want to see houses for young people…”

The national government sets housing targets for local councils, which they legally have no choice but to meet.

A council officer stressed “if we don’t achieve those numbers, really it’s open season for developers” prompting a cacophony of tuts, sighs and groans.

In theory, local authorities can apply for “exceptional circumstances” status to justify not building to the targets the government places on them. These circumstances includ,e for example, the local authority’s jurisdiction being an island, or already entirely urbanised.

As the Canterbury district is not quite Anglesey or Lambeth, a council officer told the room if CCC did not include sufficient homes “an inspector would say this council doesn’t know what it’s doing, it has no control over planning and we’ll put extra houses in to make sure that you deliver”.

Later on, while expressing opposition to the plans for new development in Whitstable, one attendee stressed “most of us want to see houses for young people”.

“The town can’t cope with the amount of people already…”

Over the last year the average house price in the town was £463,704, according to Rightmove. The average age in the room was approaching 60.

Speaking after the meeting, resident Justin Mitchell said: “I think generally a lot of people felt like they weren’t actually being listened to.

“Kneejerk building can’t be the only solution.”

Moi Poulter, who has campaigned against the Brooklands Farm site, added: “It’s almost like they pre-rehearsed what they were going to say and they weren’t taking on board the comments people were making.”

Fellow campaigner Emily Firmin said: “The town can’t cope with the amount of people already.

“It’s not NIMBYism. There’s only one person that’s going to make a profit from this - it’s the developers.”

Last month, the council confirmed it had dropped plans for more than 3,000 homes to be built near the village of Adisham after the proposals faced a huge backlash.

Whether the strength of feeling on display at this meeting will result in concessions for Whitstable remains to be seen.