Horsted College Unveils PlansAt a special public meeting at the Horsted campus of Mid-Kent College this evening, the college showed local residents what it had been planning for some time. The primary aim is to move out of the Horsted and City Way sites and into a new purpose-built campus on the Lower Lines at Brompton, close to similar facilities such as the Universities.
Although this all makes a good deal of sense, especially bearing in mind the state of the existing buildings (especially at Horsted), what residents living near the Horsted site were more interested in was, understandably enough, what would happen to the sites they left behind?
It will come as little surprise to anyone who has been following the impositions of central government onto the so-called Thames Gateway region (of which Medway is a large part) that high-density housing is now the norm for such large brownfield sites. With the Deputy Prime Minister's diktats on housing quotas and increased density (but reduced parking provision) nearly 18 months ago, it is now more than ever open season for developers who want to built lots of properties.
Therefore it is perhaps not unexpected that something of that nature would be proposed at the eight-hectare Horsted site; and indeed the outline proposal is for no fewer than seven hundred properties, mainly flats in 22 blocks ranging from three to seven storey in height. There would also be six blocks of terraced three-storey houses, each with two parking spaces. The flats would have six parking spaces for every five flats, that is, just over one parking space each. All the properties would be private dwellings: there would be no social housing.
The college's architect describes the development as "urban-style terraces with plenty of open space, like a Georgian town." Whether or not local people think of it in the same is debatable, and many questions were raised both during the presentations by the College Principal and the Architect, and individually with college staff before and after.
The biggest problems with any large-scale additional housing in such an area, wherever it might be, are infrastructure issues such as roads, schools, medical facilities and water supply/drainage/sewerage. There are no doubt others. The road issue at this location is compounded by the existing, seemingly insoluble, problems at the junction immediately outside the college. The proposed development would have one in/out access plus a second exit-only access, but this is hardly likely to avoid the present problems at this location: indeed, it will almost certainly make them far worse.
Therefore it will be difficult to make this proposal, or anything resembling it, work at this location. With the increased traffic already envisaged from the motorway junction at nearby Bluebell Hill, aided by the recently-opened Bridgewood flyover, difficulties and dangers already being experienced are very likely to worsen even without the outlined additional housing.
Throughout all of this, it is important to remember that the college will not be the outfit building on the land: the site will be sold to a developer if outline planning consent is secured.
The outline planning application is due to be submitted to Medway Council at the end of May, so we shall have a very close look at it then. Public consultation, including a site visit if necessary, will feature prominently in the decision-reaching process.