Plans for the development of a large housing estate have been blocked over the scheme's potential to harm the landscape and the natural environment in the area.
The proposed site was located in the southwest of Maidstone in Kent. It was located outside the settlement boundaries, which made it a subject to the different, countryside development, policy.
According to Olivia Spencer, the planning inspector, the area is suburban in nature and, despite the housing shortage in the area, the development cannot be carried forward. It was found, that the new development would interfere with the local landscape of the Medway Valley and the suggested mitigation measures to reduce the development's impact in form of planting trees and shrubbery would be "insubstantial" in comparison with the adverse effect of the development on the surrounding landscape.
According to Spencer, the development would have a significant impact on the environment after considering the aims and objectives set out in the Framework developed by the council.
Among objections raised by the council, the issue of increased traffic and highway safety to connect the development site has been dismissed by the inspector, stating, that an increased number of vehicles to 532 per hour is still low, considering the theoretical capacity of the roads to be around 900 vehicles.
