Representations

Four letters of objection, not previously reported have been received. The letters raise the following issues which can be summarised as:

No site notices were posted and residents only received notice from the Parish Council; Access should be from the existing access into The Paddocks; Assessment of drainage and survey of ecology should be submitted; No development should be allowed north of the railway line; Staplehurst has received its quota of G&T sites.

Officer Comment

A site notice was erected at the site when the application was submitted in 2015. The other matters relate to access, drainage, ecology, and visual impact and these have been assessed in the main report. Although G&T sites have been allocated at Staplehurst, the Local Plan does not refer to allocations as being finite within Parishes and policy DM15 can allow for suitable windfall sites.

My recommendation remains the same – APPROVE subject to conditions