2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Sam Lennon)
Fed-up residents who claim their houses shake as large lorries drive by are objecting to plans to expand the size of a nearby industrial estate by 75%. Quinn Estates has submitted a bid to extend the 60,000 sq ft Deal Business Park by a further 45,000 sq ft onto neighbouring fields. But the proposals have sparked a swift backlash from locals, who say roads surrounding the site are already heavily congested and cannot cope with any more traffic.
However, the developer - which also recently built the nearby Pottery Grove housing estate - says a transport assessment indicates the expansion will have a “negligible impact” on local highways. Its plans were submitted on March 31, and within 16 days had already attracted more than 20 letters of objection, with none in favour. Among them was one from local resident Isobel Rolls, who wrote: “Southwall Road is already at traffic capacity, to the point where our house shakes as a large lorry passes.
“This road was not built for heavy traffic. We have cracks in our walls due to oversized vehicles coming down our tiny road.” Wendy Chapman says “heavy traffic” also makes her property shake, adding: “It’s now like living on a main road instead of a backstreet.
” Robert George believes it is “self-evident” any expansion will increase traffic on the surrounding roads, causing “considerable inconvenience to local residents and increased risk of accidents and incidents, as well as noise and air pollution”. “As must be well known to Dover District Council, road traffic is a real issue in Deal on the roads in and out of the town,” he added. “Deliberately increasing incoming and outgoing traffic volumes by encouraging further industrial development can only further worsen this existing problem.
” Theresa Coward, who lives in nearby Albert Road, told KentOnline traffic in the area often stretches to her own street. “Quinn has done far too much in this area and caused too much traffic,” she said. “You're looking around like an owl because there's so much traffic, and there are loads of.
schoolchildren around.” Her husband, James, added: “You’ve got large articulated lorries coming out of building sites and the industrial estate, coming into Albert Road. “And the top end of Albert Road is quite narrow.
There's no room for two lorries to pass each other.” Other residents have raised concerns about flooding and the potential loss of wildlife on the site proposed to be built on, with Francoise Rolls questioning in her objection: “Why green land? These fields are peaceful, full of insects, wildlife and ponies going to pasture. “This major development would completely ruin the area and shatter the calm and peaceful atmosphere.
” Dan Glover, of the CSG Accident Repair Centre in Southwall Road, is more supportive of the application because of the number of jobs it would create. He told KentOnline: “I believe this could be a good asset for Deal. “The people of Deal can work from here, they don't always have to go out of town.
So I think it should be a good thing.” A spokesman for Quinn Estates says the proposals will help the council position the Dover district as a “key business destination”. “Deal Business Park is an established employment centre and allocated as a key jobs site within Dover District Council’s Local Plan,” he said.
“Our proposal provides an opportunity to bring further jobs and investment into the town. “We intend to deliver an extension that will provide a valuable contribution of flexible commercial floor space meeting both current and future local needs. “This is in line with the council’s set goal of achieving 117,290 sqm of employment floorspace across the plan period (2024 to 2040) and positioning Dover district as a key business destination with first-class facilities for start-ups, scale-ups and flexible working.
“The reports submitted with the application set out what we intend to deliver across a range of areas from ecology and drainage to road and pedestrian access.” The application is for outline planning permission and includes the introduction of a biodiversity area on the northern portion of the site that will form a new buffer between the business park and the surrounding countryside. Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal Quinn Estates says it will prioritise long-term protection through measures including minimum floor and road levels and a compensatory flow area; this means creating new areas of flood storage so that overall flood risk is not increased.
The scheme also includes 129 parking spaces, in line with guidelines from Kent County Council. Of these, 112 will be for cars and 17 for goods vehicles. Further improved accessibility to and from the site, including pedestrian crossings, is also planned.
The spokesman added: “The transport assessment submitted alongside this application demonstrates that the proposed development will have a negligible impact on the local highway network.”.
