A developer wanting to pull out of providing £30 million for a vital road upgrade has been told if it cannot pay for the works then no more homes should be built.
Hodson Developments, the main builder behind the 5,750-home Chilmington Green garden village in Ashford, is asking the Planning Inspectorate to consider its proposals to ditch requirements to build new infrastructure and community facilities it had previously committed to.
But on the first day of an inquiry hosted by the government-based Planning Inspectorate, the housebuilder was told by Kent County Council (KCC) that the scheme for the A28 Chart Road must go ahead or else “the development cannot progress any further”.
Several other obligations by the housing giant are proposed to be lost with the total cost – including the A28 scheme – coming in at £50m.
The A28 Chart Road scheme would see a dual carriageway installed from the Tank roundabout to the Matalan roundabout into a dual carriageway to alleviate congestion and increased traffic numbers from the new development.
In 2017, Hodson signed a legally binding agreement – known as a Section 106 Agreement (S106) – with Ashford Borough Council (ABC) and KCC saying it would hand over the money when 400 homes are occupied, a figure it is close to reaching.
But in his opening statement at the inquiry, which opened on Wednesday, the developer’s lawyer Richard Harwood argued the upgrades were no longer viable and are being scrapped to “remove unnecessary expenditure”.
Mr Hardwood said: “The ambition is for Chilmington Green to be an exemplary urban suburb.
“The development has been stalled by a number of factors, delays in getting utilities on site, delays around nutrient neutrality, the Covid pandemic, significant increases in build costs and the failure of ABC to determine reserved matters and detailed applications.
“The scheme as it stands is unviable and unfundable. There is a negative residual bank value to the developer of minus £247.1m.
“The present appeals are a further stage in that process which aims to unlock investment in the site by enabling developers, investors and funders to come forward.
“Some of the changes we have put forward are mechanical but they are of practical importance.
“Other changes seem to reduce the costs by removing unnecessary expenditure or deferring it to another time.
“That will reduce the overall cost to the developer including significant savings of interest.
“The scheme is more fundable if the total debt is smaller.
“It will be disastrous for the council housing supply if Chilmington Green is not developed.
“What is being held up is the homes of 12,000 people and improvements to their lives.”
Documents submitted on behalf of Hodson say it has “ceased to be possible in the financial markets” to obtain the money needed to pay for the dualling scheme that would be “prohibitively expensive and self-defeating”.
The agreement states the maximum contribution expected from Hodson is £32.7m – £28.9m for construction works, £303,000 for design and consultancy costs and a £3.5m contingency.
It comes as Hodson has also had plans to build a further 665 new homes at Possingham Farm next to Chilmington Green approved despite the development being refused by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) in December 2023.
A planning inspector overturned that decision in November citing that the planned A28 upgrades “would mitigate the traffic effects of the development to at least a nil-detriment position”.
But they added: “Taking a conservative approach, highway matters are therefore neutral in the planning balance.”
The A28 upgrades to dual a stretch of Chart Road between the Matalan and ‘Tank’ roundabouts is seen by Kent County Council as an “integral part” of the Chilmington Green development.
The highways authority says if Hodson’s proposal to remove funding is approved, then the project will be scrapped as there is no other way to fund it.
Speaking on Wednesday, a lawyer on behalf KCC said: “The existing obligation provides a pre-agreed framework for delivering the infrastructure necessary to have granted permission for more than 5,750 units at Chilmington Green to ensure it’s sustainable.
“For the A28 dualling scheme, the changes sought are the most dramatic and far-reaching.
“The appellant seeks to remove any enforcement obligations to deliver the A28 dualling scheme and that is a fundamental change to the whole Chilmington Green concept.
“If accepted, there will be no route to securing the A28 dualling scheme and Chilmington Green will be able to progress without the key infrastructure network necessary to make this development acceptable and severe implications to the highway network will result.
“The allocation of 5,750 units was from the offset always set on the dualling scheme at the expense of the developer
“KCC has no means to fund the A28 dualling scheme and there are no other public funding pots.
“If there is no ability to drive the bond, or the provision of the bond, to make the development unavailable, then the simple answer is the development cannot progress any further.
“Allowing Chilmington Green to proceed without the A28 dualling scheme secured would be unacceptable.”
Work to dual the notoriously congested road was supposed to start in 2018 when scores of trees were felled along the stretch in preparation.
But constant delays to the project mean work has never started and now might not start at all.
It is not just the A28 road scheme the developer is looking to change, it has also asked to remove millions from its committed spending towards schools, social care provisions and community projects to name a few.
In total, there are 33 areas of commitments Hodson wishes to either remove entirely or vary its obligations.
Analysis by KentOnline has found the housebuilder wants to discharge at least £52.5m of its agreed major contributions to infrastructure and community facilities.
The final total amount it wishes to discharge will be higher due to additional smaller payments and community services it previously agreed to commit to.
Construction of Chilmington Green Secondary School started last February almost two years after plans were first approved.
Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.
Now the facility, just off A28 Ashford Road, is on track to open at the start of the new school year.
The inquiry is set to be held across six days ending on Friday next week when the planning inspector will make his final decision.
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