South London council to reject 'completely inappropriate' plans for 350 new homes
A South London council has shared its intention to reject a “completely inappropriate” planning application for 350 homes on green belt land before actually issuing a formal refusal.
Bromley Council’s decision was made after the housing developer refused to agree to a further time extension, which would have allowed the application to be considered at the council’s next available planning meeting.
The application, submitted by Lands Improvement Holdings last November, sought permission to build 350 residential units across three agricultural fields to the east of St Mary Cray Recreation Ground between Crockenhill Road and Cockmannings Road.
The 42-acre proposal included a mix of 40 one-bedroom apartments, 27 two-bedroom flats, 56 two-bedroom homes, 157 three-bedroom homes, and 70 four-or-more-bedroom properties. Notably, half of these homes were designated as affordable.
Plans also featured a new green common with a play area at the heart of the development, alongside a path connecting it to the nearby recreation ground.
Lands Improvement Holdings will also invest in improvements at St Mary Cray Recreation Ground, with the money potentially going towards installing new CCTV, renovating the pavilion or constructing an all-weather cricket pitch.
The plans have been received negatively by St Mary Cray residents, over 1,000 of whom have lodged objections on Bromley Council’s planning portal. Most objectors have taken issue with the homes being built on green belt land.
This is an opinion shared by the council who said it considered the application inappropriate because of the amount of housing on the green belt. The South East London authority issued a resolution to refuse planning permission on June 5.
Cllr Yvonne Bear, Bromley’s Executive Councillor for Renewal, Recreation and Housing, said: “This is a completely inappropriate development on the borough’s cherished green belt land, which is why we have issued this resolution to indicate our intention to refuse the application.
“We will continue to protect Bromley’s green belt by fighting unsuitable green belt developments through our planning process.”
Lands Improvement Holdings said it was “disappointed” with Bromley Council’s decision. A spokesperson said: “The scheme helps to meet growing housing need by delivering family homes, half of which are affordable.
“The proposals support the Cray Valley Renewal Area, delivering long-term regeneration benefits for the local community, including improvements to St Mary Cray Recreation Ground and provision for a new community facility.”
The council’s refusal resolution has been referred to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and the Secretary of State for Housing Steve Reed.
Both Sir Sadiq and Mr Reed have the power to overrule London councils that refuse residential developments of 150 homes or more in favour of fast-tracking housing delivery. The Mayor of London is under intense pressure to deliver the 88,000 homes a year London is deemed to need, with the delivery of affordable homes in particular lagging way behind.
Last year the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) agreed to lower London’s target for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) for 2021-2026 by over a fifth to between 17,800 and 19,000 starts by March. However City Hall is expected to have missed this target according to recent analysis.
This case will test how far Sir Sadiq is willing to compromise the city’s green belt in order to meet these targets, with the Mayor recently targeting what he and the government refer to as ‘grey belt – lower quality green belt land – though it would be hard to argue the St Mary Cray site amounts to grey belt given it is effectively joined to the Sevenoaks countryside.
Bromley has said that once this part of the planning process has taken place, it will issue its formal refusal decision “in the coming weeks”. The full planning application can be viewed on Bromley’s planning portal using reference 25/05427/OUT.