Officers back 62 homes off Marden Road, Staplehurst and 41 at South Lane, Sutton Valence: Maidstone has only 3.6 years of housing land. Vote 15 Oct, 6pm.
Maidstone’s Planning Committee meets on Thursday 15 October at 6pm with 103 homes in two villages on the agenda, and officers recommending both schemes for approval. Neither site is allocated for housing. Both are being recommended because the borough cannot show a five-year supply of land for homes (agenda, Planning Committee, 15 October 2026).
The same meeting will decide whether the former Jewson yard on Buckland Hill, earmarked for about 120 homes in the Local Plan, can instead become four units for builders’ merchants.
The number behind both village schemes
Every housing report on Thursday’s agenda carries the same sentence. The council’s housing land supply position at 1 April 2026 shows 3.6 years, against the five years the planning system expects (Staplehurst committee report, paragraph 6.10).
Below five years, national policy says development that meets an evidenced unmet need, including housing, “should be approved unless the benefits of doing so would be substantially outweighed by any adverse effects”. Local Plan policy LPRSP10 says much the same. That is why officers are backing two schemes they also describe as causing significant harm to the countryside.
Full Council debated a motion on 30 September calling for a moratorium on new housing until water companies can guarantee supply. We covered it here. It has no bearing on Thursday’s decisions, which are made under the current rules.
Marden Road, Staplehurst: 62 homes
Staplehurst, about nine miles south of Maidstone, has the biggest item. The application for land south of Marden Road proposes (committee report, 26/500660/FULL):
- 62 homes: 41 two-storey detached and semi-detached houses, three terraced houses, two flats above garages and 15 maisonettes or flats
- 40 per cent affordable housing
- a new access from Marden Road
- balancing ponds and swales, including an open swale to replace a surface water culvert on the northern boundary
- a children’s play area
The site sits just outside the village boundary and is not allocated in the Local Plan. Officers say the scheme would cause “significant harm to the rural character and appearance of the area”, though the harm is localised because the site is boxed in by housing, woodland and hedges. They also find a low level of harm to the setting of Coppwilliam, a Grade II listed house about 30 metres from the north-west corner.
Opposition is on the record. 18 residents wrote in against the scheme. Staplehurst Parish Council wants it refused, citing the Neighbourhood Plan, flood risk, foul drainage, water supply, a protected hedge and an over-capacity crossroads. Ward councillor John Perry called it in, saying “there are drainage and access issues that need to be resolved”.
The culvert is a point in the scheme’s favour. Kent County Council’s land drainage engineer says the existing pipe is “at the end of its serviceable life” and is probably letting surface water into the foul sewer. Replacing it with a lined open swale, the engineer says, removes the failing asset entirely.
The recommendation is approval, subject to conditions and a legal agreement. Kent County Council has asked for contributions towards secondary and special needs education, libraries, adult social care and waste.
South Lane, Sutton Valence: up to 41 homes
Sutton Valence, about six miles south-east of Maidstone, has an outline application for a field on South Lane, 45 metres from the village boundary (committee report, 25/505124/OUT). Only the access is fixed at this stage. The indicative mix is:
| Type | Affordable | Market | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-bed maisonette | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Two-bed flat over garage | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Two-bed house | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Three-bed house | 7 | 13 | 20 |
| Four-bed house | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Total | 17 | 24 | 41 |
The scheme was cut back during the application to keep woodland in the north-east corner and add landscaping. Officers still find “significant harm to the rural character and appearance of the area”, but say it is largely screened at the foot of the scarp slope.
This one divided the village. 22 individual objections and a petition of 226 signatures were received. 29 people wrote in support, mostly for the housing and the affordable homes. Sutton Valence Parish Council objects, citing harm to the countryside, the Conservation Area, the Landscape of Local Value and the “medieval, narrow lane” layout where South Lane enters the village.
If approved, the developer would pay Kent County Council £224,628.70 for primary school places, £221,164.71 for secondary places and £23,232.95 for special needs education, plus smaller sums for libraries, adult social care, children’s services and waste. The recommendation is to grant, subject to a legal agreement and conditions.
Former Jewson yard, Buckland Hill: trade units instead of homes
The one town-centre item runs the other way. The former Jewson site between St Peter’s Street, Buckland Hill and Maidstone Barracks station is allocated for housing under the Local Plan’s Maidstone Riverside policy, LPRSA148. The council’s own Riverside guidance gives this parcel capacity for about 120 homes, 25 townhouses and 95 flats, within a riverside allocation of about 650 (committee report, 26/501777/FULL).
The owner, TBH Real Estate Investments Ltd, has applied instead to:
- keep and refurbish the retained building as four units for builders’ merchants (part of the building has already been demolished, which the application seeks to regularise)
- open new accesses onto St Peter’s Street and realign the footpath
- keep the open storage yard with its Buckland Hill access
- provide 14 parking spaces and EV charging, with about 20 jobs
Hours would be 7am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm on Saturdays and, for the first time, 9am to 4pm on Sundays and bank holidays.
The applicant’s case is that there is “no reasonable prospect” of the housing scheme coming forward in the short term, because adjoining land ownership and leases prevent a comprehensive riverside development. A 2022 outline application for 75 flats and three commercial units on the site was refused and lost on appeal.
Officers accept the argument. The report says the Riverside guidance expected this parcel to be built out between 2024 and 2029, “that is obviously now not the case”, and the site is not counted in the current housing supply. Viability “remains an issue on town centre sites”. They recommend approval as “a justified departure” from the plan, while acknowledging that a commercial fit-out makes housing here less likely in the near future. One resident wrote in, broadly in favour, asking for double yellow lines on St Peter’s Street and a review of the site’s security by Kent Police.
The rest of the agenda
- Boarley Lane, Sandling: permission in principle for up to four homes next to Willow Farm, after a nine-home version was refused. Called in by Cllr Vanessa Jones. Recommended for approval (report, 26/502753/PIP).
- 3 Triangle Cottages, Headcorn Road, Grafty Green: a two-bedroom house on a subdivided plot, plus a rear extension. Called in by Boughton Malherbe Parish Council. Recommended for approval (report, 25/502136/FULL).
- Golden Oaks, Pye Corner, Ulcombe: the mobile home site deferred on 18 June for a landscape assessment and checks on two farm reservoirs. Officers will update the meeting verbally (deferred items).
Every item reached the committee by a route that is about to close. Four are departures from the Local Plan and three were called in by a parish council or a ward councillor. From 31 October the government’s new rules end the automatic right of parish and councillor call-in, as we reported here. This is the last scheduled committee under the old arrangements.
What it means for you
- Staplehurst and Sutton Valence residents: the committee can refuse against officer advice, but an appeal would be judged on the same 3.6-year figure. Refusals without a five-year supply are hard to defend.
- Want to speak? Contact Democratic Services on 01622 602899 or committee@maidstone.gov.uk by 4pm on Wednesday 14 October, the working day before, and say which item you want to speak on. Slots go first come, first served (agenda page).
- Watching for your own street: our planning applications page explains how to search the Mid Kent portal and comment.
- The committee meets at the Town Hall, High Street, at 6pm. We will report the decisions.
Have your say