At its meetin
g held on 13 July, and after several years of deliberations, Canterbury City Council formally approved the Canterbury District Local Plan, as well as the report of the government appointed Housing Inspector, Mr Moore. Two votes were held:
- Vote to accept the Inspector’s report: 34 for, 0 against with 2 abstentions
- Vote to accept to adopt the Local Plan: 32 for, 1 against with 3 abstentions.
This is mixed news. The Green Gap now has formal standing and the proposed development of 40 homes on the Brickfields has been rejected by the Inspector. However, the Mountfield development has now been approved. A few councillors stated that they did not approve the plan because of Mountfield, but it was claimed that the alternative would be a lot worse, leaving the city open to exploitative developers if the Plan was not adopted.