Plans unveiled for 75 homes at Kent coastal village

A housing development in a Kent village could expand as a new planning application seeks permission for up to 75 homes. Dean Lewis Estates Ltd has applied to Medway Council to build more homes north of Stoke Road, on the edge of Hoo St Werburgh. It would be next to a previously approved development of 65 homes.

If given the go-ahead, the would be access via Walnut Tree Grove, which is part of a prior Dean Lewis Estates scheme approved in July 2018. That plot was sold by Dean Lewis to Jones Homes and is still under construction. The new proposals, on April 1, put forward two different possible layouts totalling 19 affordable homes and 56 private market properties.



One includes four one-bedroom, 29 two-bedroom, 31 three-bedroom and 11 four-bedroom properties in a mix of terraces, semi-detached and detached homes. The other is similar, but with two extra two-bed homes and two fewer four-bed properties, with the access point directly from Stoke Road. Of the 19 affordable homes, documents included in the application say 11 will be affordable rental properties, four will be for first-time buyers, and four will have shared ownership arrangements.

However, as this is an outline planning application, the details of the actual layout of the scheme will be decided later if this application is approved. The plans include a play area and improvements to a public bridleway which runs from Stoke Road towards Peninsula Way. Within the site's boundaries are a road sign and an infantry pillbox which are both grade-II listed, and the designs will also work around a "heritage corridor".

The corridor follows the Hoo Stop Line, a Second World War anti-invasion defence which included anti-tank gun emplacements, pillboxes, and an anti-tank ditch which passes through the site. There have been a number of developments in the area, including opposite, on the south side of Stoke Road, where in 2022 Dean Lewis gained permission for up to 100 homes. A wider site, westwards on the south side of Stoke Road, was also given permission for up to 200 homes in August 2018.

The application for the 75 homes is currently being considered by Medway Council's planning department. It may go to a committee meeting to be decided by councillors in the future..