For more see KentOnline.co.uk
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Obviously, it was built and built as a quiet little village.
00:03Now it's just going to be, well, not a village anymore.
00:08That'd be it. That'd be gone.
00:10This is the feeling among villagers living in Upchurch
00:13between Sittingbourne and Raynham in Kent
00:16about plans to build 100 homes.
00:19Such is the outrage that scores of protest posters
00:22have gone up across the village.
00:25They read, orchards offer producing fruit.
00:27Say no to Gaudet's homes.
00:30Philip Simmons, who has lived in the village for 12 years,
00:33is one of those who has a sign-up in his home.
00:36Oh, it's going to drop down the lovely fruit orchard
00:39we've got round the back, apples.
00:42And I didn't move here for houses to build round the back of me.
00:46Meanwhile, another resident has set up a petition
00:49to rally opposition to the scheme,
00:51which would cover eight standard 11-a-side football fields.
00:55Since he set it up online,
00:57in March, it has gathered 430 signatures.
01:01It's just giving a feeling
01:04how the village feels about what's proposed.
01:08I think as you go round the village,
01:10you talk to different people,
01:11you'll get the same response from the most people
01:14that they don't want 100 hours built down here.
01:19You know, we want to keep it as a village.
01:21It says its plans are at an early stage
01:26and are currently subject to change
01:28before it submits them this summer.
01:30It also says alongside the much-needed
01:33private and affordable housing,
01:35there's also scope for an area reserve
01:38for community benefit.