Council 'Disappointed' as Government Takes Control of 1,300-Home East Malling Decision

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council's Planning Committee had been heading towards refusing a major development west of Hermitage Lane in East Malling - up to 1,300 homes, alongside a primary school, village centre, employment space, recreation areas and infrastructure. Instead, the committee won't get to make that call at all. The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, has "called in" the application, meaning Government ministers rather than local councillors will now decide its fate.

It's the first time this has happened in the borough under a recent change in Government policy, which requires any application for 150 or more homes that a council intends to refuse to be referred up to the Secretary of State for possible determination. In practice, that hands Whitehall a veto over exactly the kind of large, contested local housing decision that used to stop at the town hall.

The council isn't hiding its frustration. Cabinet Member for Planning Cllr Mike Taylor said: "We are disappointed that the Secretary of State has taken this decision, especially since we were able to demonstrate that this application did not warrant a Government determination." The council's argument was that the scheme didn't conflict with national policy, didn't raise issues of more than local importance, and didn't involve the kind of exceptional circumstances the call-in power is meant for.

For Taylor, this is as much about who gets to make the call as the merits of the scheme itself. "Decisions like this should be left to local councillors, who understand the impacts on local communities and are best placed to weigh up the views of residents alongside planning considerations," he said, adding that the council hopes "the Secretary of State will give full consideration to the reasons why the Planning Committee was minded to refuse the application and ultimately reach the right conclusion."

The Secretary of State will now weigh up the Planning Committee's own reasons for wanting to refuse the scheme before reaching a decision - though no timetable for that has been published. For East Malling residents who've been following the application through the local planning process, it means the argument that mattered most is no longer the one happening in the council chamber. Source: Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council