Sport England objects to homes on a fenced-off field
Plus new levelling up money for Kent, councillors applaud far-right intimidation of press, latest donations to MPs, news in brief, and more
Wherever housebuilding is proposed, complaints almost universally follow. Sometimes, concerns might be reasonable. Other times, less so. Today, we look at an absurd situation in Margate where Sport England is objecting to new brownfield housing because part of the site is officially a ‘playing field,’ despite the fact that the school it was attached to closed a decade ago, and the field is inaccessible. We’ve got the full story below. Further down, we have news of new levelling up funds for Kent, councillors celebrating the intimidation of a journalist, the latest donations to Kent MPs, news in brief, and more.
Sport England objects to homes on a fenced-off field
Plans to redevelop the former Royal School for Deaf Children site in Margate into 150 homes have been hit with an objection from Sport England, which says the scheme would mean the loss of an important playing field. The intervention comes despite the pitches being fenced off and unused for a decade, and at a time when the government is preparing to strip Sport England of much of its planning role.
The application from Geronimo Estates sets out a familiar package of new houses and flats, a community building, landscaped gardens, and improved entrances on Victoria Road and Park Crescent. The design statement promises ‘high quality residential accommodation’ and ‘a good mixture of unit types.’ It avoids saying that almost a quarter of the land is still officially classed as playing fields, even if the designation is largely meaningless if they are inaccessible.
That detail was enough to draw a formal response. Sport England’s representation notes that its involvement here is non-statutory because the school has been closed for more than five years, but adds that “a lack of use should not be taken as necessarily indicating an absence of need.” Its standard policy is to oppose development on pitches unless they are replaced like-for-like. The fact that Dane Park’s public pitches are literally across the road does not, in their eyes, change the rule.
It highlights the strange theatre of the planning system. A body set up to protect community sports land is now defending fields that nobody can actually use. At the same time, a developer tries to build on what is fundamentally a brownfield site. The council sits in the middle, caught between housing targets and policies that treat fenced-off grass as untouchable.
In 2021, Kent County Council planned to build a 900-pupil secondary school here, complete with pitches, before abandoning the idea when pupil forecasts dipped. That left the land derelict and overgrown until this latest application came forward.
Sport England’s objection here also carries less weight than in other cases. Last year in Chatham, its intervention forced a referral to the Secretary of State and delayed a housing scheme for months. Whitehall eventually refused to intervene, and the plans went through. In this case, the rules mean the council could press ahead if it wished, adding an extra element of charade to the whole thing.
Public opposition has so far been limited. Two residents have lodged objections, one pointing to the lack of affordable housing, the other raising concerns about traffic and pressure on services. Both criticisms are arguably more grounded than the national body’s stance on a locked-up pitch.
The broader context is that organisations like Sport England and Natural England regularly hold up schemes across the country, sometimes for reasons developers see as arbitrary. Ministers now want to strip them of their planning roles, arguing that they are blockers rather than protectors. Sport England insists it has saved more than a thousand pitches since 2022, but in cases like Margate, it looks like an organisation reduced to defending a fence rather than a field.
Thanet councillors must still decide whether to push the plans through or demand some kind of sporting contribution, perhaps money for facilities elsewhere. Sport England has left open the possibility of dropping its objection if that happens, though the developer has yet to offer anything, and without the council demanding it, there is little incentive for them to do so.
As it stands, the site remains behind the fence, a patch of land for sport on paper but useless in practice, waiting for councillors to decide what will happen next.
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Latest financial declarations of Kent MPs
The Register of Members’ Financial Interests is where all MPs must register donations, gifts, and hospitality they receive. On the most recent update to the register, some Kent MPs have had some pretty substantial additions to declare:
Mike Martin (Liberal Democrat, Tunbridge Wells) received £3,000 from an individual and £3,000 from Field View Mentors Ltd. An individual also hosted a dinner for him, valued at £3,153, but sadly, the menu is not included in the data.
Laura Trott (Conservative, Sevenoaks) received £3,000 from Lord John Nash.
Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe, Labour) received £1,431 for three hours’ work as a barrister in August.
Sojan Joseph (Ashford, Labour) received a trip to Switzerland valued at £742, paid for by Be Friends Switzerland.
Additionally, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), a parliamentary body designed to ensure outside earnings of MPs are within the rules, has granted Tom Tugendhat (Conservative, Tonbridge and Malling) permission to pursue his dream of becoming a script writer and presenter. The MP told the committee that he wished to start writing scripts for documentaries, including possibly on European defence, which might lead to presenting opportunities, like a kind of Michael Portillo, but perhaps on a fighter jet instead of a train.
FKA levelling up
The government announced a new tranche of funding today as part of a new initiative that definitely isn’t a rebadged ‘levelling up’ scheme.
The new Pride in Place programme will see areas given either £20m over ten years or a £1.5m one-off pot to upgrade public spaces. The new gimmick here is that the money should be spent with community consultation, but it is unclear how this will work in practice.
The good news is that some parts of Kent are in line for funding.
The following areas are set to receive £20m over the next decade:
Buckland & St Radigunds, Dover
Parkwood & Senacre, Maidstone
Sheppey East, Swale
Meanwhile, some wider council areas will receive the one-off £1.5 sum:
Gravesham
Medway
Swale
Thanet
It will take some time for local areas to figure out exactly how the money will be spent, but the overall amount represents £66m for Kent, out of the £5bn being distributed across the country.
Councillors applaud far-right intimidation of the press
Kent’s anti-immigration protests took another ugly turn in Canterbury last week when Local Democracy Reporter Oliver Leader was confronted with a bag of what a protest organiser claimed was used toilet paper. Leader was outside Connors House, a Kent County Council building for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, when organiser Harry Hilden waved the bag in his face and led chants of “used toilet paper for the press.” Leader later described it as “alarming” and said he had been made the centre of “vitriolic attention” simply for doing his job.
The stunt was filmed and posted online, where it quickly spread. By itself, the incident would have been bad enough, but the fallout became worse when the video was liked by two senior Reform councillors at County Hall: Richard Palmer, Reform chair of Kent County Council, and Peter Osborne, the cabinet member for Highways. Palmer has since claimed he didn’t watch the clip through and thought it showed a microphone fault, and who among us hasn’t found themselves in that position while doomscrolling TikTok? Osborne has seemingly said nothing at all. Either way, it is indefensible. Two elected county councillors amplified footage of a journalist being publicly humiliated for reporting on a protest.
This is part of a wider pattern. Far-right groups have become increasingly active across Kent, often draping themselves in flags (national or neo-Nazi) and turning up at asylum sites. More marches are planned in the coming weeks in Folkestone and Faversham, while in Medway, flaggers angry about Medway Council threatening to take them down are trying to get their own march off the ground. These groups don’t seem particularly interested in reasoned debate. They instead thrive on spectacle and intimidation.
All of which is why the councillors’ behaviour matters. Leaders at County Hall may want to shrug this off as a misunderstanding or an accidental click, but liking and sharing footage of a reporter being abused sends a message. It signals to those orchestrating the protests that their tactics are working and that the county's political leaders are not willing to call them out.
What happened in Canterbury was unacceptable. If Kent’s councillors cannot be clear on that, then they are complicit in normalising it. And if journalists cannot cover local protests without being turned into props for far-right theatre, the whole county has a problem that goes well beyond immigration policy.
In brief
🚄 Eurotunnel’s boss has fired shots at other operators who claim they are not ready for Europe’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), saying they are admitting that they “didn’t do a good job.” Eurotunnel says new checks will only add two minutes to each passenger's journey, but also says their new system can process 700 vehicles per hour at 224 booths, which suggests a figure closer to triple that.
🥀 A Thanet Labour Cabinet member has resigned from the party and switched to the Green Party. Cllr Rob Yates, who represents Margate Central, said he can’t be associated with “this right-wing government anymore.”
🏢 According to the Green Party, Kent County Council’s plan to keep its Maidstone headquarters rather than sell it off could cost five times what it saves. Reform claims that staying in Sessions House will save £14m, but the Greens argue it will cost between £20m and £67m to make it suitable and refurbish.
🚫 Sevenoaks District Council is set to reject plans for a 450-home development east of Edenbridge. The report from planning officers cites the somewhat contradictory reasons of harm to the Green Belt, but also that the density of the proposed development is too low.
🏨 Plans to convert a former Premier Inn in Gravesend into a 46-person HMO have been withdrawn by the applicant. Gravesham councillors were due to debate the application last night, with planning officers recommending the proposal be refused.
🏘️ Swale Borough Council is set to debate a motion to block new HMOs. The proposal has Reform backing, but it is unclear whether the largest political groups on the council will support it.
🚧 Plans to demolish Park Mall in Ashford have been submitted following a contentious plan to redevelop the site. The demolition plans will see part of the site used as a 200-space car park for up to five years.
🏥 Darent Valley Hospital plans to build a new modular ward because an existing ward has been deemed unsafe due to fire safety issues.
🍷 Plans for a winery, visitor centre, and hotel in Harrietsham have been approved.
🏴 Kent County Council has confirmed in a Freedom of Information response that no permission was sought for the approximately eighty billion flags that have been attached to lampposts around Faversham. They also reiterated that they don’t care and are happy for them to stay.
🇬🇧 Meanwhile, Medway Council has pledged to remove flags attached to lampposts, with a particularly direct video blaming ‘agitators of the far-right.’
🏆 Two Kent politicians are up for awards at Local Government Information Unit awards. Former KCC leader Roger Gough is up for the ‘Lifetime Legend’ award, while Cllr Helen Whitehead from Thanet is up for Innovator of the Year.
🗳️ A by-election for Ashford Borough Council takes place today in Rolvenden and Tenterden West after Green councillor Kate Walder resigned. Election expert Andrew Teale previews the contest on his newsletter.
⚽ Gillingham FC owner Brad Galinson has launched legal action against the club’s former chairman, alleging financial wrongdoing at the club ahead of a £7m takeover.
🏛️ The Old Town Hall in Gravesend was sold at auction last week to a mystery buyer for nearly £800,000.
🕳️ AI has apparently discovered a fatberg attached to a dumbbell blocking a sewer in Folkestone.
🚌 A driver on a Fastrack route between Gravesend and Dartford seemingly took the name a little too seriously, getting into a ‘chase’ with a car which resulted in multiple passenger injuries.
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Footnotes
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