RESIDENTS fear their privacy will be destroyed by a new build nightmare going up in their town.
Plans to turn a former hospital into 51 flats overlooking the sea in Kent have been branded “monstrous and brutalist“.
2
2
The latest proposals for the site show three brown blocks with 47 sea-facing homes set to reach as high as 15 metres, Kent Online reports.
These have sparked fury in Hythe as one of the buildings, which is five storeys tall, is now two metres higher than originally planned.
Four more flats will be built on a converted building in the former Hythe’s St Saviour’s hospital, shut in 2015 and bulldozed earlier this year.
To add insult to injury, the development sits on a “dramatic” upward slope exceeding 23 metres, leading to fears the block will tower over neighbours.
Read More property stories
Folkestone & Hythe District Council approved the outline plans in 2016.
But speaking at a planning meeting on Monday, Mayor Anita Jones said the updated plans are “not appropriate for the area” and go against the original proposals.
Labelling the plans “monstrous”, neighbour David Ellerby added: “We would be overlooked by 60 bedrooms.”
Trevor Ballard, who also lives next to the site, added: “It’s got higher and they’ve moved it higher up the bank – it’s just ridiculous.”
Most read in Money
Objecting to the scheme on Monday, Hythe Town Council’s planning committee said the development was “over-intensive” and have a “detrimental impact on the local infrastructure”.
Developers Ureco Properties said: “The current proposals have sought to address all comments, whilst achieving a scheme that significantly enhances the previously consented outline application.”
A final decision on the scheme will be made on October 10.
