Y16/0866/SH Redlynch House, Hythe. How Does It End?

Geoff Miles (pictured) – co-owner Maidstone TV Studio & Chair of the Kent & Medway Economic Partnership, was according to the KM Kent Business the fourth most influential business leader in Kent in March 2016.

Mr Miles also sits on 12 companies as a director.One of the companies he is a director of,is called Redlynch Residential Home Limited. Redlynch owns a property at Redlynch House, No 19, Hillcrest Road Hythe. It was a former rest home for the elderly and now sits empty, except the house sitters.

Redlynch Residential Home Limited has made a planning application to knock down the present building on the site and put up a block of nine flats. The planning application is Y16/0866/SH, and below is the plan.

Redlynch Residential Home Ltd submitted a planning application to Shepway District Council on the 01/08/16 (Y16/0866/SH). Redlynch has received pre-planning application advice and this was given by SDC Senior Planning Officer, Annabel Hemmings. See box No 5 here → 19 Hillcrest Application Planning Form. It is not known if during the pre – application advice the submitter  received “an increased opportunity for engagement with elected Members, through briefings at the pre- application stage.”

On the 1st August, the day the planning application was signed and submitted to Shepway District Council, Cllr David Drury Monk (pictured) and Mr Miles both attended a meeting of the Kent & Medway Economic Partnership at the Inspiration Suite, The Village Hotel Castle View, Forstal Road Maidstone, between 5pm & 7pm .

Mr Miles is the Chair of The Kent & Medway Economic Partnership & Cllr Monk has been a long standing member as leader of SDC. The minutes for 1st August make it clear they were both in the room together. See page 2 → KMEP_-_Agenda_Pack_4_October

So Mr Miles – who has an address in Sandgate – and Cllr Monk know each other very well as the Kent & Medway Economic Partnership has been going since 2013. The board; of which Mr Miles is Chair meets on average every two months.

Would Cllr Monk meeting Mr Miles so often at the Kent & Medway Economic Partnership over the last four years, constitute as “an increased opportunity for engagement with elected members?” 

Mr Miles is both Secretary and Director of Redlynch Residential Home Ltd and his wife is a sizeable shareholder. The main shareholder is Susan Hambleton who lives in Hythe and lives but a stones throw away from Redlynch House, No 19 Hillcrest Road.

On the 30th August 2016 Hythe Town Council – See Page 2 rejected the development of Redlynch House No 19 Hillcrest Road, on the grounds of “over-intensification, the building would be out of keeping with the street scene (BE8) and there was insufficient parking.”

There has been 19 local objections by residents who live in, or near the vicinity of Redlynch House No 19 Hillcrest Road; which has spectacular views of the Marsh & Hythe Bay. It is known that Cllr Susan (Scary) Carey (pictured) has objected as the building will directly overlook her garden and property.

Anyway, as I understand it, planning application Y16/0866/SH was about to be turned down, when Cllr Monk Called it in on the 20/04/17. This means that it will now come before the Planning & Licensing Committee on the 30th May 2017, today.

So, Cllr Monk has got it onto the agendga and it will be put it before the Planning Committee to vote on; which is Tory loaded. Do you think he might try to influence the committee?  It is known that he has done this before . Do you think that planning application Y16/0866/SH will get nodded through?

Will Cllr Monk like Cllr Owen compromise his integrity?

Is this another case of Cllr David Drury Monk being dodgy?

How does it all end? We don’t know yet, but we’ll know soon enough.

The Shepwayvox Team