Sellindge Y16/1122/SH, – Quinn Estates & The Bucknell Trust

Back in Dec 2016, we brought you the blog post – Houston we have a problem – which was about planning application Y16/1122/SH in Sellindge. Now back then the land, as we said belonged to three owners. Since then the land has been transferred (24/10/2016) and one of the new three people who own the land is a Bucknell, along with two others according to the land registry and they along with Quinn Estates are the applicants to develop the land.

The Bucknell Trust along with local Tory donor Mark William Quinn (pictured) who has donated £9,450 personally, as well as his company Quinn Estates Limited  have donated £18,215, so between he and his company the donations to the Tory party total £27,665. Now do you give away money for nothing to political parties or do donations come with strings attached? Mull that over for a while.

Moving on, both Quinn Estates and the Bucknell Trust -The Trust is a long-standing local family who have retained local connections within Sellindge and are keen to continue to invest in its growth (and consolidation of facilities) and now wish to develop the 18.96 ha (49.32 acres) of land above into a mixed development of 162 homes and along with 929 square metres Class B1 Business floorspace and more. This will come before the Planning & Licensing committee tomorrow, 3rd April 2018, at the 7pm in the Council chamber.

Now it is known that William Bucknell one of the owners of the land is a businessman in Prague (Czech Republic) and gives two addresses here in the UK. One is in Saltwood, the other in West Hythe.

However, before we move forward it is necessary to back up in time. According to the Sellindge Parish Council newsletter, Quinn Estates booked Sellindge Village Hall on Friday July 15th 2016, from 5pm to 7pm and again on Saturday July 16th from 9am to 11am to give a presentation / consultation on what they proposed and to gather  views of the villagers. Now the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire filled out by Sellindge residents showed that no further large development was wanted. So just four days later  the Parish Council met on Tuesday July 19th between 6pm and 9pm  in the Village Hall so the residents of Sellindge could give their view to the Parish Council regarding proposal – Y16/1122/SH.

Now for those of you who are not aware, Sellindge will undergo a massive transformation in the next few years. What with Taylor Wimpey wishing to build 250 homes on vacant land opposite Swan Lane, outlined in red.

Then let’s not forget the land which runs adjacent to the the M20 and runs up to the boundary between Ashford & Folkestone & Hythe District Council (on the left of pic below). This land according to the land registry is owned by Richard Price, a local landowner and farmer and is earmarked for potential future development as is the land marked in blue on the right, by Quinn Estates and The Bucknell Trust.

Then who could forget that from Barrowhill to Newingreen, Otterpool Park is moving ever closer to potential planning permission.

So the people of Sellindge will face a lot of building work over the coming years and live amongst a building site, potentially stretching from Sellindge Church all the way to Newingreen.

So what is the likelihood that Y161122SH, 162 homes and 929 sq metres of business floorspace  will go through? What odds would you give? Will that £27,665 which Mr Quinn and his company – Quinn Estates  have donated to the Tory Party play a part in any decision? We’ll leave you to mull this over and no doubt we’ll have a decision tomorrow.

Finally, here is a picture of our own Cllr Monk with the MD Karl Elliot of Clague Architects LLP at an event held by Quinn Estates -at Hammill Park to Herne Bay (1m 9s – 1m 14s). Anything to declare Cllr Monk?

The Shepwayvox Team