Longacre Nurseries, St Marys Road, West Hythe, CT21 4NU Data via plota.co.uk

26/1493/FH/PIP - Permission in Principle Under Consultation

Proposal

Planning permission in principle for the change of use of land to residential & erection of up to 6 dwellings. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
10 Sept 2026
✓
Validated
15 Sept 2026
Decision
Expected by 20 Oct 2026

Under consideration

No decision has been issued yet. Plota predicts a decision around 7 Nov 2026, from Shepway's recent changes of use.

Comments are open until 15 Oct 2026

Comment on this application ↗

Site constraints 9

Flood zone 3, rivers and sea
High chance: a 1 in 100 or greater annual chance from rivers, or 1 in 200 from the sea. Any development here needs a flood risk assessment. Defences are not counted.
The Environment Agency flood map for planning. Homes in zone 3 must also pass the sequential test. Surface water flooding is a separate map.
Flood map ↗
Scheduled monument about 19 m away: St Mary's Church, West Hythe
Its setting is a consideration for work nearby.
Nationally important archaeology protected by the Secretary of State. Work that affects the monument or its setting is rarely permitted.
Historic England ↗
Agricultural land, grade 3a
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s), which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 4. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
National landscape about 19 m away: Kent Downs
Outside the landscape; its setting can still be raised.
Previously an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is still the designation in law. Since 2023 authorities must seek to further its purpose, not merely have regard to it.
1 listed building within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Ruins of St Mary's Church, Grade II, about 39 m from the postcode pin
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Historic England ↗
Also on the record
SSSI about 229 m away: Lympne Escarpment SSSI; Radon affected area, class 2; Priority habitat about 42 m away: Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh.
Not affected
Not green belt

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

Sales history 1

Last sold for £300,000 in October 2002. Detached house, freehold.

30 October 2002£300,000

Sale prices from HM Land Registry's price paid record, matched to this application by its address.

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Important details

Council
Shepway
Application type
Permission in Principle
Postcode
CT21 4NU
Received
10 Sept 2026
Validated
15 Sept 2026
Ward
Hythe Rural
Parish
Hythe
Case officer
Show
Target decision
20 Oct 2026
Applicant
Show
Agent
Samuel Chalmers-Stevens

Decision outlook

Day 24 of the 56-day target. Shepway usually decides changes of use by day 53.

Day 2432 days to the 56-day target
91%decided within 8 weeks
79%approved
58decided in the last year

Plota live figures for changes of use decided by Shepway in the last twelve months, from validation. Shepway decision record →

Public comments

3comments received
1 objecting1 neutral1 supporting

33% support · above the UK average of 16%

Last counted 7 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
15 Oct 2026
Shepway
Planning Authority Score
7.4/10
Good
#49 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Change of use

Shepway is one of the fastest councils in England for householder decisions, ranking #5 out of 296. Only 12% of applications have the time limit extended, well below the 41% national average - the council usually decides on time. Householder applications are slightly less likely to be approved here (88%) than the national average (90%).

Among the fastest councils in England
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Shepway decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
82%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #247 of 296
88%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #219 of 296
96%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #5 of 296
12%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #5 of 296
61%
Minor dwellings approved
95 decided (1-9 homes)
100%
Major dwellings approved
13 decided (10+ homes)
69%
Change of use approved
32 decided
761
Total decisions
139 refused in the year to March 2026

Sale prices: Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.