Residents in Britain’s smallest town go to war with council over plans to build ring-road amid fears it will ‘destroy the landscape and bring pollution’

• Fordwich in Kent is Britain’s smallest town – with 180 homes and 300 residents 
• Townspeople feel that ring-road plans would ‘destroy’ a local conservation area

Residents of Britain’s smallest town have gone to war with a city council over plans to build a bypass that many fear would ‘destroy’ the landscape. 

The historic town of Fordwich – home to around 300 people – has locked horns with Canterbury City Council following proposals to put a ring-road straight through a conservation site. 

Adrian McCarthy, mayor of the 180-home town, claimed it would ‘dominate’ the area, adding that plans were ‘designed to benefit Canterbury, not Fordwich’. 

Fordwich’s status as the smallest town in Britain could also be threatened, he feared, with the road potentially piling on more pressure to build on green spaces.

‘The beautiful fields we have surrounding us to one side will be gone. It will destroy ancient woodland that Henry VIII hunted on. It will make farmland unfarmable,’ he said.

Residents of Britain’s smallest town have gone to war with a city council over plans to build a bypass. Pictured: The route of Canterbury City Council’s proposed ring-road

The new ring-road would follow the tree line behind the campaigners in Fordwich, Canterbury

‘It goes straight through a conservation area. It will cut off footpaths and cycle paths. It will destroy important Kentish landscape features. It will bring air, noise and light pollution to our town. It’s a massive issue.

‘The bypass is designed to benefit Canterbury, not Fordwich. The road goes straight through the middle of us and cuts us in half.’

The controversial ring-road proposals appeared in Canterbury City Council’s (CCC) draft Local Plan, which outlines intentions to build 13,000 homes and to convert the city into five zones.

Traffic mitigating solutions are required as part of the housing target, which includes building the bypass through Fordwich. 

But Adrian claimed the ring-road would only worsen traffic, with Fordwich already used as rat-run to-and-from Canterbury. 

He continued: ‘Recent traffic monitoring revealed that on one day as many as 6,000 cars passed through the town.

‘My gut feeling is the draft Local Plan, as it stands, will be submitted if there’s no change in leadership come the May elections.’ 

Fordwich Town Council is challenging proposals with the expert help of resident Greg Jones KC, who specialises in planning law.

Town Mayor Adrian McCarthy (pictured), claimed the road would ‘dominate’ the area

Greg has written a 185-page document contesting the arguments put forward by Canterbury City Council in favour of the housing target.

His report concludes that the city council has ‘failed’ to make a proper assessment of the environmental impact the bypass would have on Fordwich.

Greg wrote: ‘Overall, due to failure to make any proper assessment, there is a massive lack of detail which is really unhelpful. It’s impossible to effectively judge effects as we have no knowledge of the amount of cut and fill which could drastically affect the amount of land taken and therefore effects on things like TPO woodlands and Ancient Woodland. This is also likely to add massively to the costs and viability.

‘Also, effects visually would depend on the cut and fill amongst other things. A line on a plan provides scant little information in this respect, for example there no assessment on things like lighting.

‘The same criticism can be made of the lack of assessment of the adverse impact of the currently preferred Eastern Bypass route on ecology including on legally protected species and their habitats.

‘This lack of detail means it is extremely difficult to draw the full final conclusions on the adverse effect of the Eastern Bypass on the Fordwich Landscape, other than the points above, all detrimental.

Leader of Canterbury City Council, Councillor Ben Fitter-Harding (pictured), is a ‘strong advocate of an Eastern Bypass for Canterbury’but sai that countryside needs protecting

‘Moreover, more widely, the simple fact that the currently preferred Eastern Bypass route is so much longer means that its effects on the overall landscape and visual resource are likely to be greater than the other routes.’

However, Councillor Ben Fitter-Harding, leader of Canterbury City Council and the Conservative Group, believes the new bypass would ease congestion within Fordwich.

He said: ‘I am a strong advocate of an Eastern Bypass for Canterbury. Drivers are fed up with the congestion in the city, and Fordwich is fed up with vehicles trying to use its tiny roads.

‘People are smart, given the option of driving via a new road they’re going to use it and that should mean any sort of zoning for Canterbury can be ruled out.

‘Fordwich is, however, a very beautiful and historic town in our district surrounded by countryside and it needs to be protected.

‘The route for the Eastern Bypass has not been finalised yet and I’m supporting Fordwich Town Council and our city councillors for the area, Cllr Harvey-Quirke and Cllr Glover, to ensure that both the city council and the county council hear our concerns loud and clear.’

Canterbury City Council said it is currently working through feedback to the draft Local Plan and will decide its next steps after the local election in May.

A spokesman added: ‘The consultation on the draft Local Plan closed in January. We had more than 2,000 responses and are now working our way through that feedback before reporting to councillors and deciding on our next steps.

‘This will be at some point after our election in May as national guidance around elections makes it clear that important or controversial decisions should not be made in the period running up to the public going to the polls.’

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