A city councillor has been urged to reject plans for new city centre apartments over fears they could “destroy” the privacy of people with mental health problems.
Community cafe Revival Food and Mood – which acts as a support centre for vulnerable people – says proposals for a neighbouring site on Whitstable High Street would deprive it of its “safe space”.
However, developers defended the plan, which calls for building two apartments above the Crew Clothing store and converting an abandoned warehouse at the rear into a residential building.
According to Deborah Haylett, the resuscitation facility’s manager, the new houses will block the light from the charity cafe’s sunny courtyard garden, which is used by many mental health groups.
“It will overwhelm us tremendously,” she says.
“We have vulnerable people who use this space to share their lives and now they are being overheard; that is really unacceptable.”
“They’ll feel like they’re on display. It’s no longer that private space when something big overshadows the room.”
“We will lose the light and sunshine from this area that has been so important to the growth of our pantry and the development of the friendships and well-being of the people in this space.
“It was lovely to see the number of objections to the motion – so many people think so highly of and value the work we do at Revival.”
Since April, there have been around 60 objections to the application. According to Ms Haylett, the municipality has now taken a stand and stated: “This is not right.”
Revival was founded over a year ago as part of East Kent Mind and works through a variety of groups to help provide support to as many users as possible.
Bloom in particular benefits from being able to grow food for the café’s kitchen in the adjacent courtyard.
In a letter of objection to Canterbury City Council (CCC), East Kent Mind managing director Dr David Palmer claims the developer’s plans are based on “greed” rather than the creation of “suitable and sustainable housing”.
He argued that the new building would “destroy” Revival’s privacy, writing: “The proposed buildings will overlook both our ground floor patio seating area and our first floor seating area.”
“These areas are used for visitors and service users, many of whom are vulnerable and suffer from mental health problems.
“Our outdoor area is used for our support groups, whose participants share personal and private information with their support group. Being directly overlooked and overheard would violate their right to privacy.”
Kay Ashe, 68, a Whitstable resident and Revival user, told KentOnline that the development would come at the expense of the services provided by the charity.
She said: “It’s lovely out here. You can see the work that goes into creating this really happy, thriving, growing place and it’s completely overshadowed by something that’s not needed.
“The loss of the sun in this area would be a great pity and it would be very sad if only a bare wall stared back at us.”
But the design and access statement from Greenwich-based architecture firm KHD Architects says the proposal aims to “enhance the urban planning strategy along Middle Wall” by “creating a new one-bedroom home to replace the dilapidated, abandoned warehouse”.
“The proposal takes features of the local vernacular and implements them in a well-thought-out and modern design,” it says.
“It has been designed to have as little impact as possible on the appearance of the building. Extensions and alterations will mainly take place at the rear.
“Although the orientation of the site presents a challenge in terms of sun and daylight access, the proposals aim to provide good views from each residential building through intelligent design.”
According to KHD, the planned black wood cladding will reflect the material of some of the surrounding buildings, particularly the neighboring properties.
“Black clay tiles are common in the area but also complement the wood cladding to achieve harmony within the traditional use of materials,” added the architects.
CCC planning chiefs are expected to make a decision on the plans later this year.