PLANS for a set of retirement bungalows have been approved - with a bizarre rule that no children or cats are allowed to live there.
Medway Council last week approved plans for View Road, Cliffe Woods in Kent, with the requirement that residents are banned from keeping pet cats, and no one under 16 can live on-site.
The conditions were tied to a planning application for 25 homes for people aged over 55, based in a remote part of northern Kent near a protected wildlife site, KentOnline reports.
The exclusion clause for cats was due to the site being close to the Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill site of special scientific interest (SSSI), where nightingale birds nest.
The condition of no-one under 16 being allowed to live there is to dissuade regular home-buyers at the development, which is intended for the elderly.
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The site has in the past been the topic of some debate.
In 2017 a planning committee refused plans for 50 retirement home - but these were later approved on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate.
Those plans were never enacted.
A later design by Chelmsford-based Stonechart Developments Ltd. for 50 retirement homes - which was compared to a "1950s eastern European gulag camp" by one councillor - was greenlit in 2022.
The new designs, from Esquire Developments Ltd., are for the same site, but the number of homes has been cut down to 25.
They will consist of 13 two-bed bungalows, along with eight three-bed chalet bungalows and four three-bed houses.
The site is next to another development for 68 homes.
Conservative councillor Gary Etheridge, who slammed the previous designs, said the new blueprints were an improvement - but he still did not back the development.
Speaking at a planning committee meeting on June 5, he criticised planning officers for not making councillors aware of appeal opportunities on previous applications.
And Cllr Gary Hackwell said: “Even though we approved the last application with a no-cats policy, I still do not understand how that’s going to be enforced.
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"We all know how high up the enforcement list that will be.
“Older people tend to have pets as company, it’s going to be interesting how the proposal is to deal with that.”
Cllr Dan McDonald said: “You could possibly have young people, either because older people have adopted or fostered, or end up with their grandchildren - there is nothing to stop bringing young children into the home.”
Planning officers said it was not unusual to have a ban for under-16s at retirement accommodation and all would-be buyers will be informeed of the rule when considering homes there.
Six of the two-bed bungalows will also be sold at a discounted rate, and would remain discounted when resold.
Michael Pearce, a councillor from the Independent Group, suggested that locals should be prioritised when buying the six affordable homes, but this was not adopted as a condition.
After news of the site's approval - and rules of no cats or children living there - was revealed, locals took to Facebook to lambast the idea.
Vicky Kimber joked: "No reason cats can’t live there if they are given access to a catio."
Another commenter wrote: "I can understand no kids but not the cats."
A thid said: "So no lions, tigers, panthers etc? Well it should be quite safe there!"
Others were more supportive of the scheme, with one local writing: "Fab idea, its for over 55s, retirement homes, fair enough that children shouldn't live there can still have grandchildren visiting, don't see the problem at all."
Another said: "If you know the rules before you move in then that's fine!"
A Medway Council spokesperson told The Sun: “Planning permission was granted to these properties with conditions, which includes restricting the age of dependents who can live in them.
"As highlighted by the Cliffe and Cliffe Wood Neighbourhood Plan there is a specific need for accommodation for older people in this area.
"The policy relating to residents of these properties not being allowed to keep cats is to help prevent an increase of cat predation on nightingales in adjacent Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
"This is part of a wider package of measures designed to help protect the SSSI, which includes a landscaping boundary with dense planting, alternative footpaths for people to use and the installation of information boards on the importance of the SSSI.”
