Councillors have dashed Notcutts' plans for an enlarged store on a new out-of-town shopping centre at Newnham Court in Maidstone. The development would also have included a Waitrose supermarket, Debenhams department store, along with 17 other stores and several restaurants.

The proposal put forward by Land Securities would have seen an £85 million investment on the site, near J7 of the M20.

Local council members were fearful of the effect on the town centre and critical of the adverse impact on the adjacent Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the local road network. They rejected it by eight votes to three.

Cllr Malcolm Greer, who had already firmly committed himself in favour of the proposal in advance, spoke for the application but had to abstain from voting.

Officers recommended refusal of the scheme saying the applicants had not followed the government's "sequential test", which required them to consider all available town centre sites first.

It was not in accord with the council's own development plan, which sought new retail development in the town centre in the vicinity of Maidstone East Station.

Andrew Staff, COO, Notcutts said: 'We understand and respect the council's decision not to go ahead with the Newnham Court planning proposals.

"At some stage, we would love to expand our presence in Maidstone, but in the meantime we are confident that we can continue to cater for the gardening and home needs of our customers in the area.

"Close by our Tunbridge Wells development has been extremely successful, creating new jobs and opportunities in the area, so we look forward to re-visiting the plans for Maidstone when the time is right."



However, Lester Hampson of Land Securities said he was bitterly disappointed at the decision.

He added the FTSE 100 company was not ruling out appealing the decision to central government.

“This is a lost opportunity for Maidstone. Our scheme would have created more than 1,500 new jobs for the county town but councillors have turned their backs on that. That is a great shame.

“We will now take time to consider our options before making any final decisions on the redevelopment of Newnham Court Shopping Village.”