Initial plans for the development were agreed two years ago, but the building that has since been built is far different to what was expected.
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00:00 It's what the residents are calling the Titanic at the end of their garden.
00:04 These were the initial plans submitted for this development in Whitstable which were agreed two years ago.
00:09 But what has since been built is far different to what locals were expecting.
00:13 It's totally in stark contrast to the original plans and because of the huge contrast it's had a huge impact on the residents here.
00:24 They've lost light because there's no setback so there's far less light coming in.
00:30 Privacy, look at it, it's overlooking their gardens.
00:33 There's residents that haven't been able to sit in their gardens since this has been built.
00:36 So something drastic has to be done.
00:39 Whether that is it being knocked down completely, whether it's being partially knocked down, it needs to look like the original plans.
00:46 In 2019 the UK government set out a housing target of 300,000 new homes per year.
00:51 And although a government report recently revealed that this was unlikely to be met,
00:55 new housing developments have been the topic of contention across the county for some years.
01:00 Though for this specific development it's been argued that the housing itself isn't the issue but the manner in which it's being developed.
01:07 It doesn't really work because of the way it affects the neighbours, the visual effect it has on the neighbours,
01:16 its scale, its massing and its materials. And this has been a prime motivator for all the residents here to actually fight it.
01:25 In my years of professional work, of 35 years, I actually haven't seen anything like that before, it's got this far.
01:33 Now many questions could be asked about how a development like this one could be allowed to go off plan so much.
01:38 Well the local council's planning committee says that this development could have been overlooked.
01:43 Obviously the planning department is, I think it's fairly well known that it's under-resourced.
01:48 And most of the time we do stop things like this, we will come out and inspect it.
01:52 Maybe this one just sort of dropped through the net really.
01:56 In a statement, one of the owners of the buildings, Oliver Yule, told KMTV that they had been advised to make variations to the buildings early last year.
02:04 He said once building had commenced, building control, a 10-year build warranty company and a banks monitoring surveyor checked the developments regularly.
02:12 Once the variation plans were refused in December, they met regularly with an architect and the council to reach a solution.
02:18 They are now making new proposals to accommodate the residents' concerns.
02:22 He added had they known they'd be in the situation today, they would have never taken the professional advice in the first place to make the initial variations.
02:29 Canterbury City Council have confirmed that it's considering options around enforcement.
02:34 Jamie Levy for KMTV.