Campaign launched to save orchards from huge new housing estate planned in Wincheap, Canterbury

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Plans to rip out acres of orchards for a vast new housing estate have sparked a huge backlash and a campaign to save the “precious green space”.

The farmland south east of Wincheap on the edge of Canterbury is earmarked for the development of 2,000 new homes in the city council’s draft Local Plan, which has sent shockwaves through the community.

The scheme is part of the proposed Merton Park development, which includes a new sports hub, but residents are appealing to council bosses to reconsider the scale and allocation of land for so much housing.

The uproar comes as The Alliance of Canterbury Residents’ Associations (ACRA) calls for a complete rethink of the draft Local Plan.

ACRA says the city council’s housing blueprint for the district will “create major traffic congestio