The story so far

Sir Moses Montefiore in his will left the land surrounding his home, the Synagogue and Mausoleum, where he and his wife were laid to rest, in trust in perpetuity to commemorate his wife's life.

The land has slowly, piece by piece, been sold off for redevelopment, and now there is only a small area surrounding the Synagogue and Mausoleum left.  Until 2005 part of this land was owned by Kent County Council (KCC) purchased from the Trustees of the Endowment in 1963, and the rest held by the Trustees.

In 1998 the trustees applied for planning permission to residentially develop their part of the land, with flats and houses.  The proposed flats would have been erected within 15 meters of the two holy buildings.  The Montefiore Action Project (MAP) was formed to oppose this application and protect the whole area as a place of natural beauty. After lobbying Thanet District Council (TDC) Planning Committee, MAP secured their support and the application was refused.  Although the Trustees appealed against this decision, the appeal was lost.

In 2000 KCC applied for planning permission, again for flats and houses, for approximately half of the land that they own, with the promise of transferring the rest to TDC.  TDC has said that they maylease that part to MAP to maintain as a park and education centre. MAP has opposed the plan for residential development and although not completely successful, the application for flats was withdrawn.  Pressure wa applied to the Council to keep the area as an open space for the enjoyment of all, but to no avail as an application to build a doctors surgery was granted in 2005.

The new surgery is now almost complete and should be in use at the begining of 2007.

In the interim MAP have been looking after the KCC area of land, by clearing paths, removing rubbish and planting trees.