Gravesham Borough Council has today (Friday 17 April) launched the final round of consultation into its draft Local Plan.
The Regulation 19 consultation is the last opportunity members of the public, parish councils and other stakeholders to have their say on the plan before it is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for independent examination.
This stage gives consultees the opportunity to comment on the legal robustness of the plan; how it was prepared, if its aims are achievable, and if it is based on a robust evidence base.
At this stage, the consultation is not about which sites should and shouldn’t be included in the plan. That was covered by the Regulation 18 consultation in 2018.
A Local Plan provides a framework for guiding and directing decisions on future growth in the Borough. The Government requires every local planning authority to have an up-to-date plan, and it is a legal requirement to have one.
Launching the consultation, Cllr John Burden, Leader of Gravesham Borough Council, said: “Our Local Plan must demonstrate how we are addressing the Borough’s housing, employment, green space, leisure and infrastructure needs over the long term, especially within the first five-year period of the plan.
“It must demonstrate how we are planning to meet our Government-set housing targets and will also set out where development should be restricted.”
The Government has determined that 676 new homes need to be built every year in Gravesham.
Due to not delivering enough homes for a number of years, the Government has placed Gravesham under a presumption in favour of sustainable development.
This means that development proposals that accord with an up-to-date plan must be approved without delay, and where there is no relevant development plan policy or it is out-of-date, that permission should be granted unless there is a clear reason for refusal, for example, in relation to the Kent Downs National Landscape, or Thames Estuary and Marshes Special Protection Area and Ramsar site.
Cllr Burden added: “Without a Local Plan in place we cannot use our planning policies to lead the location, type and design of new development, and our ability to refuse planning applications is greatly reduced.
Once responses have been received and analysed, the council will submit its draft Local Plan to the Government for independent examination later this year.
“We cannot demonstrate a five-year land supply even with the existing planning consents in the Borough, which include sites in Gravesend such as the Canal Basin, the former M Block at Gravesend Hospital, Clifton Slipways, and the old police station.
“Viability issues and challenges being faced by the construction industry nationally means work has not started on these sites.
“While we continue to work with the developers towards work starting, it is important we have in place a Local Plan that definitively sets out where development should take place.”
He added that Gravesham faced particular challenges, with 76.8% of the Borough within the Green Belt, and a significant portion of this land also covered by other protections, such as National Landscape, SSSI and Ramsar.
In Kent, only Sevenoaks has a higher proportion of Green Belt land within its district.
He said: “In developing our draft Local Plan, we have adopted a brownfield first approach and worked with neighbouring authorities to see if they are able to meet any of our development needs.
“However, those needs cannot be met from the existing urban areas, and we face difficult decisions around altering the Borough’s Green Belt boundary.”
Sites included in the draft Local Plan have mainly been put forward by private individuals or landowners or private companies. The council did not require any land to be put forward for inclusion. Any land that is included has been offered up by the relevant landowner to the council for inclusion.
Cllr Burden added that he shared residents’ concerns that infrastructure should be developed to support the planned development.
He said: “Any new development is required to provide new infrastructure or upgrades to existing facilities to ensure that the needs of new developments can be met.
“The Local Plan will be accompanied by a document called an Infrastructure Delivery Plan. This will identify the key infrastructure requirements which need to be delivered to support new development that is proposed in the Local Plan.
“This will include transport, schools, healthcare, electricity, gas, water, sewerage, sustainable drainage, systems, sport and leisure, arts and culture and telecommunications amongst other infrastructure requirements.
“However, it is important to understand the actual delivery of these is outside of our powers.”
Cllr Burden also highlighted the positive employment news linked to the Local Plan, which would see almost 40,000 jobs created over its lifetime, including 3,500 roles on the allocated employment sites, and more than 35,000 in the construction sector.
He said: “A robust Local Plan is about more than just new houses. It is about creating new employment areas, and jobs and opportunities for local people, as well as protecting the areas we value the most for future generations to enjoy.”
The consultation ends on Friday 29 May.
For more information and to take part in the consultation, visit https://www.gravesham.gov.uk/localplan-2042
Once responses have been received and analysed, the council will submit its draft Local Plan to the Government for independent examination, with its adoption expected later this year.