Medway Local Plan (Regulation 18, 2024)

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Medway Council is preparing a new Local Plan to manage the area's growth up to 2041. The Local Plan will provide a framework for where and how new development can take place. The plan will help to deliver on the Council's ambitions for the local and global environment, supporting people and boosting jobs and investment in Medway. It is closely linked to the One Medway Council Plan 2024, that sets out our vision, ambitions and priorities. Our vision is for Medway to be a place that people are proud of; and to be recognised as a great place to live, work, learn and visit, where all people thrive.

1.1.2 The Council consulted on the direction for the new Local Plan in Autumn 2023. Around 400 people responded to the consultation, covering a range of interests. This included local residents, businesses and potential developers, neighbouring councils, government bodies and organisations and groups promoting specific issues and areas.

1.1.3 The comments show how people care about Medway now and its future. Some concerns were raised about the condition of our town centres, the cost of housing, poor transport, strains on the environment and services, and the health and wellbeing of residents. However, there is no consensus on how the new Local Plan should address the issues and opportunities in Medway.

1.1.4 Local people often made comments about the impact of development on infrastructure, such as health and transport, and the natural environment. Their views sought to limit development on greenfield sites, invest in infrastructure first and provide for a mix of housing that meet local needs, and respect the identity of the historic towns and villages that make up Medway.

1.1.5 Others, particularly developers and organisations, considered that there are opportunities to address Medway's needs and boost investment in services, jobs and homes, through new development. There were specific representations made in relation to the future land uses around Chatham Docks.

1.1.6 This further consultation provides people with the opportunity to comment on the details of the emerging Local Plan. We set out draft policies and identify potential sites and locations for where development could take place over the plan period to 2041.

1.1.7 The document is designed to reflect the scope of the new Local Plan. It sets out the proposed vision and strategic objectives for the plan, a range of policy areas, including the environment, economy, transport, housing, services and retail. It also sets out a proposed Policies Map that reflects the indicative preferred development strategy.

1.1.8 We are consulting on options before we finalise the plan for publication in early 2025. This document contains details of proposed policies. We invite people to make comments on where different policy approaches or wording may be needed. We will take account of these comments in preparing the plan content.

1.1.9 The Local Plan has an important purpose in identifying a strategy for how an area should develop over time – where new development should take place, and which areas need protection. We have considered options across Medway for potential development sites. We have worked with independent consultants to carry out an interim Sustainability Appraisal on potential development sites. This looks at the potential impacts of sites on the environment, economy and communities. Through our work on the Sustainability Appraisal, we have identified a number of options for how Medway could grow up to 2041. Three broad Spatial Growth Options (SGOs) are set out in this document for consultation. We have identified the Council's preferred indicative option and have provided more detail on the potential development sites in a draft Policies Map. We have produced this map to give people the chance to provide detailed comments on potential development sites. This responds to comments made to us in earlier consultations.

1.1.10 We welcome comments on this consultation document, to hear views on locations for growth and change, and areas to conserve and enhance; and the policies we need to have in place to secure good quality development in Medway.

1.2 Medway area

1.2.1 The Local Plan will set out the direction for Medway's growth over coming years. It will be a Plan for people who live, work, or study in Medway and visitors. It will be a Plan for Medway as its own place. A complex place, which encompasses distinct towns and villages, with their own strong identity and history. A place of contrasts, from remote marshes and mudflats to busy urban streets. A place of noted heritage, but also looking to the future, with innovation and enterprise, and universities and colleges equipping students with skills for the changing world of work.

1.2.2 People will be at the centre of the Plan. The Council wants Medway to be a healthy place to live, with clean air, high-quality, well-designed housing, greenspaces for people to enjoy, places for people to mix, and job opportunities to support a good quality of life. Currently there are marked differences in health and wellbeing across communities in Medway. The Plan needs to look at how we plan for the use of land to help people to live healthier and longer lives, and provide safe, connected and sustainable places.

1.2.3 The Plan will consider the diverse communities who make up Medway. Policies for housing, employment, transport, services and community facilities, retail and design need to take account of the needs of different sectors of the community. This will be reflected in the types of housing planned and infrastructure required, such as schools and parks.

1.2.4 The Plan must address big issues for Medway – the environment, high quality energy efficient homes that are affordable and within the reach of residents, health and wellbeing, boosting the economy and tackling deprivation. There are many areas where we need to improve on the current position. The Local Plan is one of the approaches that the Council can take to help address inequalities, poor environmental standards and reduce pressures on services. The plan will be about ambitions that can be achieved for a confident future Medway.

1.2.5 Climate change is a global emergency but needs to be addressed at all levels. Medway as a coastal area is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, and changes in temperature and precipitation have impacts for landscape, food production, nature and people. The new Local Plan will help to secure a more resilient future for Medway.

1.2.6 Medway sits at the mouth of its great river on the north Kent estuarine coast, bordered by the Thames to the north and the Kent Downs to the south. The five historic towns linked by the A2 form a complex urban conurbation, which retains the distinct identities of the individual towns. The urban area is surrounded by a network of villages on the Hoo Peninsula and the Medway Valley, alongside marshes and mudflats, wooded hills, productive farmland and strategic energy and minerals operations built up around the wharves. Much of the countryside and estuary is of international importance for its environmental qualities, including designated Special Protection Areas (SPAs), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and the Kent Downs National Landscape (KDNL). Land to the west of Medway forms part of the London Metropolitan Green Belt.

1.2.7 The River Medway is a key asset, providing a strong sense of place and identity. However, the river bisects the area and movement is constrained by four crossings. The severance caused by the river, established commuting flow patterns and travel behaviour, the legacy of post-war development designed for the car, and the existing public transport offer make for a challenging environment in which to accommodate Medway's development needs. Medway's location in north Kent gives rise to additional opportunities and challenges associated with wider growth, such as the proposed Lower Thames Crossing (LTC).

1.2.8 The Local Plan will be about much more than identifying sites for new housing, but this will be a key part of the Plan and generally attracts the greatest levels of interest at consultation. There are huge pressures on housing. Decent homes are unaffordable for many people. Unfortunately, some of the accommodation locally is sub-standard and there are challenges in securing decent standards with some conversions, particularly where they are undertaken under permitted development. The supply of new housing is central to the new Local Plan, but it is about more than housing numbers. The Plan will seek to improve the choice and mix of homes, drive up quality, and meet the needs of different sectors of the community. Housing-led growth can support wider investment in services and businesses and contribute to shaping the character of new and existing communities.

1.2.9 The Plan can help Medway to capitalise on its strategic advantages for businesses, with transport links, proximity to London, the cluster of universities and colleges, and a diverse portfolio of employment land from the strategic landholdings at Grain and Kingsnorth, to re-purposing vacant retail units on the High Streets. There are opportunities to redress the flow of commuters from Medway to jobs in London and attract more businesses to set up locally. This is central to Medway's economic strategy, but is challenged by current trends, particularly with cost of living pressures where people are being attracted to move to Medway for its choice of housing, but retain jobs in London.

1.2.10 The Plan will consider how Medway's infrastructure, such as schools, transport networks, health facilities, parks and community facilities, need to be upgraded in line with a growing and changing population.

1.3 Policies Map

1.3.1 The Policies Map comprises five maps at the appropriate scale for the urban core, north west, north east, south west and south east areas of Medway.

1.3.2 The Policies Map shows sites and areas relating to the:

• preferred indicative site allocations;
• natural environment;
• built environment;
• retail and town centres;
• transport;
• waste management; and
• minerals.

1.3.3 An electronic version of the Policies Map can be viewed in any Portable Document Format reader, however Adobe Acrobat is recommended to enable switching on/off of sites and areas in the legend.