The Reg.18 document states there is the potential for development in the rural areas to provide capacity for 14,621 homes. The majority of the potential rural sites are located on the Hoo Peninsula. The recent decision by Homes England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to stop the £170m programme of Housing Infrastructure Fund support greatly impacts the ability to deliver sustainable homes on the Hoo Peninsula. This funding was aimed at unlocking homes by funding the construction of new roads and a new railway station and passenger service that would have connected the wider Medway and Gravesend areas.

A high-level review has revealed that those sites identified in the North of the Hoo Peninsula, which were assessed in the 2019 Medway Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA), were reliant on HIF support, with a particular reliance on the delivery of sustainable transport measures and unlocking capacity on the surrounding road network. Without this support, the sites remain isolated without access to services and are considered unsustainable and therefore unsuitable for development. We understand that without the new railway station any development would be dependent on an improved bus service, however, a bus service would not be enough to unlock the residential sites required to meet the Council’s housing requirements and would put further strain on the local road network.

We also understand that National Highways are concerned the strategic highway network and the number of trips at Junction 1 of the M2, and that further development in the rural areas of Medway would be reliant on delivering a solution to the Strategic Road Network. This further emphasises that the sites identified in the further reaches of the Peninsula are currently unsuitable.

While it is recognised that to meet the Council’s housing requirements, development on the Hoo Peninsula may be necessary, the loss of HIF support undoubtedly impacts the ability to deliver a significant quantum of housing in parts of the Peninsula that are isolated and lack the services, infrastructure and public transport that are necessary to achieve sustainable development that meet the economic, social and environmental objectives, as set out in Paragraph 8 of the NPPF (2023).

Development of the Hoo Peninsula requires careful planning and considerable wider investment which is likely to take years to develop and implement. In this respect, the Hoo Peninsula represents a possible opportunity for longer term growth, but not an effective solution to delivering housing in the short term.