There are two ways of looking at this issue. The current capacity constraints on the road network north Kent are not unique to Medway. Neither are the very real needs for housing and other forms of development. If the issue of lack of capacity is viewed form the perspective of a continued high car usage across the network, then this issue becomes a catch 22 which prevents forward movement in the local plans of many North Kent Local Authorities.

However, viewed from the perspective of restricting climate change and moving positively forward to net zero by 2050. The capacity lack of capacity on the strategic road network is an opportunity to design communities and their transport requirements differently. In order to meet net zero targets the use of private vehicles is going to have to be reduced.

Given that developments located near to public transport hubs will tend to reduce private vehicle use and those located distant from public transport hubs and adjacent to existing strategic road networks will tend to increase private vehicle use. It is proposed that developments within the emerging Local Plan should be sustainably located in close proximity to existing and proposed new transport hubs.

As such the Local Plan should consider a hierarchy of sustainable development against which to measure sites promoted for development. Where sites adjacent to existing transport hubs and services are classed as highly sustainable and those located away from transport hubs and adjacent to large strategic road network are classed as unsustainable. With a sliding scale of sustainability between the two extreme points on the scale