5.29

Comment

Representation ID: 333

Received: 19/09/2023

Respondent: Mr Jon Doe

Capstone/Darland and Lower Rainham are the green lungs of Medway.

The previous council, local MPs and residents spent years fighting against concreting-over these areas. Five minutes of a Labour Council and the new building plan is including them?

I seriously hope this is a clever tactic to actually protect those areas and prevent the Government Planning Inspectorate over-ruling any future planning rejections.

We don't want to live in a smaller version of London, with the associated crime and congestion!

Comment

Representation ID: 459

Received: 16/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Robert French

Proposal for Capstone would mean loss of valuable open space. Provides a green lung area of South Medway where wildlife can still thrive additionally allows capacity for countryside walks on public rights of way. Would result in South Medway being a continuous built up area.

Comment

Representation ID: 483

Received: 18/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Ray Dines

Please see my comments relating to the Vision and the importance of the Darland and Capstone areas as a green corridor.
The areas to be considered for redevelopment are not very clear from the map but when considered together with development at Lidsing( Maidstone Local Plan) appear to include virtually every existing open space apart from the Country Park itself. The starting point for any development in this area must be a landscape and biodiversity lead approach that respects the importance of this vital green corridor and avoids the coalescence of the areas of Lordswood and Hempstead.

Comment

Representation ID: 491

Received: 18/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Glen Cook

This includes the Lidsing debacle which has already been shelved for good reason.
It also includes wiping out the entire expanse of rural land north of the Lower Rainham Road which will be devastating for the rich wildlife and flora of an important estuary environment.
This is wholly unacceptable

Comment

Representation ID: 595

Received: 24/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Michael Eason

Medway Council - Don’t build housing on Capstone Valley and its surrounding farmland if you want to: - Protect endangered wildlife, including owls and water voles. - Save Medway’s last rural green space. - Prevent Medway from being an overly oppressive and depressing concrete landscape to live in. - Protect an outdoor green space that people who have no choice but to live in poor urban settings can easily escape to and enjoy some peace and tranquility. - Avoid near total reliance on car journeys because any housing in Capstone Valley will be miles from any train station.

Comment

Representation ID: 654

Received: 25/10/2023

Respondent: Miss Denise Blackman

Lordswood lane was given as an open space by the council to gain planning permission in weybridge close alongside the farmland running at the side of north Dane way. Why are all the local green spaces going?

Comment

Representation ID: 658

Received: 25/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Rachel Wood

As suggested here, car ownership is high in this area due to lack of access to sufficient public transport, employment opportunities and secondary/higher education. Residents have no choice but to drive everywhere. Existing road & community infrastructure is insufficient to support current residents. Local plan would need to prioritise the local infrastructure first before considering new houses in these areas.

Comment

Representation ID: 687

Received: 26/10/2023

Respondent: Ms Catriona Jamieson

Medway has some of the best farmland in the United Kingdom. If recent events have taught us anything, it is that we are not even self-sufficient in the food that could be produced locally. To build on any farmland anywhere in Medway will be an act of vandalism, and an insult to those residents struggling to feed their families.

Comment

Representation ID: 717

Received: 26/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Stella Tiller

Building on this land will virtually fill up all the remaining green space south of the river. It will fill in the strategic gap between Lordswood and Hempstead. The Gillingham area is already the most over populated area of Kent. I note that some building has been earmarked for north of the river, but there is still a huge disparity between the development on either side of the river, and thus needs to be levelled up before filling in the last remaining green spaces in Gillingham, Rainham, Hempstead and Lordswood.

Comment

Representation ID: 730

Received: 26/10/2023

Respondent: Mr gareth knight

Any devlopment in the Capstone area would eventully provide a sea of concrete stretching from the ludicrous Lidsong development all the way to the Darland banks effectively destroying the 'medway lung'.. Road networks, doctors and schools in this area will not be able to support such developments.

Comment

Representation ID: 745

Received: 26/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Dan Dickinson

Yes, agree with all of that which makes both sites ridiculous choices for development without substantial infrastructure development not to mention losing two beautiful green spaces that we will never get back once lost

Comment

Representation ID: 767

Received: 27/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Amanda Barnes

Development of Capstone Valley potentially joining Medway with Maidstone (Lidsing) is unacceptable. The road networks cannot to cope, pushing more cars along Hempstead Road, Chapel Lane, past HVSC and onto the M2 will cause gridlock. Roads cannot cope any changes to the layout is not possible due to constraints. This has been investigated over the years with expansions of HVSC it is just not possible. Tree belt along field margins will be affected by development, negative impacts on wildlife, climate change etc. Wrong location for housing.

Comment

Representation ID: 768

Received: 27/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Amanda Barnes

BNG min 10% mandatory. According to Ecologists developers highly unlikely to be able to place all on site. Could use areas shown as housing around Hempstead/Capstone as land bank for BNG. Developers can then buy units from the LA. Enhancing the setting of the valued Capstone Park 'green lung'. Ancient woodland boundaries can be enhanced. Create a buffer/space between Medway/Maidstone. Create corridors for wildlife. Help to fulfil objectives in the Councils Climate Change Action Plan. Will allow offsite BNG to remain within Medway. Without land available for off site BNG Medway will loose the benefits to other authorities.

Comment

Representation ID: 794

Received: 27/10/2023

Respondent: AC Goatham & Son

Agent: Bloomfields Ltd

Map 2 is supported- The suburban expansion areas provide an important and clear approach to the spatial location of where 9,680 could be delivered on the edge of the existing built-up area of Medway.

The Bloors Farm site allocation would fall in the suburban expansion site spatial location to the north of Rainham. This site is not subject to national constraints and is not in the Green Belt. We consider that development on this edge of this settlement site
would provide a positive and important contribution to the delivery of housing numbers in this part of Medway.

Comment

Representation ID: 880

Received: 28/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Keith Harrison

Medway has some of the best farmland in the United Kingdom and we are not even self-sufficient in the food that could be produced locally. We need to avoid making this worse by building on farmland anywhere in Medway as this will be seen as an insult to those residents struggling to feed their families.

Comment

Representation ID: 929

Received: 29/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Martin Potter

Suburban Medway is already densely populated, and Gillingham and Rainham is the most densely populated constituency in the South East outside London. This option would further burden overstretched highways and local services and would lead to a further loss of precious remaining green spaces and countryside, including the best and most versatile agricultural land.

Comment

Representation ID: 1093

Received: 30/10/2023

Respondent: Medway Green Party

Medway has some of the best farmland in the United Kingdom. If recent events have taught us anything, it is that we are not even self-sufficient in the food that could be produced locally. To build on any farmland anywhere in Medway will be an act of vandalism, and an insult to those residents struggling to feed their families.

Comment

Representation ID: 1142

Received: 30/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Lauren Heritage-Winter

So looking at these plans you'll essentially be taking away the last green space we have?

Comment

Representation ID: 1236

Received: 30/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Stephen Hesketh

It is important to keep the green lungs. Redevelopment of these areas should not be considered.

Comment

Representation ID: 1259

Received: 30/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Sue Harwood

This undeveloped farm land should remain undeveloped. It is a vital green space necessary for local people's health and wellbeing.

Comment

Representation ID: 1311

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Tom Goodyear

Most of the land considered under this category is incorrectly included. The vast majority of the land in the maps would be considered rural to anyone visiting it. This land consists of orchards, farms, fields and rolling countryside. If you stood in a field in the green lung that is Capstone, your vista would be no different to an area in the rural category on other maps. The same can be said of Rainham. These parcels are land are crucial green spaces for relaxation, views (mental health) and nature. This land deserves the same consideration as the peninsula

Comment

Representation ID: 1375

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Wakely Brothers (Rainham) Kent

Agent: Finns

Site is previously developed land as former landfill with no agreed remediation strategy in place with the Council. No public access and well screened. Well defined by railway line and Seymour Road with established golf course to west preventing further development spread so no need for concern about merging of Rainham and Newington here.

Comment

Representation ID: 1381

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Barratt David Wilson Homes

Agent: Iceni Projects

It is considered that a more realistic headline of 7,600 dwellings can be achieved through suburban expansion, which is 2,080 homes less than identified in the Reg. 18 Plan.

Comment

Representation ID: 1384

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Wakely Brothers (Rainham) Kent

Agent: Finns

Site ID 291
This land may be ‘green’ in appearance, but was previously used for landfill for inert materials and the land reinstated during the 1980’s/1990’s under Cleanaway. In view of this, the land is unsuitable for agricultural production and offers an opportunity for an extension to the approved developed area at Rainham without impacting upon the wider countryside and agricultural landscape.

Comment

Representation ID: 1417

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Ms Bridget Fox (Woodland Trust)

Development which would result in the loss of ancient woodland, aged or veteran trees should not be permitted. The Woodland Trust would object to the allocation for development of any sites which have a direct impact on or are adjacent to identified areas of Ancient Woodland.

The Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) for the area may be incomplete. We recommend an exercise to complete the ATI (which lists ancient, veteran and notable trees outside woods) across sites allocated or proposed to be allocated for development, in order to comply with the requirements of the NPPF for the protection of irreplaceable habitats.

Comment

Representation ID: 1551

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Mrs Marilyn Stone

Surely we are now more aware that we need to be self sufficient . Medway's farm land needs to be protected .

Comment

Representation ID: 1587

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Graham Crawford

As I have already pointed out possible suburban developments have twisty narrow roads not suitable for probable increase in car traffic as many of these sites do not have public transport . Same consideration with cycling and walking .

Comment

Representation ID: 1589

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Alexander Cameron

Medway has some of the best farmland in the United Kingdom. If recent events have taught us anything, it is that we are not even self-sufficient in the food that could be produced locally. To build on any farmland anywhere in Medway will be an act of vandalism, and an insult to those residents struggling to feed their families.

Whilst developers may love to build on such sites we must resist the temptation , once they are gone they are lost.

Comment

Representation ID: 1647

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Matthew Nightingale

Considering existing unsustainable traffic levels in the towns and the climate emergency we are facing, there should be minimal focus on car-dependant urban sprawl. The preservation of green spaces within the town need to be safeguarded for the mental well being and health benefits. If farmland within Medway is not proving to be viable, the land could be planted to become urban woodlands and nature reserves to help offset the emissions building nearly 30,000 new homes and traffic will bring.

Comment

Representation ID: 1697

Received: 31/10/2023

Respondent: Mr Fred Skipsey

Congestion along the A2 is horrendous when there’s an accident on the motorway; rush hour traffic is always very heavy. If they have to upgrade junction 4 to accommodate development in Capstone, experience suggests several years of congestion throughout Medway and additional pollution will occur.

Development on this scale in Capstone Valley could destroy Darland Banks as a nature reserve, home to rare orchids and wild life, since a narrow corridor between housing estates and bordered by a busy road will not sustain the variety of wild life currently to be found there.