5.40

This is 100% the way to go. Do not bring more people into already gridlocked urban Medway, removing opportunities for green space. Build the purpose built sixth town of Medway at Hoo. By building a supportive infrastructure on the north bank of the Medway reduces the need for many of the journeys across the river, reducing the strain on Rochester Bridge and Medway Tunnel.

The proposals for any further development of land for residential within theHoo peninsula specifically east and south of the village High Halstow are unreasonable. We do not believe the transport or environmental infrastructure is sufficient to sustain any development beyond its present level

People have choices which is a privilege. The residents of High Halstow chose to live in a village. Not a town or over developed area. Had anyone wanted to live in a town then the choice of living in a town could be made. Future development removes such choices for the simple reason of greed and short sighted views.

The environmental damage that you propose to administer should be outlawed.

Why on earth do you continue to over develop residential areas and small villages when you could equally concentrate on producing new villages in remote areas which would induce new communities and support. Simply joining the villages together does not work and removes communities and most certainly introduces a higher level of antisocial behaviour and crime

When will you learn??

Hmm well that was a dreadful consultation with information never made public and officers ignoring what the local community was saying often in a very arrogant manner.

I strongly disagree as this will damage the nature of the Hoo Peninsula. See previous response.

this is in directly contrary to NPPF on rural growth

The HIF programme was flawed.

This representation supports paragraph 5.40 of the consultation, which sets out that the Hoo Peninsula provides a significant opportunity for the “development for homes, jobs and services”.

This representation supports the approach to utilise the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) program to deliver improvements to transport and put measures in place to strengthen the local environment in the Hoo area.

This thinking is built on historic destruction and misuse of the peninsula for polluting and unhealthy industries. It must not continue in any shape or form.

It is suggested that the ‘opportunities’ should include greater focus on the speed of delivery that greenfield sites can produce. As part of this, greenfield sites can have a major role to play in delivery as the sites are not restricted by the regeneration and remediation timescales and costs all too often linked to brownfield sites.
A further opportunity to highlight is the role that new homes in more rural settlements and villages can play in supporting and sustaining those villages and associated services. For instance, bus services, schools, village shops, pubs and local community groups.

Whilst there does, on the face of it, appear to be significant potential for additional homes to be built in this area, the main constraint is access and infrastructure. There is only one main route out of the area - which is heavily congested at peak times - and there is still only one hospital in Medway, despite many 10's of thousands of new residents. The Council need to get this the right way round - you can not keep bringing more people into the area when you don't have the infrastructure to support them. Infrastructure first.

Many of the reasons why the HIF did not come forward are due to the severe challenges of building in this area. Due to two main factors, the traffic assessment which has not come forward, and the ecological assessment due to the significant designations of RAMSAR and SSSI, with a number of rare and protected species.
Historical assessments have never been released into the public domain. These have been funded by the local people in their council taxes and should be available once received by the council. Unable to comment in an informed way without it.
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These representations support paragraph 5.40 of the consultation, which sets out that the Hoo Peninsula provides a significant opportunity for the “development for homes, jobs and services”.

This representation supports the approach to utilise The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) programme to deliver improvements to transport and put measures in place to strengthen the local environment in the Hoo area.

Developing a Spatial Strategy – Rural Development Sites
Hoo Peninsula – Hoo Rural Town

CCE recognise that, in meeting the identified housing requirement, the Council should look to bring forward urban sites and previously developed land. However, it is also noted that such sites are often costly to bring forward and can take time to become available to deliver the required housing. Urban sites are also often more suited to flatted developments delivering smaller units which only caters to a small element of housing need locally. These considerations, coupled with Medway’s significant housing need will require the identification and release of less constrained greenfield sites.

To achieve its vision, CCE consider that the Local Plan needs to be ambitious, yet fully deliverable. It needs to ensure that the housing and employment needs of the Borough can be delivered with clear guidance as to the most appropriate and sustainable sites to accommodate the required housing and employment. In doing so, the Council will need to take a pragmatic approach to a range of development options. In this regard, CCE fully supports the proposals in the draft Hoo Development Framework (2022) for significant growth at Hoo St Werburgh and subsequently, the Council identifying this land as a potential broad location for development in the consultation document (Map 3).

The Hoo Rural Town offers the opportunity to provide a sustainable new community in its own right, with high quality supporting infrastructure. The expansion of Hoo St Werburgh and the surrounding villages offers new opportunities and many potential benefits to the area and Medway as a whole. There is potential for the area to grow by c. 10,000 homes over the next thirty years. New development would be planned to improve travel choice and reduce the need to drive with an attractive and comprehensive cycling and pedestrian network. People will be able to use an expanded range of local services and facilities close to home. There will be new schools and health facilities, shops, businesses, leisure and community services. It would provide growth that meets people’s needs for homes, jobs and services, whilst respecting the natural and historic environment.

The support for these proposals is clearly set out in the submission by Stantec prepared for the Consortium, including CCE. As noted above, these representations will not repeat or seek to reiterate the commentary prepared by Stantec on behalf of the Consortium in relation to the land at Hoo St Werburgh.

CCE own land east (call for sites submission ID 299, SHLAA ref. HHH31) and west (call for sites submission ID 300, SHLAA ref HHH22) of Ropers Lane which could accommodate around 3,500 new homes alongside supporting social infrastructure. The site presents an opportunity for a sustainable extension to the east of the existing settlement of Hoo St Werburgh and should be considered as part of the wider Hoo St Werburgh Rural Town, which provides the opportunity to deliver a highly sustainable community securing significant housing growth supported by infrastructure; employment opportunities; services and facilities as well as environmental enhancements. It also provides new links and connections to the proposed and existing employment areas at Kingsnorth.

This representation therefore confirms that land within CCE’s ownership at the Hoo Peninsula should be identified to assist in meeting the housing requirements and development needs of the Borough.

In this context, and as set out in the February 2023 call for sites submissions, CCE have commissioned the following initial surveys: Ecological Assessment, prepared by Ecology Solutions (January 2023); Agricultural Land Classification report, prepared by Strutt and Parker, January 2023; Heritage Assessment (above and below ground), prepared by Terrance O Rourke, (January 2023); Landscape and Visual Appraisal, prepared by Terrance O Rourke (March 2023); and, Utilities consultation note, prepared by Pell Frischmann (September 2020). Pell Frischmann are also appointed to provide technical advice to CCE on Highways and Flooding. The surveys confirm that there would be no overriding constraints to the development of land within CCE’s ownership at the Hoo Peninsula. Further technical assessment as required would be instructed by CCE as part of any future planning application, to inform future development proposals.

This representation supports paragraph 5.40 of the consultation, which sets out that the Hoo Peninsula provides a significant opportunity for the “development for homes, jobs and services”.

This representation supports the approach to utilise the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) program to deliver improvements to transport and put measures in place to strengthen the local environment in the Hoo area.

Flanders Farm (HHH19)

This representation supports paragraph 5.40 of the consultation, which sets out that the Hoo Peninsula provides a significant opportunity for the “development for homes, jobs and services”.

This representation supports the approach to utilise the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) program to deliver improvements to transport and put measures in place to strengthen the local environment in the Hoo area.

The opportunities identified in respect of Rural Development appear to relate primarily to land on the periphery of the peninsula or around the settlement of Hoo. The assertion in respect of the ability of Hoo to deliver planned growth without the HIF funding programme will need to be fully evidenced and justified as the Local Plan preparation progresses.
Richborough contend that Hoo can accommodate a level of residential growth but any transformational change of this area of the Borough will be severely hampered by highway and accessibility constraints as well as the need to provide additional services and amenities. The existing highway capacity issues will need to be comprehensively addressed, including those at the Four Elms Roundabout, as part of any Local Plan that seeks to allocate a strategic level of growth at Hoo.
There is a high dependence on private vehicles for most residents on the Hoo Peninsula given its relative poor access to public transport and the capacity constraints of junctions on the existing nearby road network. Future evidence base documents will need to clearly demonstrate how these constraints are to be overcome.
There are a handful of Rural Development sites that are less constrained by existing highway issues given their location closer to Wainscott and Strood. The Site promoted by Richborough is included in this tranche of sites and is also located close to the existing services and amenities of Wainscott, south of the A289. While the categorisation of sites in the Consultation Document does not comprise a spatial strategy for the distribution of growth, Richborough would question how the categorisation has been made. It can be argued, based on the Opportunities presented in the Consultation Document, that the SR17 Site is more closely aligned to the matters of relevance to the Suburban Development sites, rather than the highway focussed Rural Development site matters.
Richborough welcome further consultation with Medway Council and the Local Highway Authority on the access strategy for Site SR17, although a technical assessment of the local highway network has shown that the development of the Site for 800 dwellings can be safely accommodated within the highway network with the primary point of access being from Lower Rochester Road. The Emerging Concept Plan provided within the submitted Vision Document indicates a proposed new roundabout on this stretch of road. The Vision Document also refers to improvements to the Four Elms Roundabout, including an integrated left turn lane to ease congestion at this key pinch point. This work was originally due to be funded by HIF but is now proposed to be funded and provided by promoters of SR17, which is a major benefit of the proposals.
Richborough are aware of wider highway improvement schemes under consideration (some of which were reliant on the former HIF funding programme) and considers junction improvements proposed as part of proposed development at Site SR17 will help realise the aim of reducing congestion levels at Four Elms Roundabout and increasing capacity towards the Hoo peninsula.

How can large scale development continue now that HIF is no longer available

The peninsula should be considered only for last resort developments, no site should be a primary site for expansion. Through the loss of HIF funding and the scrapping of the train station, any further development on the Peninsula will be unsustainable and inappropriate. Developments here seek to only further the problems already faced by rural communities. Not to mention the destruction of suitable farmland and natural environment.

Whoever thought up this section clearly has no concept whatsoever of the importance of the Hoo Peninsula as the Green Lung of Medway.
It sounds like the kind of statement made by a certain charlatan liar Prime Minister “ There’s nothing there “ referring to the Peninsula.

The Hoo consultation needs to be redone in the light of the railway option going and the funding being taken back. This area needs a lot of investment and the public transport is poor.