5.57

How does an employment site at Grain sit with the 15 minute neighbourhood? The majority of Medway residents live on the south bank of the river and would need to cross the river at Rochester Bridge or Medway Tunnel. Unless you're planning on building more river crossings?

Agree entirely with the potential for energy and green technology in Medway. These would help the councils climate emergency declaration and provide highly skilled jobs for the area.

Please avoid placing too many of these on the Hoo Peninsula.

Brownfield sites on the Hoo Peninsula could be ideal for research into green technologies that would benefit from clean air and clear skies.

Good idea

Careful consideration needs to be given to the increased sites at Grain and Kingsnorth while also considering large scale residential development. The HIF was not really addressing the increased employment traffic and now we are considering both, but without the HiF.

Employment Site – Land at Kingsnorth
In addition to the housing requirements, CCE also own land adjacent to the Kingsnorth employment area (call for sites submission ID 298, SHLAA ref. HHH35) and consider that this land could be made available to provide further employment opportunities, as and when required.

CCE and their consultant team have undertaken initial assessments and a land capacity study to identify the potential of the land within CCE ownership around Kingsnorth to deliver employment growth. Initial feasibility work demonstrates that land to the west of the existing Kingsnorth employment area and south of the railway line would be suitable for expansion in the short term.

The site is suitable and available for employment use which could accommodate between 157,000sqm & 176,000sqm of floorspace, split between B2, B8 and E uses. The site could also support the wider proposals of the Hoo St Werburgh Rural Town, which would deliver a highly sustainable new community, enabling people to live in close proximity to jobs, thus reducing need to travel far by car and encouraging use of sustainable means of travel (as set out in the draft Hoo Development Framework Masterplan, November 2022). A planning application is already progressing on part of the site for employment development (reference MC/23/0104).Therefore, CCE support the land at Kingsnorth having been identified as a potential employment site allocation in Map 5 of the consultation document as well as the support throughout the consultation document which recognises Kingsnorth on the Hoo Peninsula to be a unique opportunity for employment land provision, with a key role to play in Medway’s economic development strategy.

I support the exploration of developing green technology

Noted

Expanding the existing employment centres only needs to be done if a comprehensive study on the effects it will have on the local population and surrounding habitats.