Medway Local Plan (Regulation 18, 2023)

5.22 We support the aims of this paragraph. We also note that the French Hospital is an existing small development which could be used as a benchmark for newly proposed development in that.
• It has a clearly defined community identity.
• It is within walking distance of all local shops and services and cultural facilities.
• It has a low private vehicle use profile.
• It is a pedestrian led development
• It is within easy walking distance of a mainline railway station for medium and longer distance journeys.
• It is relatively high-density development and yet.
• It fits in well within the existing context of Rochester High Street
• It has adequate green space for the community to enjoy and use.

we support this aspiration

We support the aim of achieving modal shift from private to public transport. For the best chance to achieve this significant housing and commercial development sites should be located within 800 m of existing and newly proposed public transport hubs.

Medway council should consider the sustainable benefits of mixed-use communities and developments across the urban, suburban and rural development allocations these developments should include:
• Ease of access to public transport hubs
• Services
• Social infrastructure
• Lesuire facilities
• Open green space
• Green transport routes (footpaths and cycle ways)

We support this policy aspiration

Given that the existing urban and suburban sites have the capacity to provide in excess of 19,000 homes between them and that development in rural areas will demand a significant transport infrastructure for which funding no longer exists. It is important that the focus of the local plan is on the urban and suburban areas where sustainable communities adjacent to existing public transport hubs are more easily achieved.

Development of the rural areas should only be proposed if development of 1900 homes over the plan period cannot be fully provided for within the urban and suburban areas and only if funding has been secured and implemented for the public transport hubs as outlined in the now failed HiF bid.

The aspirations in this paragraph are supported. Sourcing the necessary funding will take some time as will the implementation. Therefore, any rural development should only be implemented in the final phases of the local plan once the infrastructure is in place

Given that between them, the urban, suburban and rural areas have a capacity for 35,567 homes it should be that with a focus on sustainable locations that Medway Council should be able to find 19,000 homes (53% of the above capacity) within the Urban suburban and rural areas. There should therefore be no need to allocate housing within the areas designated Green Belt in the local plan. Therefore with respect to the Medway Local Plan we support the protection afforded the Green Belt in the NPPF.

The key pressure point on the Green Belt in the Medway Council lays to the west of Strood in the sector straddling the A289 and north of Gravesend Road and the B2108 and south of Dillywood lane . The borough boundary gives the false impression that this section of the Green Belt is a small remnant of the Green Belt. Whereas this small section of the Green Belt is the farthest eastern extent of the Metropolitan Green Belt and is an important part of the Green Belt as a whole. Allocating any of the land in his sector would undermine the function of the Green Belt in this critical western boundary of the Medway conurbation.

Approximately 60% of this part of Medway’s Green Belt is promoted for development for housing. In the adjacent Gravesend Borough Regulation 18 consultations land directly adjacent (Chapter Farm) is identified as possible allocation for development for housing of approximately 1,800 homes. Given the pressure that exists on the Western Boundary of Medway adjacent to Strood, any release of the Green Belt in this critical sector of the Green Belt could realistically produce the following unintended consequences.
• Create urban Sprawl westwards of the Medway Conurbation
• Put the remaining 40% of Green Belt in this area under extreme pressure for further development in this and subsequent Local Plans.
• Undermine the purpose of Green Belt in this area.
• Encourage Gravesend Borough Council to allocate chapter farm for housing in their local plan. Which in turn would:
• Add approx. an extra 2000 homes on the western boundary of Strood.
• Result in the loss of 165 Ha of Metropolitan Green Belt on its eastern Boundary (Dillywood farm, Dillywood garden centre and Chapter Farm combined)
• Increase the Urban sprawl of Medway by 165 Ha into Green Belt
• Place up to 2,900 homes on the western boundary of Stood.
• Increase pressure on existing services and transport networks with no extra funding to Medway via council tax (2/3 of which would go to GBC)
• Increase the use of private vehicles.
• Create significant addition traffic movements on M2 Junction 1 (already at capacity)
• increase air pollution within the AAQ on London Road
To allocate any land for development in this area would be contrary to the sustainable aspirations of the Medway Local Plan.