Medway Local Plan (Regulation 18, 2024)

There is no way sustainable transport, greener issues will be solved by further development on the Hoo peninsular. Allhallows in particular is a small village that will be destroyed if the population is increased by the amount of houses planned. The two roads used by villagers to enter and exit the village are totally unsafe. There has been many fatal accidents over the 47 years I have lived in Allhallows, there are two dangerous S bends and in winter snow drifts form on the roads. The village has been cut off from the outside world many times, indeed we have had helicopters land to provide us with medicines and food in the past. The water mains are constantly breaking down as are the sewage pipes. The pumping station at the bottom of Binney Road is always causing problems.

By allowing planning on the scale suggested this will increase pollution, concreting over the land which up to now has provided food, this year a crop of wheat and oilseed rape have been grown on this land. The extra traffic will be harmful to the air quality, the electricity is always going off and the overhead lines are constantly blowing down in the inclement weather we have on the island.

Our community is served by a bus company who offer one bus an hour that stops in the early evening. The roads to Allhallows are dangerous, full of pot holes and very narrow and winding all the way from town. The driving is already atrocious, indeed I was hit by a car at the Fenn Bell Inn several years ago and had both my legs badly broken in a life changing accident. There have been multiple accidents over the years involving many fatalities. Increased traffic will not make this any better. We have also lost our taxi services in Hoo St Werburgh and the London commuter bus leaving the village each morning has been suspended. The promised Railway station at Sharnel street is yet to materialise, access is just getting more and more difficult.

As mentioned previously the medical services available to the villagers is minimal. We have lost two doctors surgeries and I believe there is no longer one at Grain either. Medway Hospital is the only place for many to get any help from and the waiting times are horrendous.

Unfortunately the houses being built are not of a good quality. The 9 houses in Binney Road built last September are not of a good design to blend in with the local landscape. They have poor parking spaces, no garage and very small gardens. They are also not affordable to our youngster. There is also insufficient spaces for the children at our local school. Our other school in the next village was closed 2 years ago and that village sent all its children to our school. The road between villages has no footpath and therefore is dangerous

Unfortunately the houses on the Hoo peninsular are not affordable for our young children to get mortgages on. They are not being built to be environmentally friendly, ie not enough parking spaces, no garages, no solar panels, very small gardens indequate space for emergency services to gain access when there is parking on the road. There are no maisonettes, bungalows being built that would be affordable to the older people in the community to downsize. As the transport network is appalling it is difficult to access nearby services. We have 2 shops in the village, the doctors surgery is virtually closed and the doctors in Hoo rarely give out appointments on the day, it has a telephone backlog each morning at 8 am for appointments and when you finally get out of the queue all appointments are taken.

We have had several waste sites made by Biffa over the years very near to Allhallows, we have also suffered pollution in the past from many industries at Grain. The air quality has been very bad on some days. We also live in fear of flooding should the Thames Barrier be used to save London from flooding. Over this past year we have been alerted to high tides as a warning of possible flooding

The electricity supply is constantly failing and we are subjected to lengthy power cuts, also we have had water delivered to our houses when the mains have failed. Indeed a line came down last year in my horses field and the village had no electricity for a day.

We have had several waste sites made by Biffa over the years very near to Allhallows, we have also suffered pollution in the past from many industries at Grain. The air quality has been very bad on some days. We also live in fear of flooding should the Thames Barrier be used to save London from flooding. Over this past year we have been alerted to high tides as a warning of possible flooding