Tag Archives: Local Plan

Swale Borough Councillors’ Report July 2022

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Roads closures

The number of road closures in the ward sometimes makes it seem that the utility companies are trying to make it impossible to get home. It is understandable that the utility companies must close roads, to put in broadband connections, renew a gas main or fix a burst water main. But it seems to be becoming common for the “Road Closed” signs to stay up when no work is being carried out and there is no reason why the traffic can’t use the road. On many occasions the road is not actually closed at all. This casual disregard for the residents has knock-on effects, like the bin lorries not being able to complete their rounds. This issue has been raised with KCC and our County Councillor Rich Lehmann is also pushing for better coordination.

Member’s Grants

Each member of Swale Borough Council is allocated £2400 each year which they can grant to community projects in the borough. We use our grants to support projects which benefit the people of Boughton & Courtenay. In the past we have made grants to projects which support families with autism, the outdoor gym at Boughton, community Christmas meals, Faversham Pools, wildflower planting in Selling etc. The scheme for this year has just been announced so If you know of a good local cause that would appreciate a helping hand, do apply. Further information can be found here: https://swale.gov.uk/news-and-your-council/grants-and-funding/member-grants 

Local Plan

The Local Plan plays an important role in determining where development of housing and infrastructure takes place in the borough. The government is imposing a requirement on Swale to add 10,000 new homes to the current local plan. The formal plan is opened up for public consultation (known as regulation 19 consultation), before the final plan is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. The final stage involves Examination in Public by the Planning Inspectorate. SBC have now published a timetable for the Regulation 19 consultation to take place in October or November. We will be writing more about the Local Plan nearer the time.

Tim Valentine

TimValentine@swale.gov.uk

Alastair Gould

AlastairGould@swale.gov.uk

Swale Borough Councillors for Boughton & Courtenay

Swale Borough Councillors’ Report April 2022

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Update on the Local Plan

The Local Plan Panel meeting on the 24th March received two reports on progress of the local plan. The council made the decision not to proceed with the version of the local plan published in early 2021 under regulation 19. Instead, a further “Issues and Preferred Options” consultation was undertaken under regulation 18 in November last year. This allowed further consultation on changes that may be necessary due to revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework and representations made during the previous consultation.

The first report is on the main issues raised during the regulation 18 consultation. A number of representations from residents supported not providing the number of new homes required under the method imposed by Government to calculate the local housing need. The constraints of the natural environment, flood risk, and infrastructure limitations were cited as evidence to support this view. Unsurprisingly, developers argued that such constraints are not unique to Swale and that this approach would slow economic growth, make affordability worse and hinder delivery of infrastructure improvements. If the Council were to argue that the full local housing need cannot be met, the local plan inspector would be forensic in their examination of the evidence put forward to justify this position.

There was no clear agreement on the preferred distribution of development across the borough. Issues raised included the capacity of highways, wastewater treatment, health, and education, and the effect on air quality, landscape character and the loss of agricultural land. Kent County Council, the highways authority, highlighted significant detrimental impact on traffic, air quality, and the ability to achieve an increased use of walking, cycling and public transport for local journeys.

The second report sets out the next steps in the local plan review. The inspector’s report on the (current) adopted local plan identified capacity deficiencies in the local and strategic road network that would need to be mitigated. As a result, the council undertook high-level traffic modelling in collaboration with Kent County Council and National Highways prior to the regulation 19 and 18 consultations. At the time it was concluded that there were no “show-stoppers”. The results of more recent finer grained modelling produced surprising results, which showed significant impacts at some key junctions. There are no obvious development strategies that could deliver the local housing need number without adversely affecting these transport corridors. This challenge will require further traffic modelling as the council must leave no stone unturned in its attempt to deliver the local housing need.

It is anticipated that a further Regulation 19 consultation can take place in the early autumn. This will be confirmed in the late spring.

Tim Valentine

TimValentine@swale.gov.uk

Alastair Gould

AlastairGould@swale.gov.uk

Swale Borough Councillors for Boughton & Courtenay