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Cllr Gerry Lewin. |
On July 26th at the Full Council meeting of Swale Borough Council, I presented a report recommending the adoption of a new Local Plan for Swale.
This recommendation to adopt came after a period of extensive consultation starting in 2012 and an Examination in Public, by the Planning Inspectorate, which required two hearings. The outcome of the Inspector’s hearings was that the Local Plan was “sound”.
A Local Plan is a very strategic document for Local Planning Authorities such as Swale, in that it sets out the spatial strategy for development and infrastructure also the local development management policies which will be applied to new planning applications during the plan period.
In consequence of the settlement strategy used, many villages were not required to take up some of the housing growth required by the Planning Inspector across Swale - locally this applies to Hartlip, Lower Halstow and Upchurch. This does not mean that there will be no housebuilding in those villages as there will always be infills, small windfall sites, changes of use etc.
In Upchurch, nevertheless, there has been an appeal lodged against the refusal of planning permission for 41 homes at the rear of Jubilee Fields – this site has not been allocated in the last or new Local Plan. Please contact me if you need further details.
The Inspector also accepted the Council’s re-assessment of need for Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation across Swale as being 0.2 pitches per annum for the plan period. This arises from the Government’s change in definition in PPTS [2015].
Now that the new Local Plan has been adopted, Swale will begin work on a review required by April 2022. There will be plenty to do as the Inspector points particularly at the need to address the highway implications of the incremental development across the borough especially along the main highway corridors during the next five years. Government has already committed £100m to the redesign of J5 of the M2/A249 and we are expecting consultation to begin before the end the year.
Cllr Gerry Lewin
Email: lewing135@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01634 366113 / 07946 996789
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