Gladman Developments has submitted an outline planning application to Swale Borough Council for up to 74 dwellings with public open space, landscaping, sustainable drainage system and new vehicular access point with all matters reserved except for means of access onto land off Otterham Quay Lane, Upchurch.
The proposed site belonging to Wakeley Brothers (Rainham, Kent) Ltd and Ayshland Ltd is part of a commercial Pear orchard located in Otterham Quay Lane at the junction with Lower Rainham Road, currently farmed by Mansfields and is the first sizeable development to be brought forward to the North of Lower Rainham Road. The site is not included in the Swale Borough Council Local Plan, and others nearby have already been deemed ‘unsuitable’ in the council's Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment.
The SHLAA is a high-level assessment used as a starting point to decide what sites could be developed for housing and other uses in the local plan or in a neighbourhood plan. The SHLAA document is the catalogue of all sites submitted to Swale Borough Council for consideration as having development potential under the ‘Call for Sites’ exercise and current local plan allocations (not yet given permission) along with other known sites - e.g. council-owned land and previous SHLAA sites that have not been developed and so on. The sites are assessed for their suitability, availability and achievability.
Before making a formal planning application, Gladman published a consultation website setting out their proposal and asking residents for their views.
You can view the planning application at: www.swale.gov.uk/planningsearch and submit comments to Swale Borough Council using planning application reference: 21/501839/OUT where “Have Your Say” guidance on making comments is also available.
Swale Borough Council has written to neighbouring residents advising that comments received later than 21 days (excluding bank holidays) from their letter dated 16th April 2021 might arrive after their decision is taken and may therefore not be taken into account.
Upchurch Matters
