To submit a response to the public consultation held by Medway Council on the early stage (Regulation 18) Local Plan document. The consultation runs from 18^th September to 31^st October 2023.

That the Council’s response to the Medway Local Plan Regulation 18 Consultation, attached at appendix 1 to the report, be submitted to Medway Council.

Medway Council is preparing a new Local Plan. It is intended that this Plan, once adopted, will supersede the 2003 Medway Local plan. The new Local Plan will cover the period 2022 to 2040.

Medway Council is now carrying out an early-stage public consultation on the new Local Plan. This is a Regulation 18 stage consultation in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended. The consultation document is titled ‘Regulation 18 Consultation – Setting the Direction for Medway 2040’. The document does not detail policies or identify sites preferred for new development. The detail will be shown in the next stage of the Local Plan which will be published next year.

Medway’s Local Development Scheme (LDS) sets out the timetable for preparing the Local Plan. Following the current Regulation 18 consultation the LDS provides for a Regulation 19 consultation (early 2024), Regulation 22 submission of the Local Plan to the Secretary of State for examination (summer 2024) and adoption (autumn 2025).

Consultation content

The Local Plan consultation document focusses principally on setting the scope of the new plan and getting stakeholder input on the plan’s direction and content. The document includes contextual information and identifies the main issues and priorities for the plan across a range of topic areas. It proposes a vision for Medway in 2040 and a number of strategic objectives. It also presents spatial options to address the identified issues. The document does not set out preferred policy approaches or identify preferred sites as these will be established later in the plan process, informed by consultation feedback and additional evidence.

The consultation document is organised into five main sections, as follows:

·  Introduction

·  Context

·  Vision for Medway 2040

·  Strategic objectives

·  Developing a spatial strategy

·  Next steps

There are no formal/set questions within the document, leaving respondents able to comment freely on any paragraph in the document.

The Local Plan consultation document provides an indication of the authority’s future growth requirements that the plan will seek to address. These requirements are informed by the latest evidence base, including the Medway Employment Land Assessment 2020, and the Medway Housing and Demographics Report 2021. The Plan includes a need for c.62.3 hectares of employment land (to 2037) and a local housing need figure of 1,667 dwellings per annum or 28,339 (gross) dwellings across the plan period up to 2040; a figure derived using the government’s ‘Standard Method’ calculation. The inclusion of a buffer to allow for some sites not coming forward increases this figure to over 29,000 dwellings. In addition, the Council must consider if there is capacity to provide up to an additional 2,000 homes to help meet Gravesham’s housing needs, following a request from the neighbouring borough. The consultation document does not identify specific development requirements for retail nor for Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation.

To address identified needs for new development the consultation document identifies four broad categories of locations for distributing growth:

·  Urban regeneration;

·  Suburban growth;

·  Rural development; and

·  Green Belt loss.

These broad locations are based upon a Land Availability Assessment (LAA); itself informed by a Call for Sites, as well as sites from other sources such as the Brownfield Land Register and development briefs. The consultation document sets out the opportunities, issues and constraints for each of the four broad growth location categories. It should be noted that ‘suburban expansion’ includes potential development sites in the southern part of the borough in proximity to Maidstone Borough, essentially extending Lidsing Garden Community. Medway Council acknowledge, under ‘issues and constraints’ that “Development to the south around the Capstone Valley would potentially adjoin the development of the proposed ‘Lidsing Garden Community’ in Maidstone. The landowner is promoting a cross-border masterplan. There are a number of potential impacts, including transport, infrastructure and the natural environment”.

For employment land, the consultation document identifies that the majority of land would be needed for warehousing and distribution activities. It identifies strategic sites at Grain and Kingsnorth on the Hoo Peninsula, as well as the Innovation Park Medway.

Medway council highlight that any growth strategy and potential development sites/locations will be tested against a range of criteria, including transport impacts and viability.

In terms of next steps, Medway Council continues to collate its evidence base to support the Local Plan. Further assessments of sites will also take place. Specific reference is made to further work on transport and infrastructure planning. This further evidence work, combined with consultation feedback, will all contribute to the next stage of Medway Council’s Local Plan.

Maidstone Borough Council response

The Regulation 18 consultation document does not contain a set list of formal questions for response. It is therefore proposed that a long-form response is provided in order to focus on those key areas of interest specific to Maidstone Borough Council. The draft response is attached as Appendix 1 to this report.

The Council has a statutory duty to cooperate with prescribed bodies, including neighbouring local authorities, on strategic cross-boundary matters. Maidstone Borough Council has and will continue to engage positively and proactively with Medway through the Local Plan process. The consultation response reaffirms this position and welcomes the opportunity to comment on the emerging local plan as part of the ongoing engagement.

At this stage in the plan process there are no preferred policy approaches or development sites confirmed and it is therefore difficult to assess the implications of the plan on Maidstone borough. However, the response does provide feedback on the ‘suburban expansion’ growth location in terms of its relationship to Lidsing Garden Community and the future work required, particularly on the highway network and air quality.

The consultation response also provides additional comments on selected topic areas which may have strategic cross-boundary implications, including housing and infrastructure.

The matter was considered by the Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Policy Advisory Committee with a recommendation made to approve the consultation response.

Option 2: That the draft response be approved by the Cabinet Member for Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development, subject to further comments and changes. Depending on the extent and timing of the receipt of these comments, this would allow the response to be sent by the submission deadline.

Option 3: That the draft response is not approved by the Cabinet Member for Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development. However, this would mean the response would not be sent and the Council’s views on the Regulation 18 document would not be duly submitted for consideration by Medway Council as work on their Local Plan progresses. It may also compromise the Council’s ability to demonstrate it has fulfilled its statutory duty to cooperate.

These options were rejected as the response was approved as shown at appendix 1 to the report, and submitting a response to the consultation ensures that the points raised by the Council form part of the responses to the consultation.