Decisions

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council is preparing a new Local Plan and has launched a Regulation 18 stage public consultation which closes on 3 November 2022. The new Local Plan will cover the period up to 2040. This decision considers the Council’s draft response to the consultation, set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

That Maidstone Borough Council’s response to the Local Plan Regulation 18 consultation, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, be submitted to Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council.

The draft Statements of Common Ground (SoCG) summarises the key strategic matters between Maidstone Borough Council and other bodies. The bodies are Kent County Council (Exempt Appendix 1 and Appendix 2), Medway Council (Exempt Appendix 3), Natural England (Exempt Appendix 4), National Highways (Exempt Appendix 5), Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit (Exempt Appendix 6), the Heathlands site promoters and Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit (Exempt Appendix 7), the Lidsing site promoters and Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit (Exempt Appendix 8), the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Exempt Appendix 9). In the case of Exempt Appendices 7 and 8, Maidstone Borough Council is a co-signatory with the respective site promoters in addition to having its own separate SoCG with the Kent Downs AONB Unit. The SoCGs relate to the examination of Maidstone Borough Council’s Local Plan Review and specifically the Duty to Cooperate obligation, which is an important part of the planning process.

That the Statements of Common Ground set out in Exempt Appendices 2, 6 and 9 of the report, be approved.