Planning and Infrastructure Policy and Advisory Committee
17th October 2022
Urgent Update
Agenda Item 17
Statements of Common Ground – Soft Sand and Lower Thames Crossing
This urgent update comprises modifications to the Statement of Common Ground for the Lower Thames Crossing only. This is included as exempt Appendix 2: Draft Statement of Common Ground between Maidstone Borough Council & National Highways.
The modifications have been proposed by National Highways following the publication of the Planning and Infrastructure Policy and Advisory Committee reports.
The first set of modifications comprise minor amendments to Table 2.1 and the Glossary to improve the legibility and accuracy of the document. This includes:
· Factual updates to clarify that National Highways is the other signatory. In some instances, the draft document erroneously refers to the body as Highways England.
· The addition of acronyms for Strategic Road Network (SRN), Local Road Network (LRN) and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
· The addition of a shorthand reference for the Lower Thames Crossing as ‘the Project’.
· The deletion of references to the Council’s previous formal consultation responses in the ‘Document Reference’ column of Table 2.1. This column is intended only for evidence base documents prepared by National Highways to support the application for the Development Consent Order.
· Factual update to state the correct name of the National Highways evidence base document referenced in Table 2.1, Matter 2.1.6.
The second modification comprises a minor amendment to the Council’s position statement on Matter 2.1.4, which is an informative to aid the explanation of the position.