Medway Council in Kent has urged the Government to intervene after a planning inspector recommended that the planning authority withdraw and rewrite its Core Strategy (CS) after a key housing site in the document was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest by Natural England, the administration’s wildlife adviser.
At the centre of the row are proposals for a freestanding settlement of around 5,000 new homes at Lodge Hill and Chattenden Woods on the Hoo Peninsula.
The area earmarked for housing is a brownfield site that was used for a range of military purposes, including the manufacture of bombs and shells for the Royal Navy.
The development of the site, which is owned by the Ministry of Defence, aims to provide a large proportion of Medway’s housing needs. Developers Land Securities has submitted an outline planning application for the new settlement which is backed by the local council.
Since the draft CS was written and went for public examination Natural England has announced proposals to notify Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill as an SSSI. In effect this would be an enlargement of the existing Chattenden Woods SSSI. The features behind the notification are lowland ancient and long-established semi-natural woodland, unimproved grassland and breeding nightingales.
The planning inspector examining the CS has told the council that the strategy is unsound and that the modifications needed to address the issues surrounding Lodge Hill are ‘so significant’ they require the plan being rewritten.
Councillor Rodney Chambers, the leader of Medway Council, said: ‘There was extensive public consultation before the plans were put forward including nearly 90 hours of public exhibitions and design workshops. As a result of that consultation nearly half the 620 acre site has been devoted to public open space, community gardens and extensive areas of woodland.
‘We have worked with numerous people over a 17-year period since this site was first identified by the government as one for development to make sure that this site is suitable for sustainable development, bringing the housing needed to support our area’s growth in a way that is sensitive to the natural habitat.’
He added: ‘We now call on the government to sort this out – for local people, for the growth of our area and for the economy.
‘It is now for the government to get to grips with its own agencies, who appear to be trying to stop its economic growth and housing agenda – growth that we are led to believe the country desperately needs.’
In a separate move Medway councillors have rejected detailed plans proposed by developer Peel Land and Property for the first phase of its £650m Chatham Water development.
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