Government pushes for more housing in Kent

AFTER MANY MONTHS of drafting, debate and deliberation the government has published today (17 July 2008) its final draft of the South East Plan.  (see Communities & Local Government website)

The original draft of the plan, issued by the South East Regional Assembly, proposed average housebuilding targets of 28,900 per year across the south east for the period from 2006 to 2026.  Of these, 6,100 per year would be built in Kent and Medway.  These averages of course concealed widely differing targets district by district – the growth areas of Ashford and the Thames Gateway, predictably enough, taking the largest share of these targets.

The original draft was debated in minute detail for four months over the winter of 2006-2007 in front of an independent panel of inspectors, who, in August 2007, published their recommendations for amending the South East Plan; they acknowledged the environmental constraints facing ...

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