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At last, the meeting to get examination of London Resort under way has a date
Whisper it quietly (or not), but we are finally seeing progress with examination of the proposed London Resort theme park at Swanscombe.
After delays and uncertainty caused by developer LRCH asking for more time to address both transport issues and the peninsula’s designation as a Site of Scientific Interest – together with its failure to produce necessary documents and doubts that it had consulted enough parties in preparing submissions – we now have a date for the preliminary hearing.
A letter from Rynd Smith, lead panel member for the Planning Inspectorate’s examining authority, announced yesterday (Monday, February 14) that the meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 29-30 (this year!), with reserve dates of Tuesday and Wednesday, April 5-6, should they be required.
Yesterday’s letter read: “The purpose of the Preliminary Meeting is purely procedural, to enable views to be put to us about when and how the application should be examined. The Agenda for the meeting… divides the meeting into two stages.
“• Stage 1 will be held on 29 and 30 March 2022 and will consider the question of when to examine the application in the light of recent and likely future progress by the Applicant to address important and relevant issues and provide supporting information. It will support a decision on the timing of the examination.
“• Stage 2 will be held on 30 March if required and would consider how to examine the application in circumstances where a decision on timing has been made and the application is proposed to enter Examination commencing at the end of March 2022.”
All those wanting to participate in the preliminary meeting must register by Tuesday, March 15.
In essence, we now have a roadmap for examination of this contentious project to proceed…
- For more on the London Resort scheme, see here
- To read why CPRE Kent views the project as so damaging, click here
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
- A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
- There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
- There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.
The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:
- There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
- A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
- Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
- Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.
Concerns about the rush to submit the plan
The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.
As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.
Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.
Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.
The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.
Further information
