News People reminded to have their say on Maidstone LPR Consultation Reg19
Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) is reminding all residents, businesses and other stakeholders that the consultation process around Local Plan Review for the borough is still open.
A six week period of Public Consultation on the Maidstone Local Plan Review Draft for Submission version started on Friday 29 October and is available for all to have their say until Sunday 12 December.
The Consultation sets out the main components of future growth in housing, employment, retail, and the preferred locations where these would provide the widest benefits together with the infrastructure necessary to maximise these benefits across the borough of Maidstone.
The public and other stakeholders including parish councils, community groups, residents, businesses and developers are being encouraged by MBC to have their say via Local Plan Review webpage: Local Plan Review - MBC Local Plan (maidstone.gov.uk)
Maidstone Borough Council is working to meet nationally imposed government housing targets which is the case for other local authorities across the Country. The Maidstone LPR reflects the need to meet those targets and the Reg19 consultation document also includes important policy areas, including protection of key environmental assets, climate change and funding of key infrastructure.
Cllr Paul Cooper, Chairman of the MBC Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee said:
“In common with other local authorities around the country and particularly in the South East, Maidstone is striving to meet government housing targets. Being able to steer development to the areas we are seeking to allocate will help ensure that the new development is accompanied by all the associated land and infrastructure for traffic, jobs, education, health and other services. Equally, we appreciate that as with other areas seeking to meet similar challenges, this is contentious within local communities.”
MBC has worked hard to identify a spatial strategy and supporting policies which will be best placed to mitigate the impacts of growth and to bring new facilities which will benefit existing and new communities across the borough.
Cllr Cooper added:
“It is really important too that we all remain aware of the importance of getting a local plan in place. Failing to do that would mean, in essence, that we would lose almost all local control over where development goes in our borough and risks a scenario whereby the first sites the development industry brings forward are those that they would be least likely to get an approval for with the control that an adopted plan provides.”
The Regulation 19 Consultation is the culmination of the previous work undertaken by Maidstone Borough Council as part of the Local Plan Review process and is the next stage of that.
In accordance with government guidelines the Reg19 document is the plan that is proposed for the Council to submit to government for Examination by an independent inspector and it is therefore important that as many people take part in the consultation and share their views.
The Local Planning Authority has undertaken extensive work with a wide range of other organisations and stakeholders to ensure all sites proposed in the Plan have been fully assessed.
The Draft Local Plan Review document, report and associated appendices/background papers are available on the Maidstone Borough Council’s website: www.maidstone.gov.uk