Agenda item

This report presents a consultation document in the preparation of the new Medway Local Plan. The consultation document sets out proposals for potential growth across Medway and policies to manage development. The Local Plan has implications for our residents, environment and businesses. The Council is seeking to gather comments from a broad range of people and interests in helping to draft the new plan.

Discussion:

The Assistant Director Culture and Community and the Head of Planning Policy introduced the report and gave a presentation which set out proposals for potential growth across Medway and policies to manage development.              

Members raised several comments and questions which included:

It was vital to put together a plan that reflects the aspirations of the children and young people of Medway.

Schools - it was expressed that serious consideration needed to be given to development of secondary schools as part of the plan. The officer said that due to the length of the plan and scale of developments, the requirement for schools was anticipated and they continued to work with the school planning team on what was needed. The Assistant Director of Education and SEND added that it was anticipated that a new secondary school would be needed by 2028, aside from the one new secondary school, there were no others in the pipeline. It was important that plans for new secondary schools come through via the DfE or the Council would have to fund a new school. Even with the Section 106 funding, there would still be a shortfall as it was anticipated that the new secondary school would cost a minimum of £40million and it was vital to continue to press the DfE for funding support.

Infrastructure - in response to a comment that the report referred to ambitions for a healthier Medway and that increased focus on addressing children’s health and access to activities should be central to the plan, officers agreed that all residents should be able to access activities to promote a healthier lifestyle. There was more work to be undertaken on the infrastructure delivery plan which would support the preferred spatial strategy as it was important to fully understand what was needed and where in Medway.

Engagement - it was asked what was being done to engage with young people and getting their views and perspectives on their Plan, the officer said they were working with several partnerships and networks, including the use of focus groups and specific targeted activities. Officers were due to present to Medway Youth Council at the end of August, were working with Mid Kent College as well and trying to feed into various events taking place across Medway. There were also some targeted social media campaigns directed at younger audiences that were being considered. It was acknowledged however that there was a need to invest in wider relationships and feed into other policies and strategies and more needed to be done on an ongoing basis to capture the views of young people beyond the initial consultation stage. It was acknowledged that the timing of the consultation impacted responses and officers would need to further explore how to target schools to promote increased participation. The Assistant Director Education and SEND added that details had been shared with all schools and Child Friendly Medway was undertaking some work around the Plan.

Consultation – in response to a question on how it would be ensured that the consultation encompassed the views of the whole of Medway, the officer said that prior to submission of the Plan, they had to demonstrate that the assessment and choices made were based on evidence gathered throughout the process which may include the views of the public.

Climate Change - in response to a question on how the Plan supports Climate Change which young people were concerned and passionate about, the officer confirmed that Climate Change was central to the Plan and ensuring that the Local Plan would meet the wider objectives of the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan.

Green Spaces - in response to a question on what was being done to preserve green spaces, the officer said that they worked extensively to ensure that green spaces remain protected, and this had been updated in the provision.

Training Flats – in response to a request for consideration to be given to provision of training flats for care experienced children who were at the stage of leaving care to support their transition to adulthood, the officer said that this could be explored further by the housing team to explore how the current housing stock and registered providers could support such a scheme.

Decision:

a)    The Committee noted the report.

b)    The Committee recommended that officers ensure that future reports contain child specific policies and user friendly language to be used.