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, Community and Culture and the Chief Planning Officer introduced the report which presented a consultation document in the preparation of the new Medway Local Plan and set out proposals for potential growth across Medway and policies to manage development. A short presentation was provided with a focus on how the Local Plan would be developed to support the health and wellbeing of the population of Medway.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

·        New hospital – reference was made to Medway’s need for a new hospital and concern that there was little reference to this in the consultation document. It was suggested that Chattenden barracks could be a potential site.

·        Impact on health and wellbeing – it was recognised that health and wellbeing ran through all aspects of the Local Plan and it was confirmed by officers that air quality would be addressed within the plan.

·        Consultation with young people – a question was asked about how consultation was being undertaken with young people and whether opportunities were being explored via schools when the children returned from the summer break.  In response, officers confirmed that they were working with the Communications Team to ensure young people were targeted via social media and were also targeting harder to reach communities for their views.

·        Community areas – reference was made to the benefit of community spaces within developments, particularly flats, to support community cohesion and wellbeing but also to provide space for community based interventions such as blood pressure checks.  Officers explained that there were some good examples of this already within Medway, such as at Chatham Waterfront and confirmed this would be explored further, along with continued dialogue with health colleagues in mapping health provision for the future.

·        Strategic feedback – reassurance was given that feedback to the consultation already received, had included comments of a strategic nature and were about Medway’s needs as a whole.  In addition, dialogue with colleagues was ongoing in relation to specialist provision.

·        Mapping of health service needs – in response to a question about how development levels equated to health service needs, officers confirmed that they worked closely with health colleagues to map out needs for the growth strategy for Medway.

·        Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) – in response to a question about HIAs and their use, officers explained that the Town and Country Planning Association were able to assist in helping the Council to look at options for HIAs in order to understand what process and procedures would best fit for Medway, in building a policy in relation to HIAs as part of the Local Plan development.

·        Technology evolution – reference was made to the importance of considering broadband connectivity and building flexibility to be able to respond to rapid evolution of technology, which officers confirmed would be factored in.

·        Healthwatch – the representative from Healthwatch Medway explained that each month it produced a report which collated much data from community engagement and demographics which could be useful to tap into in relation to development of the Local Plan.

Decision:

The Committee agreed that the comments above be provided as its feedback on the proposals in the Medway Local Plan consultation in relation to matters regarding health and adult social care.