4 Maidstone Borough Council
Our Plan for Maidstone Borough
Thousands commented on and helped develop the Maidstone Borough Local Plan - our plan for homes, jobs, shopping, leisure and the environment, as well as infrastructure such as roads, up to 2031. As we begin the final stage of consultation, this feature sets out the facts so far.
developments outside those that are not suitable for our communities. Our Local Plan proposes that less than 1% of our countryside is allocated for development.
We give priority to brownfield (previously developed) sites and have been very successful in developing them - in the six years to 2014/15, nearly 84% of housing development was on brownfield sites. This means that there aren't many left now available for development, but we will keep an eye on the situation to make sure that the Local Plan is kept up-to-date as new sites come up.
Policies will protect and improve open spaces and the countryside and woodlands that we cherish, with their huge range of flora, fauna and other
Homes
We must plan for the housing needs of current and future Maidstone residents, providing enough homes for all ages, needs and incomes.
Maidstone's objectively-assessed housing need - the number of homes required for our future population as identified, reviewed and agreed by independent experts - for the twenty years up to 2031 is 18,560 new homes.
More than 9,000 of those have already been built or have planning permission. A further 3,500 are in broad locations in Maidstone town centre, Maidstone Barracks and Lenham - these sites are for potential future development after 2026.
The Local Plan identifies locations for the remaining 6,000 homes needed for residents by 2031. We refer to these locations as "allocated sites" and they are where we would allow housing development. There is a policy for each individual site which includes things like the acceptable housing density on the site, where access would be from,
and required community infrastructure and open space; any planning application would need to meet the policy to be approved.
The Plan includes policies to provide affordable homes, and plans to provide 960 care and nursing bed spaces for the elderly by 2031 - some of which have already been provided.
Countryside and Open Spaces
The best way to protect our countryside is to allocate specific sites for development, so that we can fight
wildlife. Developers will be expected to pay towards things like play areas, public open spaces and sports pitches.
The Environment Agency assesses the flood risk for all sites, and it has not objected to any of those that made it into the draft plan - many other sites were rejected. Before any houses are built, there will be a full assessment and schemes prepared to prevent flooding as part of the planning application process.
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