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Plan ‘will put us back in control’
THE days of speculative building are coming to an end, with Maid- stone council’s Local Plan likely to be approved by the autumn. That is the view of Maidstone Bor-
ough Council’s head of strategic planning, sustainability and trans- portation, following a further two “opportunistic” plans which were thrown out by a government inspec- tor on appeal . “It will see Maidstone regain con-
trol of its own planning destiny,” says Cllr David Burton (pictured). “We have seen a flurry of applica- tions taken to appeal while our Local Plan has been absent. Now we are moving into new terrain, with the plan gainingweight each day.” He cited Gleeson Homes’ plan for
225 properties at Fant Farm, near Barming, which was refused by Maidstone council and fought by campaigners for three years before recently failing on appeal. With the Local Plan in draft form
when he joined the council six years ago, he said: “I am hopeful we will have a fully-adopted LocalPlan later this year, after years of work. “We have got a plan that recog-
nises the need for development and how we intend to achieve that, meaning opportunistic develop- ments can be refused unless they in- corporate opportunities that are truly remarkable. It means that Maidstone will be back in control of its own planning destiny.” Maidstone and the Weald MP
Helen Grant added: “I hope Maid- stone Borough Council will take heart that its refusals are being vin-
MAIDSTONE Borough Council is undertaking a detailed review of three major causes of congestion. The public is to be consulted on parking and bus services, with a survey on the public’s attitude to park and ride (P&R) completed. Cllr David Burton, chairman of
the borough’s strategic planning, sustainability and transportation committee, said: “The public told us it didn’twant another park and ride at Linton and no longer believes it is the way forward for Maidstone, so the council has taken a step back.” He says park and ride closure at Eclipse Park saved the council £300,000 a year, at the expense of 300 core users, many of whom transferred to P&R stations inWill- ington Street and the London Road. Cllr Burton said: “We have sta-
bilised our park and ride offering and are looking at other areas to tackle the congestion issue. How- ever,we will return to park and ride
dicated, and perhaps developers will nowbe less confident in appealing.” It follows another steep learning
curve for Maidstone Council, which has faced applications for solar farms in the region, with what Cllr Burton describes as only “vague guidance” from government. How- ever, this has worked in the borough council’s favour, he believes. Arecent proposal for nearly 64,000
solar panels on arable land at Great Pagehurst Farm, in Staplehurst,was also rejected on appeal, after having been refused by the parish and bor- ough councils. He said: “The government is right
to encourage renewable energy as a sustainableway forward for society in general. Solar farms are not desig- nated and so they can be proposed pretty much anywhere. “However, the council has set a
high bar, creating its own case law by insisting that these are in accept- able locations.”
Traffic congestion reviewed
if more people wish to use it. We have access to another site at the bottom of Blue Bell Hill.” A spokesman for Maidstone council said: “The council is re- viewing the park and ride service as the current contract ends in 2018.A report will be sent to strategic plan- ning, sustainability and transport committee by July 2017.” Cllr Burton says more informa-
tion is being gained from the public on other possible moves, such as upgrading Maidstone bus station or creating transport hubs at locations such as the old Royal Mail sorting office near Maidstone East station. Cllr Burton said junction im-
provements were on the cards, in- cluding feeder lanes on theAshford Road where it joins Willington Street. Other plans include investi- gations to improve the Coldharbour junction of the M20. He said: “The early data from the Maidstone gy- ratory shows it is improving jour- ney times.”
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