Council submits its views on Local Plan

Edenbridge Town Council has responded to Sevenoaks District Council’s most recent stage of consultation on its new Local Plan, which ran from 27 November 2023 to 11 January 2024.

Edenbridge Town Council’s response to Local Plan Regulation 18

Plan 2040 is an important document that sets out what can be built and where over the next 15 years. This latest consultation, called ‘Regulation 18 (Part 2)’ continued to focus on development opportunities in built up areas but also proposed potential Green Belt land for development including sites in Edenbridge such as Breezehurst Farm and Crouch House Road.

Councillors agreed to engage a planning consultant to ensure we submitted the best possible representation for Edenbridge. Overall, the Council believes that the amount of additional Green Belt proposed for release around Edenbridge, when taken together with already committed Green Belt release, is excessive and disproportionate when compared to other towns in the district such as Sevenoaks and Swanley.

The Council supports certain sites for development, such as Edenbridge War Memorial Hospital and Leathermarket. However, the Council objects to certain development proposals, such as Breezehurst Farm, where it considers that the scale of housing development and the release of the site would represent an excessive level of growth for Edenbridge during the plan period, when considered together with Green Belt development already committed and other Green Belt sites around the town also proposed for release.

Once Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) has analysed all of the responses it will publish a revised version of the Local Plan later this year when residents will have another opportunity to comment on the proposals – this is formally known as the ‘Regulation 19’ consultation.

A summary report of the consultation will be presented to SDC’s Development and Conservation Advisory Committee on 26 March 2024.

The Local Development Scheme (LDS, July 2022) outlines the timetable and the next steps for the Local Plan:

• Reg.18 (Draft Local Plan consultation – Part 2) – autumn/winter 2023

• Reg.19 (Plan publication) – spring 2024

• Reg.22 (Submission) – summer 2024

• Reg.22 (Submission) – summer 2024

For further background: https://www.edenbridgetowncouncil.gov.uk/residents-urged-to-comment-on-new-local-plan/

https://www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/plan2040

Source: edenbridgetowncouncil.gov.uk