The Planning Policy Manager introduced the report.

The Chair invited Members to make comments, which included:

·         Agreed with the removal of site CFS47;

·         some proposed sites would be suited to small-scaled developments as they were located in rural areas;

·         needed to limit the potential sites on the local area and needed to keep designs within keeping of other buildings;

·         it was not ideal to have large HGV’s using rural, small country lanes to get to the sites;

·         could more be done at Ridham Dockyard as it had the benefit of using the waterway usage and freight services were nearby?;

·         rail freight at Ridham Dockyard was already in place, the site needed to be included in the local transport plan;

·         officers should explore and seek for small-scaled employment land opportunities;

·         what lobbying could the council do to get more land allocated for employment use and for schools to be included as employment land?;

·         the Iwade area did not need any large scale developments but more employment type developments for the number of residents that lived in the area, why were there no sites recommended in Iwade?;

·         it was important to get sites that had a large density of employment;

·         the regulation 18 document allowed the Council to look for more dense employment opportunities; and

·         the Council needed health services such as NHS to come and inform the Council on how much land they needed to deliver acceptable health services to the residents of Swale.

The Planning Policy Manager responded to points raised and said that Ridham Dockyard had some issues in the past with potential contamination and the neighbouring uses causing limitations for redevelopment. This had affected its overall score in the Employment Land Review, but she assured the working group that it was still a site that would be considered by officers as potential employment site development.

The Planning Policy Manager referred to the point made about any lobbying that could be done and advised that it was not proposed in the NPPF for schools to be included in the employment land opportunities so was not something that officers could recommend or look at. She added that there were no sites put forward in the Iwade area when officers went out for the call for sites of employment.

Councillor Mike Whiting moved the following motion: That the Working Group asked the Leader of Council to write a letter, to the Local Government Authority (LGA), seeking to persuade the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Deputy Prime Minster to include education and health as employment land, in the employment land calculations. This was seconded by Councillor Mike Baldock. On being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

Councillor Mike Baldock proposed that sites CSF30 and 47 be removed from the list and that CSF50 site be removed if there was no housing development put forward on the site. This was seconded by the Vice-Chair. On being put to the vote, the proposal was carried. 

Resolved:

(1)  That the potential employment sites available for allocation through the Local Plan be noted.

(2)  That the preferred sites set out in the officer’s report, with the exclusion of sites CSF30 and CSF47 and CSF50 if no housing development be put forward to the site, be recommended to the Policy and Resources Committee for allocation, for consultation through the Reg 18 Local Plan.

(3)  That the Leader of the Council writes a letter, to the Local Government Authority (LGA), seeking to persuade the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Deputy Prime Minister to include education and health as employment land, in the employment land calculations.