And a date for your diary. At the Shepway Cabinet meeting on 19th October the planning application for Princes Parade will be on the agenda “Further to the resolution of Cabinet on the 13th April 2016 (Report C/16/98) this report seeks agreement on the detail and nature of the proposed planning application.” The relevant papers won’t be published until the week before. Cabinet meetings are usually at 5pm.
Why is the local plan consultation so important?
We’re going to be talking a lot about the upcoming local plan consultation over the next few weeks because it’s crucial that you all understand why it’s so important that everyone submits comments objecting to the proposals for Princes Parade. If PP is allocated as a development site in the final version of the Local Plan then that would effectively mean that the principle of development on the site had been agreed and any planning application submitted at that stage would just be a formality. Of course things are complicated by the fact that Shepway seem determined to submit a planning application before the local plan has been finalised but we still need you all to take part in the consultation.
Shepway Local Plan – Draft Preferred Options
The next Local Plan Consultation is on the agenda for next week’s cabinet meeting. Cabinet members are being asked to approve the latest draft preferred options document and the consultation arrangements. As we already knew Princes Parade has been identifed as the site for the new leisure centre and 150 new homes. The main document (page 79 onwards) refers to an appropriate mix of flats, terraced town houses and pavilion housing along the seafront. It says there is an opportunity for 8 self build/custom build and also refers to discussions with the Hythe Sailing Club although as we know the members have voted not to move to Princes Parade. There is also a policy about community facilities in Hythe (ie the leisure centre) on p242. Appendix 1 (page 356) lists the reasons why the Imperial Golf Course has been deemed not suitable for development. Page 344 lists the “saved policies” that are being deleted. The ones relating to PP are TM8 (recreation) which it says “is no longer required” and LR9 (open space) “Covered by NPPF and Policy C3”. Appendix 2 lists the sites that were considered as open spaces including PP but it gives no reasons why the sites were not included. Subject to cabinet approval the public consultation will open on 30 Sept for 6 weeks so watch this space and we will tell you how you can take part and object to the inclusion of PP as a development site. http://www.shepway.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s20276/rcabt20160914%20appendix%20to%20places%20and%20policies.pdf
There is also a summary of the responses to the last local plan consultation and an attempt to explain how those responses have been taken into account in drawing up this new document. PP is on page 28. Note that they haven’t listed all the respondees as there were too many of us!
http://www.shepway.gov.uk/…/rcabt20160914%20appendix%202%20…
Photo Competition
We are organising a photography competition for pictures of Princes Parade in the following categories: Wildlife, Landscape, People, A Children’s photograph (taken by under 16’s) and finally the people’s choice (we will organise a vote on the day!).
We will be holding an exhibition of the finalists in Seabrook Hall on Saturday the 1st October 2016 at 2.00 to 4pm when the competition results will be announced and prizes awarded.
Post your photos on the Picture Princes Parade Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/395025594001492/ or email them to info@saveprincesparade.org
We will compile the entries from there!
This will also be another opportunity to talk to us about Shepway’s proposals for Princes Parade and assuming that Shepway’s Local Plan Consultation opens on schedule in the autumn you will also be able to discuss with us how you can take part in it.
Shepway’s Broken Promises
In May 2014 Shepway published a newsletter about their plans for Princes Parade. This promised that “a small number of quality houses is also proposed to help meet local housing needs within the district.” How did we get from that to 150 new homes? In answer to the question “Won’t development have a negative visual impact on many residents?” the answer was “The council is insisting on low-profile,eco-friendly designs and is committed to minimising the visual impact on the surrounding area.” So why does the recent scoping report for the Envirnmental Impact Assessment refer to 4 storey buildings? And how could a leisure centre ever be low profile anyway?
The July 2014 newsletter said “a legally binding covenant be drawn up to protect the proposed parkland and open space from any future development proposals not directly related to the site’s leisure and educational objectives”. Something else that seems to have been forgotten.
And why haven’t Shepway published a Princes Parade newsletter since then?
Environmental Impact Assessment
Shepway’s consultants Tibbalds have identified the fact that the proposed development on Princes Parade will have a significant impact on the area and have concluded that an Environment Impact Assessment is necessary. They have therefore submitted a document to Shepway’s planning department setting out the scope of such an assessment should the planners agree that one is necessary. They have assessed the various possible impacts as low, medium or high with the possible impacts including the effect on the canal and visual amenity. The public can read the Tibbalds report and submit comments on it via the link below but please note this is not an opportunity to object to development on the site. http://searchplanapps.shepway.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=OAZD4JNZ05900
Reminder about March
Just a reminder about the march on Saturday – 10.30 at Douglas Ave Hythe. We believe that the organisers will be collecting donations for their cause. Save Princes Parade will not be involved in this as we don’t take donations in this way. However if you would like to make a pledge towards any future legal action specific to PP please send us an email to info@saveprincesparade.org.
Contacting Shepway
Shepway have now told us that the best email address to contact them on is princes.parade@shepway.gov.uk not info@princesparade.co.uk. If you haven’t yet written your email setting out why you object to development on PP please do so today and copy us in noreply@saveprincesparade.org. People are sometimes a bit nervous about what to write but all the emails we’ve seen so far have been brilliant – nothing beats the personal touch. And don’t forget to sign up for updates from Shepwayhttp://www.princesparade.co.uk/outline-programme.html. They are promising to hold an exhibition.
Protest March Sat Aug 6th
If you’ve seen the front page of today’s Express you will see that a march is planned for Sat 6th August to raise awareness of all the major developments proposed in the Hythe area including Otterpool, the lorry park and Princes Parade. Save Princes Parade have been invited to join in and we hope lots of you will join us as this is an excellent opportunity to spread the word about our campaign. We are aware that not all our supporters will necessarily be against all the other proposed developments but as this is just a march to increase awareness of what is happening in and around Hythe we think it is appropriate for us to be involved on this occasion. Meet at the corner of Douglas Ave and the A259 in Hythe at 10.30 am. Please wear your Princes Parade T shirts, bring banners etc You can order these from Frizbees in Folkestone 01303 720086. Or you could download our poster here to make a placard:
https://saveprincesparade.co.uk/poster/
Shepway Propaganda
Shepway have relaunched their website www.princesparade.co.uk but none of our concerns are addressed. They say we can submit our views as part of the Places and Policies consultation but that doesn’t open until October and they are intending to present the planning application for Princes Parade in November so it’s not clear how or when our views will be considered – if at all. There is, however, an email address for comments info@princesparade.co.uk so please send a brief email just to say that you object to any development on the site and briefly setting out your reasons. You might like to stress the importance of the site as open space and for wildlife; the harm development might do to the Royal Military canal (which is a scheduled ancient monument) or your concerns about disturbing the contamination. The important thing is to make your comment personal to you – we need Shepway to understand how attached we all are to this wonderful piece of land.
Currently over 3700 have signed our online petition against development. If 3700 people send an email to info@princesparade.co.uk then maybe Shepway will start to listen to us. We would be grateful if you would copy your emails to noreply@saveprincesparade.org so we can monitor how many emails have been sent.