protect our green belt from development
Some facts……………..
GBC= Gravesham Borough Council
- GBC want to select a growth scenario based on historical or estimated trends in housing demand. None of the scenario's take into account the 5250 new homes being built at Ebbsfleet Valley on the Gravesham boundary.
- GBC say the economy's downturn has had an adverse effect on the viability of many of the housing and commercial schemes. So why are they planning to continue build homes at the same rate?
- The brown field Northfleet Embankment West site was due to have 2650 dwellings built on it. In the document that identifies a shortfall in development land it now says 150.
- GBC are favouring using the brown field Northfleet Embankment West site for employment. The report commissioned by the land owner suggests 3600 jobs could be created, in our view the document is flawed. The key feature of Northfleet Embankment is its access to the Thames. The reports only two case studies are inland sites, the report goes as far as excluding other ports from its data. Thamesport only employs 300 people.
- If GBC prefer to use residential land for commercial purposes to reduce unemployment, building those homes elsewhere in the borough cancels out any benefit.
- GBC say that they need to build more single occupancy homes. However they have based their estimates on land required to build those homes at 30 dwellings per hectare, 30 homes per hectare would be a 2/3 bedroom dwelling.
- If GBC opt for their preferred growth scenario (5200 homes) they will not have a shortfall until 2022, their own document states this. GBC only have to prove they have a 5 year supply of deliverable housing sites
- GBC are proposing a 20 year core strategy, all the other neighbour boroughs are 15 years. Reducing the strategy to 15 years would reduce the amount of land required for homes.
- GBC documents indicate that other than the Ebbsfleet Valley, Canal Basin, Northfleet East and Grove Road developments, there will be no other development throughout the whole of the borough for the period 2022-
2031 hence the shortfall. Not a single new property being built elsewhere in the borough we find this highly unlikely.
Please be advised that all the information above is our interpretation of the facts. To verify the accuracy please contact GBC planning department. Feel free to email us admin@gravesham.com if you consider any of the above misleading or inaccurate.
