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Stoke Road Development

 Final Days to submit your views - What can you do?

It is expected that the Planning Application will go to the Medway Planning Committee on the 23rd September 2026. Even if the committee members vote to refuse the application, the developer can appeal against that decision and a Planning Inspector will decide if the decision is upheld or development approved. There is experience elsewhere on the peninsula that a Planning Officer's report to that committee is vital - if it recommends approval than the inspector is likely to allow the development to proceed! So it important that any objections are with Medway Planning Department by the end of August before that report is written and approved by the department before submitting it to the Planning Committee.

A word and PDF template is provided that you can use (supplied by Cllr Pearce) - and submit y post or email to Medway Planning.

If this application is approved there is no appeal for the objectors, if the application is refused, the developer can appeal that decision - if that happens there will be further information and the Parish Council will take a robust position to support the refusal!

 

The Catesby's proposal for 350 dwelling either side of Stoke Road (including down Binney Road) has been the subject of detailed consultation, presentations and hundreds of objections from local residents and organisations. We understand that the housing number has now been reduced to 330, but that will not reduce the impact that such a development would have on the village of Allhallows.

The Parish Council (a statutory consultee on all plans in the parish of Allhallows) has submitted a number of objections to the general and detailed plans since January. It also commissioned a detailed technical report on the development's impacts. The council agreed to fund a Road Safety Audit (not a mandatory requirement) and when we approached the organisation who had carried out similar work in St Mary Hoo they said they were unable to do the work. Another organisation were approached (THaT Consultancy) to see if they could do the work and they identified the scope and content of their report which was agreed by the parish council. That report was based on the latest technical requirements of the Department of Transport and focussed on the potential impacts of the development and strongly recommended that the application be refused. SEE REPORT

A Road Safety Audit is normally commissioned by a Highway Authority or developer, especially when new roads are proposed (there are no 'external' roads proposed) and there are a list of technical requirements that are not available to a parish council or the technical knowledge to assess the results i.e.  Project Brief, Location Plan (supplied by PC), Traffic Flow and Speed data. 3 year Injury Collision Data, Departures and relaxations from highway standards and transport assessment/travel plan/planning statement - the later information is not held by the PC but the Highway Authority or the Developer.

The developer is seeking to get 'outline' approval while there is no current Medway Local Plan in place (the 2041 Local Plan has been subject to considerable public consultation over many years  and has now reached the final stages with a submission to the Planning Inspector for approval - it does not include the proposed site for development (a strong reason for refusal, but does not carry the weight of a fully adopted Local Plan). With no Local Plan (and sufficient allocated land to satisfy national housing targets for Medway) the assumption is that suitable development should be approved).

There is strong objection to the proposals, especially the use of Stoke Road by pedestrians (no pavements and no practical way they could be provided). The developer did suggest Binney Road/St Davids Road as an alternative, but it was pointed out that the same problem existed and even worse as the road was very narrow), the developer has suggested a zig-zag route across Bonney Road and down Allsaints Road and St Matthews Way and down St Andrews Walk alleyway - the PC have also pointed out the shortcomings of that route as well.