Cabinet asked for focused consultation on changes to draft Local Plan 

Canterbury City Council’s Cabinet will be asked to give the green light to the latest round of consultation on the draft Local Plan at a special meeting next month. 

If given the go-ahead on Monday 8 September, this will be the fifth time the public has been asked for its views on the plan as it has been developed over the past five years. 

The government requires councils like Canterbury to have a Local Plan in place. It is used to allocate land for new homes, jobs, new schools and community uses.  

Under the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the government has set the district a target of 1,215 new homes being built every year until 2042/2043. 

It is proposed that this consultation, under what is known as Regulation 18, will be targeted solely on: 

• changes to some of the draft strategic site allocations 

• a number of new site allocations 

• Gypsy and Traveller draft policies and allocations 

• what other changes to the NPPF mean for our district 

It is not proposed to consult on the whole draft Local Plan all over again – every single one of the comments received during the previous consultations will be forwarded to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government who will appoint a planning inspector. 

They will then hold a public inquiry, known as an Examination in Person, into the draft plan. 

Leader of the Council Cllr Alan Baldock said: “This latest consultation is just that and no final decisions have been made. 

“Indeed, there will be one more consultation on the full draft, known as Regulation 19, before it is submitted to the Secretary of State who will then appoint a planning inspector. 

“Since the last draft of the plan, we have worked hard to bring as many brownfield sites forward as possible to help unlock regeneration in our city, coastal towns and villages while doing all we can to reduce the pressure on greenfield agricultural land. 

“If all the new proposed brownfield and windfall allocations, which are assumed to be brownfield, go forward to final draft of the plan, they would represent 4,299 homes which would be 34% or a third of the new land identified. 

“Officers have also worked through all the feedback from the last Regulation 18 consultation which resulted in almost 4,000 responses from individuals and organisations. 

“And they have continued to work their way through a huge amount of technical evidence. 

“In light of the consultation responses and lots of other information, officers have listened and proposed changes which we want to hear views on before we move to the next stage. 

“Finally, in light of the recent problems around the supply of water and the longstanding issue of dealing with wastewater, we are also seeking views on how to tackle this while building the homes people desperately need.  

“We need to find effective ways to hold the feet of the water companies to the fire and force them to lift their game.” 

Economic growth and the creation of jobs was at the heart of the last draft. 

Since then, officers have updated the district’s Economic Needs Assessment and work is underway to create bespoke strategies for Canterbury city centre and the town centres in Herne Bay and Whitstable to give them the best possible chance to flourish into the future. 

The new draft also proposes to delete two strategic site allocations listed in the last version: 

• Land to the north of the University of Kent (Policy C12) 

• Land to the north of Hollow Lane (Policy C7) 

The consultation being put before Cabinet also asks the public’s views on a number of new sites as well as restoring the strategic allocation at East Canterbury which was proposed in 2022, then dropped. 

That proposal no longer includes the eastern bypass, otherwise known as the eastern movement corridor, and now includes a new Park and Ride site to cover the A257 Littlebourne Road corridor into the city. 

There are also significant changes proposed to the Merton Park scheme in south west Canterbury including: 

• the removal by Kent County Council of the need to supply a coastbound slip road to the A2 

• the allocation of land for a sports hub to provide high-quality facilities for Canterbury Rugby Club and Canterbury City Football Club 

Cllr Baldock said: “The prospect of finding Canterbury City a home in Canterbury is a really exciting one and has been a long time coming.” 

Up until now the Merton Park boundary included Ridlands Farm which has previously been earmarked for future hospital expansion. 

In the absence of government funding for such a project, it is proposed to remove this land from the Merton Park strategic allocation and instead allocate 310 homes for the site with some land safeguarded for healthcare development. 

The developer originally proposed a Park and Ride scheme but an alternative is now propsed at Thanington Recreation Ground. 

Cllr Baldock said: “Local Plans are designed to enable housing and economic growth to be delivered in a coordinated way while delivering the vital infrastructure that’s needed and protecting our most important green spaces, landscapes and habitats. 

“When housing targets are not met, Local Plans lose their power and we fall into presumption where developers whose schemes follow national rather than local policy get the green light no matter what local people think or feel. 

“It is vital that we have a Local Plan that packs a punch and delivers everything we need.” 

The Cabinet will meet at 7pm on Monday 8 September at the Guildhall in St Peter’s Place, Canterbury. 

You can read the papers for the meeting here. 

Published: 29 August 2025