Local Plan: money to flow out of Herne Bay

Hundreds of homes at Herne Bay are needed to pay for improvements to roads across the district, councillors have revealed.

As the area's draft local plan was discussed in public for the first time on Monday, officials said the developments at Altira Park, Strode Farm and the former golf club, as well as near Briary School, in Greenhill would bring in vital cash to pay for a new crossing at Sturry.

Relief route

Developers would also be asked to fund a "relief route" for Herne - but opponents said it did not go far enough and a bypass was needed. Canterbury City Council's head of regeneration Ian Brown said:

"We are trying to build communities, not just individual housing estates. The Herne Bay sites will provide a new regenerative beginning for the town, a new focus and will contribute to new transport infrastructure. In part that will help to fund routes through and the Sturry bypass."

The plan includes proposals for 1,000 houses at the Altira park, together with a new doctor's surgery and community facilities.

The developers would have to pay for new links to the Thanet Way, work to discourage motorists from using Heart-In-Hand Road and make a contribution to a relief route at Herne and the Sturry crossing.

The golf club scheme - of 400 homes, business units, convenience stores and a sports hub, plus care home and doctor's surgery - would also bring in money for the Herne relief route and Sturry crossing, as well as a new footpath to the Strode Farm development. That site will have 800 homes, business units, shops, a new parish hall and cash for the crossing and relief road.

The final contribution is from 600 homes near Briary School, in Greenhill, along with allotments, and community facilities.

But town stalwart Dick Eburne said the plan to improve Bullockstone Road as the relief route did not go far enough. He raised concerns about transport, and said the public transport system would need significant investment in order to meet the target of more people choosing to travel sustainably within three years. He said Herne needed a bypass and Bullockstone Road was not suitable, and that through traffic on the A28 should be diverted.

Members of the council's overview committee supported more development at Herne Bay rather than Canterbury, where plans for 4,000 homes south of the city, near Nackington Road, were criticised. Lib Dem councillor Nick Eden-Green said:

"Put houses where we need economic development, Herne Bay and Hersden, not south Canterbury."

Studies commissioned by the council suggested most people preferred more developments at Herne Bay then larger villages, then Whitstable, with Canterbury last on the list. [This is a lie - click here to see the truth.]  But 70% of people did not support building on green-field sites.

Planned development at Hersden and Broad Oak would also bring in funding for the road network. Lib Dem leader councillor Alex Perkins said:

"Whether we need this local plan is another matter. I would like to refer it back to the local plan steering group."

His proposal was not supported by the committee, nor was one by Labour's Alan Baldock for an extended consultation period.

Consultation is expected to start in June for eight weeks and the plan is due to be revised by councillors in December, with a public inquiry due to take place next summer before the document is finalised.

HB Times 16th May 2013