Sadly this planning application was never going to produce a clear cut outcome for our village as it was widely known that the applicant would have gone to appeal had permission been refused.
Our past experience of contentious planning applications going to appeal is that this process does not always produce the right decision as far as our village is concerned and may have resulted in a permission being granted with NO planning conditions attached. The planning process only allows a right of appeal for the applicant.
Although we are extremely disappointed with this outcome we note that the written decision now issued by Gravesham Borough Council advises that further consultation with Higham Parish Council is to take place and that permission has been granted subject to “planning conditions and informatives” being applied.
Your Parish Council will keep you updated regarding progress with this issue on both our website and Facebook pages but we understand that this process could take quite some time.
Linda Carnall, Clerk to Higham Parish Council
Please find below a copy of Higham Parish Council’s objection letter relating to the Nuralite Development within Shone and Higham parishes.
Councillor David Martin, Higham Parish Council
Higham Parish Council
“Following my email last week about the withdrawal of our Development Consent Order application, we’ve now had further dialogue with the Planning Inspectorate about their expectations around our application.
The fundamentals of the Lower Thames Crossing, including its objectives and location, will remain the same but we will further develop some technical information related to some elements of the scheme before we resubmit our application next year.
The feedback from the Planning Inspectorate includes requests for:
The Planning Inspectorate has also shared some feedback from Local Authorities on our approach to consultation.
We’ve held a record-breaking programme of consultation, the most comprehensive ever undertaken for a UK road project with almost 300 days spent in consultation and nearly 90,000 responses received. We provided a significant level of detail on all aspects of the project in a wide range of formats to aid peoples understanding of our proposals.
We will consider this feedback carefully as we refine key areas of our submission ahead of resubmitting our application for a Development Consent Order.
For a project of the size and complexity of the Lower Thames Crossing, it is reasonable for the Planning Inspectorate to ask for further information, and we are doing everything we can to resubmit our application at the earliest opportunity. “
Highways England must now revisit their planning application and revisit these areas before the new application can be submitted. At this stage Higham Parish Council are not aware of the timetable for this, but we will, as ever, keep you posted on our FB page and website.
In the meantime, you may wish to take a look at the following websites
Take a look at Highways England’s new autumn community video newsletter. Highways England have produced this video at the end of over four years of consultation as they prepare their planning application.
Watch the video here:
Read the latest news on the crossing and consultation here:
https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/lower-thames-crossing/latest-news/
Thank your for your continued support.
Higham Parish Council