Call for sites

Swale Borough Council are calling for land and property owners’ help as they develop a new local plan for the borough.

The council are looking for suitable land that has the potential to help deliver the housing and economic development targets imposed by the UK Government.

This call for sites is an important step in the council’s ongoing efforts to review the current Local Plan, Bearing Fruits, which was adopted in 2017.

The Local Plan sets out the planning framework for Swale all the way up to 2040 and will cover important issues such as housing provision, the economy, retail and town centres, infrastructure provision and the environment.

It will also set out policies by which planning applications will be determined, in addition to the allocation of land for housing, employment and other uses.

Whilst there have already been a number of sites submitted as part of the council’s review, they still need to identify additional suitable sites that can help them meet the targets for housing and traveller sites.

The council are particularly interested in previously developed land that may be available for housing in Sittingbourne, including the wider urban area, and rural park home sites.

Cllr Alastair Gould, chair of the Planning and Transportation Policy Working Group, said:

“Reviewing our Local Plan makes sure our planning policies more accurately represent the current needs of the borough.

“The local plan is incredibly important as it is what we use as a guideline for all planning decisions and outlines where future development should take place.

“Frustratingly, the Government has imposed ever increasing housing targets on us as a council and to meet this perceived need, we are being required to find sites for development.

“We are prioritising sites that have previously been developed on. If you own a piece of land that you think would match our aims, please submit it.

“We will always work, within our powers, to make sure development in our borough is sustainable, responsible and to the benefit of our residents.”

Find out more about the call for sites on the council's website.

How to submit a site

You can submit a site by using Swale Borough Council’s online portal https://swale-consult.objective.co.uk/kse.

You will need to submit a new survey/form for each site you want to put forward.

You can submit a site at any time, but if you want your site to be considered for the council’s next Regulation 18 consultation, you will need to submit your site by 14 November 2024.

Any previously submitted sites do not need to be resubmitted unless there are changes to the original submission.

If you would like to check to see if a piece of land has been submitted previously via the Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), Regulation 18 or 19 consultations in 2021, or the previous Call for Sites in 2022, please check the council’s Interactive Map.

If you have previously submitted a site and it is not shown on the interactive map, please email the council at Lpcomments@swale.gov.uk. Please note that even if they identify land as having potential for development, this does not indicate or confirm that they will allocate the site for development or that the council will grant planning permission in the future.

If you have submitted a site previously, and the contact details have changed, please email the council at Lpcomments@swale.gov.uk with updated contact details, referencing the site in question.

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