Issue - meetings

Recommendations of the Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee in respect of the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan document and public consultation are ‘to follow’.

Local Plan evidence and documentation is available on:

https://www.tmbc.gov.uk/localplan-evidence

Due to its size Annex 1 – draft Local Plan – has not been included in this agenda and is available via Agenda for Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee on Tuesday, 21st October, 2025, 7.30 pm

Consideration was given to the recommendations of the Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee in respect of starting public consultation on the Tonbridge and Malling draft Regulation 18 Local Plan document.

Due regard was given to the views of the Committee, the financial and value for money considerations, the assessment of risk and the legal implications.  The benefits of progressing a Local Plan in providing clarity on growth and protection, reducing uncertainty for communities and empowering local planning were also recognised. 

However, in recognition of significant concerns in respect of ensuring that infrastructure was developed to support both new and existing communities and in respect of traffic and highways modelling, Cllr Taylor proposed:

(i)              enhanced engagement with infrastructure providers; and

(ii)             that robust transport evidence be ensured for the Local Plan.  

This was seconded by Cllr Mehmet and supported unanimously by Cabinet.

The challenge of meeting Government mandated housing numbers, the importance of community input via public consultation and the need to balance development with infrastructure and transport considerations were also recognised as significant. 

On the grounds of engaging with as many individuals, communities and organisations as possible to help shape the Local Plan and to ensure that future development was delivered in a way that met communities and stakeholder expectations, Cllr Taylor proposed, Cllr Mehmet seconded and Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)             the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation document, Interim Sustainability Appraisal and Draft Active Travel Strategy be approved for an 8-week public consultation period between 10 November 2025 and 2 January 2026;

(2)             any minor changes to the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan document prior to consultation be delegated to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning;

(3)             any minor changes to other supporting documentation shared with Members to date prior to consultation be delegated to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning;

(4)             the agreement of other supporting material to be produced for consultation, including a number of Topic Papers, be delegated to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Leader of the Borough Council and Cabinet Member for Planning;

(5)             the amended Local Development Scheme (October 2025) be approved;

(6)             delegated authority be granted to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Tonbridge Regeneration, to write to infrastructure providers to seek responses to the Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation document;

(7)             the highways work done to date and the further work needed between Regulation 18 and Regulation 19 consultation be noted; and

(8)             delegated authority be granted to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Planning and Infrastructure and Tonbridge Regeneration, to review the specification for highways work and any additional work so it adequately responded to community concerns about highway impacts in order to inform the ongoing assessment of  ...  view the full decision text for item 123

(Decision Notice D250117CAB)

Consideration was given to the recommendations of the Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee in respect of starting public consultation on the Tonbridge and Malling draft Regulation 18 Local Plan document.

Due regard was given to the views of the Committee, the financial and value for money considerations, the assessment of risk and the legal implications.  The benefits of progressing a Local Plan in providing clarity on growth and protection, reducing uncertainty for communities and empowering local planning were also recognised. 

However, in recognition of significant concerns in respect of ensuring that infrastructure was developed to support both new and existing communities and in respect of traffic and highways modelling, Cllr Taylor proposed:

(i)              enhanced engagement with infrastructure providers; and

(ii)             robust transport evidence be ensured for the Local Plan.  

 This was seconded by Cllr Mehmet and supported unanimously by Cabinet.

The challenge of meeting Government mandated housing numbers, the importance of community input via public consultation and the need to balance development with infrastructure and transport considerations were also recognised as significant. 

On the grounds of engaging with as many individuals, communities and organisations as possible to help shape the Local Plan and to ensure that future development was delivered in a way that met communities and stakeholder expectations, Cllr Taylor proposed, Cllr Mehmet seconded and Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)             the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation document, Interim Sustainability Appraisal and Draft Active Travel Strategy be approved for an 8-week public consultation period between 10 November 2025 and 2 January 2026;

(2)             any minor changes to the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan document prior to consultation be delegated to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning;

(3)             any minor changes to other supporting documentation shared with Members to date prior to consultation be delegated to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning;

(4)             the agreement of other supporting material to be produced for consultation, including a number of Topic Papers be delegated to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Leader of the Borough Council and Cabinet Member for Planning;

(5)             the amended Local Development Scheme (October 2025) be approved;

(6)             delegated authority be granted to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Tonbridge Regeneration, to write to infrastructure providers to seek responses to the Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation document;

(7)             the highways work done to date and the further work needed between Regulation 18 and Regulation 19 consultation be noted; and

(8)             delegated authority be granted to the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Planning and Infrastructure and Tonbridge Regeneration, to review the specification for highways work and any additional work so it adequately responded to community concerns about highway impacts in order to inform the ongoing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123

This report seeks approval of the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan document to be published for public consultation. Once agreed, the consultation will run for the statutorily required six-week period, between Monday 10th November and Monday 22nd December 2025.

Local Plan evidence and documentation is available on the website and can be accessed at: https://www.tmbc.gov.uk/localplan-evidence.

Please note that a low-resolution version of the Annexe 1 (Tonbridge and Malling Draft Local Plan) is included in this main agenda and a high-resolution version of the individual Chapters are published as supplements due to the large size of the files.

The report of the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health sought approval of the Tonbridge and Malling Regulation 18 Local Plan document to be published for public consultation. 

If the Local Plan was approved for consultation, then the consultation was proposed to run for six weeks from 10November to 22 December 2025, meeting the statutory duty, allowing local communities and stakeholders to take part in the consultation and share their views on the emerging local plan before finalising the Plan for its last consultation in summer 2026 and before submitting the Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination by December 2026.

This was the second Regulation 18 consultation, the first having been held in 2022.  However, since then, a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) had been published which resulted in a delay to the council’s plan making process so national planning policy changes could be accounted for.  The key implications of these national policy changes included a requirement to meet a much-increased housing need figure as well as a weakening of Greenbelt policy and the introduction of grey belt.  These implications meant that a different approach to meeting the Governments housing target had to be taken than that which was progressing previously under the old NPPF.

In relation to the Local Plan, it looked ahead to 2042 to ensure that the national requirement for a 15-year plan period was met on adoption.  Once adopted, the Local Plan would provide a range of planning policies to help guide development, ensuring that the borough’s needs and priorities were met including the provision of key infrastructure.  The Plan was structured around key themes including climate change, the natural environment, the historic environment, design, housing, the economy, rural development and infrastructure, and officers had met with Members to shape policies in these key areas.  The Plan also put forward draft proposed housing and employment allocations to meet the borough’s needs.

One of the key areas for any Local Plan was the requirement to meet the Government’s assessment of the objectively assessed need for housing and other uses.  The housing need was to deliver 1,097 homes per year.  For an 18-year period from 2024-2042, the minimum housing requirement was to deliver a total of 19,746 homes within the plan period.  Given existing commitments and a windfall allowance, this meant that the Council were required to find land to deliver 12,592 homes.  It had also been advised that a buffer be provided to account for potential non-delivery of developments, however given the constraints in the borough and the lack of suitable sites, this had not been possible at this time.  Further work would be undertaken to address this as the Plan progressed.  Overall, the Plan allocated land to deliver 12,664 homes providing a surplus of only 72 dwellings.  The Council was also required to meet the employment need as well as pitches for the borough’s Gypsy and Traveller communities.  At a minimum, 361,500sqm of employment space and an additional 33 pitches were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43