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This document has been prepared on behalf of Kitewood Investments Ltd, and sets out the principles behind the promotion of a sustainable urban extension at Hillborough, Herne Bay.
Canterbury City Council is presently in the process of preparing its Local Development Framework including its Core Strategy. This document seeks to inform that process and demonstrates the suitability of the site as a strategic development opportunity at Herne Bay. The site will contribute and deliver significant benefits to Herne Bay and contribute towards delivering Canterbury City Council’s housing requirement and employment needs to 2026.
Herne Bay is a sustainable and attractive coastal settlement to live and work, and is second only in size to Canterbury within the District. Whilst Canterbury is acknowledged as being the principal location for future development, Herne Bay, and to a lesser extent Whitstable play an important and vital role in supporting the delivery of housing in the District. Strategic development is necessary in sustainable settlements within the District in addition to Canterbury, to meet the needs of those settlements and provide a suitable spatial distribution of housing.
In order to demonstrate this, the document uses data that has been extrapolated from Experian which utilises ONS data. Experian is a global leader in providing value added information solutions to organisations and consumers. Experian provides information, analytics, decision-making solutions and processing services.
The site is approximately 77ha and was previously promoted in the Canterbury Local Plan (July 2006) review process and has historically been promoted as far back as 1991 where it was considered by the District Council as a potential mixed-use development allocation. Since that time, a number of nearby sites have come forward for development either as employment or residential sites. These developments demonstrate the potential for the Hillborough area in delivering further mixed-use development at Herne Bay.
The site continues to represent a potential sustainable urban extension on the edge of an existing urban boundary. The site will contribute significantly to:
- Meeting the strategic employment and housing requirements in Herne Bay specifically and the District generally;
- Provide for much needed Affordable Housing in Herne Bay and a range in house types;
- Provision of enhanced social and recreational opportunities including bringing into public use a currently private space;
- Potential improvement to Public Transport including new bus route;
- Improvements to existing Rail Bridges;
- A new neighbourhood centre including retail and community uses;
- A site for a new school;
- Enhancing the vitality and viability of the town itself; and
- Reducing the pressure of development on the edge of Canterbury.
- The site is suitable for a mixed-use allocation in the emerging Core Strategy and presents a good opportunity to provide for a sustainable development to support the wider objectives of the Development Plan in Canterbury.
- Public open space for the use and enjoyment of the new residents and the wider Hillborough community. These areas will also improve biodiversity
- Funding for the provision of public services and infrastructure, including land for a new primary school
- Reducing the pressure for development in less sustainable locations
