Huge Blow to Shepway Council's Princes Parade Plans

Campaigners seeking to stop Shepway District Council's development of Princes Parade have been massively boosted by Historic England's who have said that the area "should not be allocated for significant new development in the draft local plan, and that it should remain as largely open green space as per the last Local Plan inquiry and the decision by the Inspector".

The comments were made as a part of Historic England's comments on the Local Plan Preferred Options Consultation in November 2016 as published on the Save Prince's Parade website.

Sandgate Councillor Tim Prater said:

"These comments are a total justifcation of the campaigners who have opposed large scale development of Prinnces Parade throughout. It's also a massive rejection of Shepway Council's increasingly desparate efforts to develop the site despite overwhelming oppostion.

"Simply, Shepway District Council should abandon plans to develop Princes Parade. As Historic England say, Shepway have planning permission to build a swimming pool at Nickells Quarry - they should get on and use it. They should also leave Princes Parade alone - as they've been told for years."

In full, Historic England comments on the Local Plan UA25 Princes Parade, Hythe said:

"Historic England is of the view that this site should not be allocated for significant new development in the draft local plan, and that it should remain as largely open green space as per the last Local Plan inquiry and the decision by the Inspector. This may allow for modest development envisaged in the last Local Plan site specific policy for this site.

"We object to the inclusion of a site specific policy for Princes Parade allocating it for significant development when we are not agreed that in principle this is a sustainable location for major new buildings based on the likely effect of these on the Royal Military Canal designated heritage asset through its setting.

"The draft policy appears to be coached in language that is a justification for a development proposal that Shepway DC has in preparation in its role as the landowner and site promoter. The local plan should objectively provide a framework and guidance about how a sustainable future for the Princes Parade site might be possible taking into account the advice of the NPPF. We have yet to see a detailed scheme proposal for the combination of a new leisure centre, a significant amount of new housing, public open space and other buildings, but based on our knowledge of the site we doubt that this can be achieved without harm to the designated heritage assets. The precise level of any harm will need to be assessed based on precisely what is proposed, but even if the harm is found to be less than substantial within the terms of the NPPF it cannot be assumed that public benefits will be capable of decisively outweighing any harm, as has been determined in recent case law.

"NPPF at para 132 is clear that great weight should be given to the conservation of designated heritage assets, that the significance of these can be harmed through development within their settings, and that any harm to designated heritage assets requires clear and convincing justification. In applying this guidance to a policy for this site the justification for permitting harmful development would have to be established. This would include whether there are alternative solutions that might provide equivalent or similar levels of public benefit but without causing the harm to the heritage asset. As there is an extant permission including for a swimming pool at Nickells Quarry and consideration has been given to other potential sites, including the existing swimming pool site and Hythe Green, we must doubt that the necessity of harmful development at Princes Parade can be established. Issues arising from the timing of implementing any planning permission already granted are not a justification for harmful development in this instance.

"The inclusion of an allocation of a significant amount of new housing at Princes Parade is a further concern for us. It would very likely increase the level of harm beyond that likely to arise from a leisure centre alone. If alternative less harmful locations for new housing exist in the district that allows the Council to meet its objectively assessed housing needs then Princes Parade need not be allocated for this purpose at this time. This may particularly be the case if additional capacity for new housing is identified elsewhere; in particular, the recently announced (11 November 2016) government supported proposal for a Garden Settlement at Otterpool Park may provide the scope for meeting (and even exceeding) that need.

"We note the comments in the supporting text (para 5.171) about this being a "sustainable" location for this kind of development. Sustainable development is defined in the NPPF at para 7 in which it is noted that this has economic, social and environmental roles. The latter includes specific mention of protecting and enhancing the historic environment; the three dimensions of sustainable development are not mutually exclusive and they should be sought jointly and simultaneously. To fail to do so would misrepresent the purpose of the NPPF.

"Under the core planning principles (NPPF 17) there are 12 key topics and one of these is to conserve heritage assets in a manner appropriate to their significance, so that they can be enjoyed for their contribution to the quality of life of this and future generations. In ouropinion sustainability goes beyond such factors as the location of the site close to transport links and existing housing, and for major development at Princes Parade to be shown to be sustainable it must comply with the advice of the NPPF, and hence protect and enhance the designated heritage asset that forms a major feature of the site and its surroundings. We doubt that development on the scale now proposed can achieve this.

"This must affect the weight that is given to avoiding harm and it is not a simple balancing exercise as there is the great weight that must be afforded to conservation of designated heritage assets under NPPF 132, and this shifts the balance towards protecting and enhancing the significances of the site. Heritage benefits such as improvements in the condition of the monument itself whilst welcome are unlikely to outweigh the harm, especially as there may be other ways to secure these without harmful development. Whilst accepting that the topography is changed from when the Royal Military Canal was built one's experience of the Canal would be fundamentally altered if approached and experienced with buildings, however well designed, replacing the current open space which is intrinsic to the setting of the monument."