Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council

Boughton Monchelsea COVID-19 support network

Please get in touch if you need our help

Boughton Monchelsea Volunteers has been set up by the Parish Council to provide support during the COVID-19 crisis to those people within the parish who are self-isolating as a result of symptoms, age or health condition.

We have now delivered flyers to every household in the parish, giving information to residents on how we can help and how to get in touch. 

If you are being supported already by Boughton Monchelsea Helping Hands then please don't worry, this will continue and there is no need to contact us unless you need any further help. 

We are aware that many of you who are or will be self-isolating as a result of symptoms or being 'at risk' due to age or health conditions would under normal circumstances be leading fully independent lives.

If you are self-isolating then you have to protect yourself and others by staying at home for the relevant period of time but we're here to assist in any way we can. We can help with things like picking up shopping and urgent supplies but whatever your need is just get in touch. This is not just for the elderly, it's for every one of us here in Boughton Monchelsea.

Please contact your local Volunteer Coordinator if you need any help at all, we will be happy to assist.

Contact details for all the Coordinators are shown below. 

For further information, support and links please click on the 'COVID-19 support' tab above.

Langley Park development comprises Baker Road, Bowles Road, Bridger Road, Burchett Place, Edmett Way, Gates Drive, Hayward Road, Hook Way, Laight Road, Lamkin Way, Latter Road, Saunders Field, Shoebridge Drive, Stevens Walk, Wenham Drive and Winch Close

Furfield Park development comprises Furfield Chase, Long Shaw Close, Penfold Gardens, Ragstone Fields and Thomas Rider Way

Joywood development comprises Bodkins Close, Brooker Close, Firmin Avenue, Foster Clarke Drive, Harling Close, Joywood, Lockham Farm Avenue, Morris Close, Pested Bars Road and Petlands

Wierton and everywhere south of Heath Road comprises Back Lane, Chart Hill Road, Church Hill, East Hall Hill, Hermitage Lane, Loddington Lane, Lower Farm Road, Park Lane, Peens Lane, Wierton Hill and Wierton Road

Boughton Monchelsea Neighbourhood Plan

We have now reached an important and exciting stage in the development of our Neighbourhood Plan for Boughton Monchelsea.  The Plan (along with other accompanying documents required by law) has been submitted to Maidstone Borough Council.  The next steps are for MBC to organise a formal consultation, and all the comments submitted at that stage will be considered by an independent Examiner.  You can find out more about this process below.   

You can see all the documents we have submitted below, and here is a brief explanation of each.  

Neighbourhood Plan draft March 2020  – this sets out planning policies which, if we are successful in the independent Examination and subsequent referendum, will be used by MBC to help make planning decisions in the parish.

Consultation Statement  and Appendices 2019 – this describes all the community consultation the Parish Council have carried out on the Plan as it was drafted, and how your comments have shaped its contents.   

Basic Conditions Statement  2020 -  a Neighbourhood Plan  has to meet various legal requirements, known as the “Basic Conditions”.  This document explains how the Plan complies.  It also lists all the publicly available sources of information used to help develop the Plan.  

Environmental Statement 2019 – this is another legal requirement, and it explains why key national bodies consider that the Plan does not require a Strategic Environmental Assessment or a Habitats Regulation Assessment.

We have also submitted key pieces of information and reports which were compiled specifically for Boughton Monchelsea to help us develop the Plan:

Colvin and Moggridge, Boughton Monchelsea Landscape Management and Masterplan 2018 – this report was prepared by landscape architects to help the Parish Council understand, maintain and improve the landscape of the parish in partnership with landowners.  

Colvin and Moggridge, Boughton Monchelsea Priority Local Landscape 2019 – this report by landscape architects identifies an area of high quality landscape which is proposed for protection in the Neighbourhood Plan

Boughton Monchelsea Housing Needs Survey 2018, Action for Rural Communities Kent – this report supports the Plan’s policies on housing

A folder of additional parish-specific Evidence on Flood Risk, MBC Housing Register and Housing Density – these are shorter documents which support the Plan’s policies on locally important topics   

What Happens Next?

MBC will check all the documents to make sure we have submitted everything which is necessary.   If so,  MBC will  then arrange and carry out a further formal  consultation. An independent Examiner will then be appointed who will review the documents and all the comments made during the consultation, and issue a final report. Any final changes to the plan will then be made and MBC will organise a local referendum in the parish. A simple majority in favour would mean that the plan is adopted and becomes part of the development plan used by MBC to make planning decisions. We are working towards formal adoption of the plan in 2020 and will continue to keep you updated on progress

On behalf of the Parish Council I would like to thank you for your input to date and hope we can rely on your continued support in getting our Neighbourhood Plan adopted, thus allowing us to properly influence and manage any future development in our parish.

Cllr Doug Smith

Chairman of Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council Planning Committee

Update on local needs affordable housing at Lyewood

We are pleased to let you know that the first of the local needs affordable homes at Lyewood will be ready for occupation very soon. There are 34 affordable homes in total, 24 of these are rented for which you need to be registered on Maidstone Borough Council’s housing list (eligibility criteria applies). 5 of the homes are shared ownership and the remaining 5 are shared equity.

We have passed on all the register of interest forms we have received and the housing association, Town & Country Housing Group www.tchg.org.uk have advised that they will soon be in touch with all those who have expressed an interest in the shared ownership homes.

We are advised that the first of the affordable rented homes will be ready to bid on via the Kent Homechoice website in the coming days. If you are registered on MBC’s housing list and fit the local needs criteria we suggest you keep a close eye on the site www.kenthomechoice.org.uk so you are ready to bid as soon as the properties ‘go live’.  Please note that the Parish Council has no more involvement in this process so if you have any queries regarding your eligibility or the process itself you must contact Maidstone Borough Council’s housing officer for further advice www.maidstone.gov.uk

We are advised that the first homes ready will be as follows :

Rented – 5 homes initially, 3 no. 2 bed semi-detached and 2 no. 1 bed maisonettes (1 ground floor, 1 first floor)

Shared ownership – 3 homes initially, 2 no. 3 beds and 1 no. 2 bed

If you are interested in the shared equity properties please contact Crest Nicholson directly via the Lyewood sales office.

Update on Maidstone Borough Council’s Call for Sites

There is a lot of concern and misunderstanding relating to Maidstone Borough Council’s latest Call for Sites. The following information will be of interest.

The Call for Sites is a process whereby MBC ask for land to be nominated that could be suitable for future housing, employment, retail, leisure, infrastructure and Gypsy & Traveller development for the forthcoming Local Plan Review. This is a normal process in the production of a Local Plan.

Having an up to date Local Plan is key to keeping local control over new development.  Without an up to date Local Plan in place, it is highly likely that planning applications will be approved on appeal by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate for developments which MBC considers are inappropriate. Additionally, if MBC does not make progress with its Local Plan Review, the Government could decide to take over its plan-making powers and prepare the Local Plan itself.

The latest sites have been put forward by landowners and/or prospective developers to MBC as part of its Local Plan review process. At the point of release (4 November 2019) no decisions have been taken on these sites. Not all sites will be needed for the Local Plan review and many will be deemed unsuitable.

Will all sites be delivered? No. The sites that have been submitted are an expression of interest by the landowner or developer with, currently, no input from Maidstone Borough Council. It provides the council with a long list of potential sites from which to choose. The land that has been submitted is very much more land than will be needed for the circa 1,236 new homes/year which the Government says need to be built in our borough from 2022, an increase from circa 800, which the Local Plan Review needs to plan for. These figures are calculated by MBC using central Government methodology which dictates that 300,000 new homes must be delivered each year throughout the country.

MBC will now assess the suitability of each site.  This work will feed into their Local Plan Review, which will be subject to future public consultations and an independent examination by an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State.

Further information is available as follows :

Borough wide map :

https://www.maidstone.gov.uk/__data/assets/image/0019/316342/Map-of-All-Sites1.jpg

Detailed site by site information :

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uCH4Q8tjIZpNECOItl7bkPAB5C5L5ZCF

It must be stressed that :

• no decisions on any sites have been made by MBC
• there are many more sites than required
• many will be deemed to be unsuitable
• many of the sites are re-submissions of those that were unsuccessful on the previous call for sites

Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council - general information

Boughton Monchelsea comprises two wards, north and south. South ward consists of the village and outlying rural areas, including the hamlets of Wierton, The Quarries, Marlpit, Cock Street and Rabbits Cross. North ward comprises the newer developments off Brishing Lane and the new housing site at Langley Park.

Boughton Monchelsea Parish Council is the first tier of local government, with 15 Councillors. 11 of the members serve south ward and 4 serve the north. We meet every other month, usually at 7pm on the first Tuesday of the relevant month. We also hold regular Planning Committee meetings. Both Council and planning meetings are open to the public and press.

The Parish Council represents the local community, delivers services to meet local needs and aspires to improve quality of life for all our parishioners.