Sittingbourne Future Plans
We are going to try and provide an outline of what is and what has not been proposed in terms of the development of Sittingbourne until 2031. We also hope that we will be able to provide updates on the progress of elements of these plans when they arise.We aim to make this understandable, but provide some detail if you want to dig a bit deeper and whilst the plan is for the whole of Swale, there will be a focus on those elements directly affecting Sittingbourne and the surrounding villages.
So what’s the plan?
Well over what is now the next 18 years, as technically the plan starts from 2011 until 2031, Swale Borough Council have drawn up what they call the ‘Local Plan’.We are currently in the third and final phase of consultation before the plan is vetted by an independent Government appointed Inspector.
Just for reference this plan has previously been referred to as ‘Pick Your Own’, ‘Bearing Fruits’ and the ‘Core Strategy’.
So in a nutshell by 2031 the Council is proposing the following, by please bear in mind some of this may have already occurred because we are already 2 years in and it can be quite difficult to extract out the numbers of what has already happened, so I’m simply reiterating the numbers which are shown in the plan itself.
- 7,053 jobs
- 10,800 houses
- To complete the Northern Relief Road
- An additional lane on the A249 at Stockbury Roundabout.
- Possibly a private motorway junction for the exclusive use of the Kent Science Park.
- Sittingbourne town centre redevelopment.
And for clarity here is what is not included in the plan period, because it is not considered viable in the time frame.
- No major improvements to the M2 Junction 5
- No Sittingbourne Southern Relief Road
- No mitigation for huge volume of additional traffic caused by completing the Northern Relief Road along the A2 between Bapchild and Faversham
- No larger scale expansion of the Kent Science Park
- None of the jobs or housing associated with the Port of Sheerness Wind Farm Plant.