Rother Local Plan 2020-2040 (Regulation 18)

The council notes and supports Proposed Policy ENV6: Sustainable Access and Recreation Management Strategy applying to the Dungeness Complex of sites that crosses into Folkestone & Hythe District (as shown on Figure 45). The council supports the policy wording: ‘Appropriate measures either on or off-site will be secured as part of a planning permission either by condition or legal agreement’.

The council notes the findings of Rother District Council’s Habitats Regulations Assessment, particularly paragraph 6.19, which states:

‘It is therefore considered in this HRA that all net new housing within this 10km zone within Rother and Folkestone & Hythe, given this is where the majority of regular visitors live and regular visitors to a site tend to have a disproportionate impact from occasional visitors, could make a disproportionate ‘in combination’ contribution to recreational pressure in the Dungeness Complex to such an extent that mitigation would be required.’

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has adopted local plans for the district, the Places & Policies Local Plan (2020) and Core Strategy Review (2022). The evidence base for these plans included viability assessments that assessed the impact of existing and proposed local plan policies and Community Infrastructure Levy requirements on development viability across the district. However, the evidence did not assess the impact of any additional cross-border mitigation for the Dungeness complex that would go beyond what is already required by policies CSD4 of the Core Strategy Review and NE1 of the Places & Policies Local Plan. Folkestone & Hythe will therefore not be able to levy any additional contributions from developments within the 10km zone within the Folkestone & Hythe district until the council reviews its own local plan and accompanying HRA and viability evidence.

We recognise, however, that recreational impacts on the Dungeness complex are an important cross-border issue that needs to be addressed in partnership. As set out in our response to your letter on unmet housing need, the district council is undertaking early work on a new local plan for Folkestone & Hythe to meet the requirements of the 2023 Levelling Up and Regeneration Act. We would welcome the opportunity to work with Rother District Council as part of the new local plan to explore whether a joint mechanism could be created to mitigate the impacts of development on the Dungeness complex, creating a clear and consistent set of requirements for developers across the two districts.