VIEWS NEEDED ON NEW PLANNING DOCUMENT

Local people are being asked for their views on a major new planning document, that sets out how Thanet will change and develop until the year 2026.

The draft version of the Core Strategy for the Local Development Framework has been developed following previous consultation and, when it's finally adopted, it will provide the "big picture" about how Thanet will look in the future.

The document sets out a vision, which is for people to recognise Thanet as a desirable place to live and work, and that the whole community is more settled, healthier, better educated, fulfilled, confident, and able to access a full range and quality of services, homes, jobs and training.

The Core Strategy also has specific targets on a number of different themes:

Housing.
Thanet will need 7,500 new homes between 2006 and 2026, in line with the South East Plan, with 20% of these on land at Nash Road and New Haine Road, Westwood. The rest will be built on already developed land, with no major development planned for Thanet's villages. The emphasis will be on building houses and bungalows, rather than flats.
Economy and employment
The aim is to attract new businesses to Thanet to create jobs and to support the growth of existing business. Kent International Airport and Manston Business Park will be the main locations for large-scale development that creates jobs. Some existing land, already allocated for employment, will also be kept at Eurokent and Thanet Reach. The Port of Ramsgate will be promoted as Kent's second cross-Channel port and a base for servicing offshore wind turbines and marine engineering.
Westwood
This will continue to develop as Thanet's principal retail centre and a residential and business community. The plan supports relocating Thanet College to a site next to the Canterbury Christ Church University campus and supports Jackey Baker's as the area's major sports venue.
Coastal towns
Although there is support for the town centres in Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Margate, priority will be given to Margate and redeveloping it with a mix of leisure and cultural facilities. Dreamland will be a new visitor destination, based on a heritage theme park, together with enabling development, including residential, specialist themed retail, food, drink and leisure. Policies will also support the contraction of the High Street to a more viable retail heart in the lower High Street, alongside the Old Town. In the upper High Street, replacement of disused or underused commercial premises with residential accommodation will be permitted.

The Core Strategy also supports work in the Margate Central and Cliftonville West wards to tackle deprivation there, such as restoring mixed and settled communities, improving homes and the street scene, and encouraging new business, including improved holiday accommodation.
In Ramsgate, support will be given to a mix of leisure, tourism, retail and residential around the waterfront area and new retail development within or adjacent to the town centre, such as the Staffordshire Street Car Park.

Little intervention is proposed for Broadstairs, where the emphasis will be on conserving and enhancing its unique charm as a residential and visitor location.

The document also sets out the importance of good design, sustainable development and protecting the green wedges between the towns and the coast and countryside.

Leader of the Council, Cllr. Sandy Ezekiel, said: "A great deal of work has already gone into developing the draft version of the Core Strategy and it's very much the result of feedback that we've had from local people and organisations. Now we need people's views, before the document is finalised, so that we can see whether our work is going in the right direction. The Core Strategy is arguably the most important document produced by the council, as it sets out how our area will develop and look over the next few years. This is your chance to have your say and I hope that local people will take the opportunity to read through the document and give us their views on what it says."

The consultation runs until Friday 18 December 2009 and you can pick up a full copy of the Core Strategy, or a summary version, from Thanet's Gateway Plus and at libraries across the area. It can also be viewed online at www.thanet.gov.uk Online, you can make comments and answer the consultation's questions by registering to comment at http://consult.thanet.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti

All comments must be made in writing and they will be open to public inspection and cannot be treated as confidential.