Planning company RPS and law firm Bircham Dyson Bell have written on behalf of their client RiverOak Strategic Partners (RiverOak) to the Chief Executive of Thanet District Council, Madeline Homer, to set out why a decision to progress the Council’s Local Plan at a full Council meeting on Thursday 18 January would be flawed.
The decision before the Council is whether to submit the Local Plan for examination, and yet much of the evidence on which it should be based is missing or out of date. The Council claims that the airport site is needed for housing, yet has not explained why it rejected so many proposed alternative sites. The Council is in a rush to declare that there is no future for an airport at the site, yet an application to restore the site to airport use is on the verge of being made. The Council has also not properly discharged its duty to co-operate with neighbouring councils such as Dover.
If the Local Plan were to proceed to examination in its current state, it would almost certainly be rejected by an Inspector at the earliest opportunity, setting the Council back to the beginning of the process.
Copies of the letter from Bircham Dyson Bell, sent today, can be viewed by clicking here.