Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council Local Plan Paragraph 116 Topic Paper 1. Purpose 1.1. The purpose of this topic paper is to set out the exceptional circumstances for the inclusion of major development within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) as part of the Strategic Site at Borough Green Gardens (Policy LP29) in accordance with paragraph 116 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2012) (NPPF). 1.2. Paragraph 116 states that: “Planning permission should be refused for major developments in these designated areas except in exceptional circumstances and where it can be demonstrated they are in the public interest. Consideration of such applications should include an assessment of; • the need for the development, including in terms of any national considerations, and the impact of permitting it, or refusing it, upon the local economy; • the cost, and scope for, developing elsewhere outside the designated area, or meeting the need for it in some other way; and • any detrimental effect on the environment, the landscape and recreational opportunities, and the extent to which that could be moderated.” 1.3. A small part of the route of the proposed relief road enabled by the development of the strategic site is located within the AONB. Any proposals for development above and beyond the necessary transport infrastructure in the AONB, including residential and/or commercial development would need to be justified in terms of national policy and Local Plan policies LP12 and LP29(6). 2. The need for the development, including in terms of any national considerations, and the impact of permitting it, or refusing it, upon the local economy 2.1. The need for a relief road or Bypass for Borough Green to address issues arising from through traffic using the A25 and A227 has been established for 1 at least 40 years and every iteration of the proposed route throughout that time has been through the AONB. The Kent Downs AONB has been designated for 50 years. The Borough Green and Platt District Plan Main Issues and Choices report of September 1979 noted that there had been a long standing proposal for a bypass to the west of Borough Green, which would divert through traffic out of the town centre and that the District Council would continue to press the Highway Authority (Kent County Council) to deliver the bypass and would safeguard the route in the District Plan. 2.2. The route of a bypass was subsequently shown and safeguarded in the Borough Green and Platt District Plan of 1985. The supporting text noted that the Highway Authority considered the scheme to be of insufficient priority compared with other county road schemes to be included in the current road building programme and therefore the plan concluded that it was not likely to be built within the plan period. However, as an approved county council scheme the line of the bypass was safeguarded by Policy 4.1 in the District Plan, which stated that no development will be permitted, which might prejudice the ultimate construction of the Borough Green Bypass on the alignment shown on the Proposals Map (See below). Extract: Borough Green and Platt District Plan (1985) 2.3. Kent County Council granted planning permission for a ‘Borough Green Bypass from the A25 at Dark Hill roundabout to a new roundabout at A227 Borough Green Road by Wrotham School’ in November 1991 (Application number TM/91/636). The application was for a 7.3m wide single carriageway road 1.75km in length to be known as the Borough Green Bypass. The route was similar to that safeguarded in the Borough Green and Platt District Plan. 2 2.4. The County Planning Officer’s report to the Planning Sub Committee on 15th October 1991 noted that ”The community of Borough Green suffers at the moment form the severance effect of the main traffic routes passing through the village. The bypass will substantially reduce traffic flows through the village particularly of heavy goods vehicles thus reducing pedestrian and traffic conflict and related problems of noise and dust pollution”. 2.5. The report acknowledged that ‘The route passes through the edges of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and through the North Downs Special Landscape Area. This area is also designated Metropolitan Green Belt. Parts of the route are however in a cutting and substantial areas have been reserved for landscaping purposes. The scheme will not affect the wider landscape function of the area. While some trees and hedgerows will be lost, the landscape strategy will provide ample opportunity to introduce a more robust vegetation which will be of more benefit in the longer term’. 2.6. The County Planning Officer’s report concluded that ‘This scheme will only have a minor impact on the local environment and provides ample scope for making a positive contribution to the wildlife and landscape character of the area. In view of the considerable benefits to the community as a whole I fully support the scheme from a strategic planning and environment point of view’. 2.7. The Bypass later appeared in the Kent Structure Plan of 1996 and the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Local Plan of 1998, which effectively brought forward the safeguarding policy from the Borough Green and Platt District Plan of 1985 in the form of Policy 7/7 (see extract below). Extract: Tonbridge and Malling Borough Local Plan (1998) 3 2.8. The bypass was carried forward into the Tonbridge and Malling Local Development Framework as a safeguarded policy. Policy S1 of the Development Land Allocations Development Plan Document (2008) ‘Safeguarding Public Utilities and Infrastructure’ includes under a list of transport schemes the ‘A227 (A25) Borough Green and Platt Bypass – new road’. Once again this was also shown on the Proposal Map (see below). Extract: Tonbridge and Malling Local Development FrameworK Proposals Map. 2.9. The 1991 planning permission has lapsed, but the need for the bypass has been established for at least 4 decades and the indicative route of a new road between the A25 at Dark Hill roundabout to the west of Borough Green and the A227 to the north of the village through the Kent Downs AONB has been agreed in principle. The scheme has not been implemented to date due to a lack of funding. 2.10. A planning application for a new block making factory by H+H Celcon submitted in 2003, included a proposal to construct and fund the bypass, estimated to be in the region of £3m at that time. However, the application was later withdrawn following a public inquiry, during which it was confirmed that the 1991 planning permission for the bypass had in fact expired. 2.11. In 2007 Kent County Council acknowledged that although the 1991 permission had lapsed that the arguments for the bypass remained and that a new planning application would be made within two years. However, primarily due to a lack of identified funding, to date no applications have been made. The scheme was carried forward into the 2006 Kent and Medway Structure 4 Plan, but this indicated that the bypass would need to be either partially or fully funded by development in order to be delivered. 2.12. The inclusion of the Borough Green Gardens strategic site in the Tonbridge and Malling Local Plan delivers a significant contribution towards meeting identified housing and employment needs while enabling the delivery of a new relief road that will not only realise long standing objective of a new road from the Dark Hill roundabout to the A227, but extend the route east of the A227 to the A20 at Wrotham Heath. 2.13. The strategic site at Borough Green is of sufficient scale to deliver the relief road, but it also contributes a significant proportion of the objectively assessed housing need identified in the Local Plan, particularly in respect of the need arising in the West Kent Housing Market Area. The need for new housing is an important national planning objective and the importance of delivering sustainable growth, with accompanying employment opportunities and infrastructure is enshrined in national planning policy. 2.14. The site is projected to deliver 1,720 new homes during the plan period and up to 3,000 by the time the whole site is made available for development. As well as the employment opportunities offered by the construction phase, there will also be permanent, local employment opportunities created. Existing businesses and services will also be supported by the new residents occupying the housing. 2.15. In addition to the delivering the relief road, the development will also provide new local infrastructure in the form of health care facilities, school places, public open space and community and recreational facilities. Without the relief road none of these benefits would be delivered. 2.16. The issues that supported the need for the relief road or bypass in 1979 are still relevant today and there is evidence to suggest that the negative impacts associated with through traffic have been exacerbated over the last 40 years. This is due to background growth in traffic and increasing car ownership over recent decades. With a particular local constraint being the lack of east facing slip roads at Junction 5 of the M25. 2.17. In 2013 Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council designated a new Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in Borough Green, including part of Sevenoaks Road (A25), Western Road and the High Street. Based on a 2012 dispersion modelling study of road traffic emissions in Borough Green, the study found that there were exceedances of the nitrogen dioxide annual mean objective occurring at locations with relevant human exposure.