What we believe
Thanet Greens recognise that we are in a climate and ecological emergency. Every decision we make should contribute to dealing with it.
Meeting local need:
We recognise that we need more homes to meet local need – but our housing policy should centre on meeting this need, not on using house building to stimulate economic growth.
Locally there is unmet demand for affordable one and two bedroom homes and homes for social rent.
In response to the climate emergency, we believe we must provide most of these homes in towns, near to the services required for daily life, employment sites and public transport hubs. Active travel and public transport must become the default option for most journeys.
We know that our high streets are changing and that providing more homes in town centres can contribute to their regeneration, as well as making our towns safer, more friendly places, particularly at night.
Choosing sites for housing:
Providing new homes does not automatically mean new builds. The first priority should be to put empty and redundant buildings back into use. Thanet has done well within Kent’s No Use Empty scheme, but there are still over 6,000 long-term empty properties in Kent that are ripe for renovation and could provide homes for local people.
For these properties to be comfortable to live in now and fit for the future, we need a substantial programme of retrofitting to ensure they are energy efficient and sustainable.
We recognise that our empty buildings will not be sufficient to meet all our housing needs, however. Where new building is required, we believe development on brownfield sites should always be prioritised over greenfield sites.
Valuing our assets:
Agricultural land is a valuable asset. A sustainable society is one that grows food locally. This reduces the energy required to transport food from farm to retailer. Thanet has extensive arable land – but this versatile agricultural land is being sacrificed to housing development.
Access to green spaces for everybody is important for physical and mental health.
Thanet’s wealth of blue and green assets makes our region an important area for biodiversity. Planning policies should protect wildlife, enhance biodiversity, and provide nature-based solutions to climate change. Adaptation to climate change should be planned to protect residents from the adverse effects of increasingly frequent heavy rainfall events, rising sea levels, water shortages and heat waves.
Building sustainably:
We believe that all new homes should be built in the most ecologically sustainable way possible.
New homes should be energy efficient and generate renewable energy, ensuring they are cheap to run, warm to live in and help mitigate climate change.
They should be built to last and be adaptable, with accessibility features as standard and ample storage space for buggies, bikes or mobility scooters.
If the community infrastructure required to service new residents does not already exist, it must be planned and built alongside new homes. Medical services, schools and public transport must be ready as the new homes become occupied.
Local green space, pavements and cycle routes must be included in all plans, and no homes created whose residents can then only leave them by car.
Increased road space should not be provided to facilitate house building that pays for the roads to the new houses.
Working within the current planning system
Thanet District Council (TDC) adopted a Local Plan in 2020. This plan is currently being reviewed with a view to adding another 4,500 houses and extending it to 2040.
The Local Plan consists of:
- planning policies (e.g. on biodiversity, sustainable design and construction, air quality etc.)
- a spatial strategy identifying specific sites where development will be permitted.
If an up-to-date Local Plan is not in place, it becomes more difficult to control speculative development on sites outside the Local Plan process - so we recognise that the best way to mitigate such threats is to have an adopted Local Plan in place, if possible. However, the Plan must provide for sustainable development appropriate for the current climate and ecological emergency.
We believe that, although some current policies have been designed with the Climate Emergency in mind, our policies need to be strengthened and new policies introduced.
All Local Authorities have targets for development, which are set by an algorithm mandated by central Government. TDC is required to provide sites for approximately 17,000 extra homes in the current Local Plan review. Almost all are proposed to be built on greenfield sites.
We do not agree that this level of development is necessary, sustainable, or desirable. We call on TDC to work with neighbouring authorities to keep such greenfield site development in Thanet to a minimum and to challenge Government housing targets.
Southern Water Infrastructure Issues
The need for water management became very clear recently. Our coastlines were polluted repeatedly as a result of the inadequacies of Southern Water’s sewage infrastructure.
New policies are required to manage rain run-off, treat sewage and supply clean water.
Greenfield sites can absorb rainfall. We believe that it is vital to preserve and where possible increase tree cover and green spaces in Thanet.
We believe that all housing must have grey water technology to capture and store rain for domestic use to reduce rain run offs and demands on clean water supply.
We believe that all new housing and roads must include green spaces and tree cover as well as soakaway features that are not reliant on drains to deal with rainfall.
What are Thanet Greens doing to make things better?
We have responded to the Local Plan Review with our own proposals and examples from Green-led Councils, reflecting our commitment to develop more ecologically sensitive policies, deliver a fairer supply of affordable homes for local people and provide better quality homes for our residents.
Our Councillors have called upon the Leader of Thanet District Council to challenge the housing numbers set by the Government’s algorithm, and to ensure that our housing policies prioritise the needs of local residents. They have also proposed establishing a fund to train our contractors in the skills required to retrofit our social housing.
We are campaigning to protect and enhance Thanet’s biodiversity, improve air-quality, and encourage active travel. We are fighting proposed bus route closures and challenging unsustainable development in the countryside. On a practical level, we are frequently to be seen out planting trees, maintaining community gardens and helping look after our green spaces for the benefit of all.
Having a ‘Green in the room’ changes the conversation and helps galvanise support for more progressive policy decisions across a range of issues, often across party lines.