Policy information sourced from the Dartford Development Policies Plan
DP21: Securing Community Facilities
New community facilities will be permitted where they are in an appropriate location and of a type and scale to reflect the needs of the communities they will serve. Strategic scale developments should normally provide social and community facilities; with land secured until a facility is in operation as set out in clause 3 below.
Development of existing community facilities/ land (as defined in the glossary) for non-community purposes will not be permitted unless there is clear evidence that:
- the facility is shown to be not needed by the community (both current and future planned users), and
- all reasonable efforts have been made to preserve a community use, including exploration of appropriate solutions to retain the facility with operators/ service providers and where appropriate the local community. Consideration should include any potential future demand arising from new development located within the catchment area of the facility/ use.
Specific land that has been earmarked for community facilities through planning obligations, other formal agreements, approved planning consents or identified in Local Plan/ SPDs or other statutory documents will be safeguarded until a community facility is delivered or agreement is reached that land for a community use will not be required.
For more information please see the Development Policies Plan