Policy information sourced from the The Dartford Plan
Policy M17: Community Uses
New community facilities will be supported where they are in an appropriate location and of a type, scale and design to reflect the needs of the existing and emerging communities they will serve. In this respect, the following will apply:
- New services should be sited close to the population they will serve, with reference to access routes for active and other forms of travel, and a suitably locally based catchment for the facility provided.
- Wherever possible, new facilities must be provided and designed in a way that allows benefits to be shared by existing and new communities, and to be operated flexibly by a variety of users.
- Strategic developments must normally provide social and community facilities, with access to required facilities at an appropriately early stage. Land will be secured until a facility is in operation as set out in criterion 3. Where permanent provision is not possible from the outset, temporary provision will be sought for first occupants.
- Large scale new community uses that attract the majority of users travelling in from outside the Borough must demonstrate the local need for the scale of the proposal, unless delivering an essential public sector service or shown to be required to serve the neighbourhood community.
Development of existing community facilities/ land for non-community purposes will be refused unless there is clear evidence that:
- the facility is not needed by the existing and future community; 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.
Land for community facilities or upgrades shown in Diagram 2 or Table 1 should be prioritised and reserved, particularly within the indicative healthcare and primary school search zones (where although specific provision has yet to be finalised, likely future need has been identified). In any event in the Borough, if specific land that has been earmarked for community facilities through planning obligations, other formal agreements, approved planning permissions, or identified in Dartford’s published infrastructure planning documentation (including Infrastructure Delivery Plan and Future Infrastructure Statement), this will be safeguarded until a community facility is delivered or agreement is reached that land for a community use will not be required.
Policy information sourced from the The Dartford Plan