Doddington,Lynsted with Kingsdown, Teynham and Tonge Parish Councils will continue working together to represent community views on the Highsted Park planning applications. Together, we will be known as TEYNHAM & HIGHSTED COMMUNITY ACTION during the inquiry process.

As you may know, the Secretary of State has ‘called in’ the Highsted Park planning applications. This means the Planning Inspector will thoroughly review the plans and then make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will decide the final outcome. The review is set to begin in March 2025 and is expected to last 12 weeks.

We’re pleased to announce that our group of Parish Councils has been granted Rule 6 status. This gives us the right to participate formally in the inquiry process, ensuring your voices are heard and our community’s concerns are properly represented.

Over the coming weeks, there will be case management meetings where the barristers, planning inspector, and other parties agree on how the inquiry will be run. Participation in the inquiry will incur costs in respect of legal and consultancy fees. Each parish council in our group has agreed to provide a level of financial support to a "fighting fund" but this will need to be augmented by publicly funded contributions. To this end the group will be launching a crowdfunding campaign in the new year. More details of this will be provided in due course.

We aim to provide you with more updates, and outline opportunities for you to contribute to the campaign/community action, in January 2025.

Steve Coates

Chairman

Doddington Parish Council

December 2024