About Us
Save The Hoo Peninsula (STHP) is an independent community campaign dedicated to protecting the communities, wildlife, countryside, farmland and heritage of the Hoo Peninsula.
The Hoo Peninsula crosses the administrative boundary between Medway Council and Gravesham Borough Council, and the pressures affecting it do not stop at that boundary. STHP therefore looks at the Hoo Peninsula as a whole and campaigns on issues affecting its future wherever they arise.
We scrutinise development proposals, Local Plans and other decisions that could have significant consequences for the Hoo Peninsula. We seek to inform and represent local concerns, bring people together, raise public awareness and, where necessary, obtain specialist ecological, planning and legal advice.
Our aim is to ensure that any change is sustainable, properly planned and does not unnecessarily sacrifice the communities, wildlife, productive farmland, countryside and heritage that make the Hoo Peninsula such a special place.
What is Save The Hoo Peninsula?
Save The Hoo Peninsula is a campaign and is formally organised as an unincorporated association.
An unincorporated association is a recognised and commonly used way for a group of people to come together voluntarily for a shared, non-profit purpose. Community groups, campaigning organisations, clubs and societies are often organised in this way.
Unlike a limited company, an unincorporated association does not have a separate legal identity from the people who make it up and does not need to be incorporated at Companies House simply in order to exist.
In practical terms, this means STHP is a group of people who have come together around an agreed purpose: to protect the Hoo Peninsula and promote a sustainable future for its communities and environment.
As an unincorporated association, responsibilities for matters such as contracts and financial commitments ultimately rest with the relevant members or officers acting on the association's behalf, rather than with a separate corporate legal entity.
STHP does not exist to make a profit. Its purpose is campaigning in the interests of the Hoo Peninsula.
Independent by design
Save The Hoo Peninsula is an independent campaign.
It is not part of Medway Council, Gravesham Borough Council or any parish council. It is not a political party and is not controlled by a political party, local authority, developer or other commercial organisation.
The positions taken by STHP are determined by what we believe is in the best interests of the Hoo Peninsula and by the evidence available to us.
Our independence means that we are free to:
- support proposals that we believe would benefit the Peninsula;
- question or oppose proposals that we believe would cause unacceptable harm;
- challenge decisions made by local or national government where we believe that is necessary;
- work with residents, parish councils, conservation organisations, community groups and other bodies where our interests coincide;
- commission independent professional advice; and
- take specialist legal advice or action where appropriate.
We welcome support from people of all political views and from those with no political affiliation at all.
Protecting the Hoo Peninsula should not be a party-political issue.
Some of the people involved with STHP, including its Campaign Leader and Deputy Campaign Leader, also hold elected public office as Independent councillors and members of The Independent Group (TIG) on Medway Council. Those positions are separate from their roles within Save The Hoo Peninsula.
When they act on behalf of STHP, they do so in their capacities as Campaign Leader and Deputy Campaign Leader respectively, and not on behalf of Medway Council, Gravesham Borough Council, a parish council or any other public authority.
How we campaign
We believe an effective campaign must be based on more than slogans.
That means reading the documents, examining the evidence and understanding what is actually being proposed.
STHP's work includes:
- scrutinising Local Plans, planning applications and supporting evidence;
- preparing detailed representations and objections;
- researching wildlife, habitats, agricultural land, heritage and infrastructure;
- attending and contributing to public meetings and consultations;
- explaining complex planning issues in language residents can understand;
- helping communities make their voices heard;
- raising public awareness of threats to the Peninsula;
- working with people and organisations that share relevant objectives; and
- obtaining specialist ecological, planning and legal advice when required.
Where an issue requires expertise beyond that available within the campaign, we believe in asking qualified professionals.
For example, STHP has instructed environmental and planning law specialists Richard Buxton Solicitors and has obtained specialist ecological expertise as part of its work challenging proposals that could affect the Peninsula's protected wildlife and habitats.
Our legal fundraising has been supported by hundreds of members of the public through CrowdJustice.
What we stand for
Save The Hoo Peninsula believes that:
Communities matter.
Existing residents and communities deserve a meaningful voice in decisions that could permanently change the places in which they live.
Wildlife matters.
Nationally and internationally important habitats, protected sites and the wider ecological networks that sustain them must be properly protected.
Farmland matters.
Productive agricultural land is a finite resource and should not simply be regarded as land awaiting development.
Heritage matters.
The Hoo Peninsula's villages, historic landscapes, buildings, archaeology, military heritage and industrial history form part of its identity and deserve respect.
Infrastructure matters.
Development cannot be considered sustainable unless the roads, public transport, healthcare, education, utilities and other services needed to support it are realistically provided.
Evidence matters.
Planning decisions with permanent consequences should withstand proper scrutiny and be supported by sound evidence.
Future generations matter.
Once countryside, habitats and historic landscapes have been permanently lost, future generations cannot choose to bring them back.
One Hoo Peninsula. One campaign.
Administrative boundaries divide the Hoo Peninsula between different councils.
The landscape itself is not divided.
The wildlife using the Thames and Medway marshes does not recognise council boundaries. The roads and infrastructure pressures do not stop at them. Nor do the effects of development on farmland, landscape, heritage or neighbouring communities.
That is why Save The Hoo Peninsula campaigns for the Hoo Peninsula as a whole - from Higham and Shorne in the west to Grain in the east, and across the communities, marshes, farmland and countryside in between.
We will work constructively where we can.
We will ask difficult questions where we must.
And where we believe that something irreplaceable is at risk, we will stand up for the Hoo Peninsula.