The Threats Facing Us
The Hoo Peninsula is facing development pressure on an unprecedented scale.
Emerging Local Plans being prepared by Medway Council and Gravesham Borough Council will determine where thousands of new houses, employment sites and supporting infrastructure could be built over the coming years.
Although the Hoo Peninsula is divided between two local authorities, the effects of development do not stop at council boundaries. New housing in one area can place additional pressure on roads, schools, healthcare, public transport, wildlife habitats and other services across the wider Hoo Peninsula.
Medway Council Local Plan 2041
Medway Council's submitted Local Plan provides for 24,540 new houses by 2041.
Around 30% of the proposed housing growth is directed towards rural areas, principally the larger villages of the Hoo Peninsula. Around 6,000 new houses are proposed, predominantly around Chattenden, Hoo and High Halstow.
This would represent a major expansion of existing settlements and could permanently change the character of the central part of Hoo Peninsula.
The Medway Council Local Plan has now been submitted for independent examination.
Gravesham Borough Council Local Plan 2042
Development pressure also affects the western end of the Hoo Peninsula.
Gravesham Borough Council's proposed Local Plan identifies six housing sites at Higham, providing for around 800 new homes, together with employment development near Higham railway station.
Higham lies close to the internationally important Thames Estuary and Marshes and forms part of the rural landscape at the western end of the Hoo Peninsula.
Gravesham Borough Council's Regulation 19 consultation on the proposed Local Plan closed on 18 August 2026, ahead of its planned submission for independent examination.
Major development west of Strood
The two councils are also working together on a major cross-boundary development west of Strood, incorporating land in both the Medway Council area and Gravesham Borough Council area around Chapter Farm.
Their Local Plans envisage a development of approximately 3,200 houses overall (1,900 proposed by GBC and 1,300 proposed by MC), together with schools, community facilities, employment land, transport infrastructure and other development.
The proposals would involve the release and development of land currently forming part of the Green Belt and would extend the built-up area of Strood westwards into the countryside.
Because of its scale and location, the development could also have significant consequences for the wider transport network and communities at the western end of the Hoo Peninsula.
Why are we concerned?
Taken together, these proposals could bring profound and permanent change to the Hoo Peninsula.
We are particularly concerned about the potential cumulative impact on:
- roads and transport, including already congested routes on and off the Hoo Peninsula;
- schools, healthcare and local services;
- nationally and internationally important wildlife and protected habitats;
- Nightingales, breeding waders and threatened farmland birds;
- productive and high-quality agricultural land;
- flooding, drainage and climate resilience;
- the separation and individual character of existing villages;
- the countryside, landscape and heritage of the Hoo Peninsula; and
- the quality of life of both existing and future residents.
The important question is not simply how many houses can be accommodated on the Hoo Peninsula.
It is whether development is in the right place, at the right scale, supported by the right infrastructure and based on sound evidence.
Development must not come at the expense of irreplaceable habitats, productive farmland, historic landscapes and established communities.
One Hoo Peninsula - two Local Plans
Save The Hoo Peninsula considers the cumulative effect of development across the whole Hoo Peninsula, regardless of which local authority is promoting it.
That is why we are scrutinising and challenging proposals within both the Medway Council Local Plan 2041 and the Gravesham Borough Council Local Plan 2042.