In December 2022 the Planning Committee at Medway Council (Local Planning Authority) correctly refused two planning applications (MC/20/2979 and MC/20/2980) to build up to 21 houses next to a nationally protected Nightingale bird sanctuary at Lodge Hill in Chattenden - situated on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the most important place in the whole of Britian for the species. 

Esquire Developments Ltd. is now appealing both refusals with the Planning Inspector (APP/A2280/W/23/3325107 and APP/A2280/W/23/3325108) and the deadline for submitting representations is Wednesday 22nd November 2023. 

This petition intends to demonstrate to the Planning Inspector how much the Nightingale and the nationally protected Lodge Hill bird sanctuary are valued locally, regionally, and nationally by the public.  These two planning applications are clearly contrary to National Planning Policy (NPPF) and this petition calls for both appeals to be dismissed by the Planning Inspector. 

The Nightingale is a national cultural icon, mentioned by Shakespeare, and has inspired poets, writers, and musicians across the ages.  A bird famed for its incredible ability and magnificent wide-ranging song. 

"Few sounds of nature are more beloved by this nation than that of the Nightingale...  We've lost over 90% of Nightingales in this country in the last 50 years, what a tragedy.  The causes are still not fully understood, but habitat deterioration probably played a significant part...  This, for many of Britain's best-loved songbirds, is an ideal place (referring to the Knepp estate in West Sussex) for shelter and food...  Here, dense almost impenetrable thorny shrub provides their ideal nesting site...  Few places in Britain have Nightingale increasing." - Sir David Attenborough, Attenborough's Wonder of Song, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 

"In the 1970s, up until about 77 or 78, there were Nightingales singing in this hazel coppice (referring to a woodland in Hampshire), but they've gone.  So, we are impoverished, we've been robbed - we've robbed ourselves of an enormous richness.  Because whilst there are other birds twittering away out here - chaffinches, blue tits, a robin, and a wren - we don't have the master, you know, the maestro, the one that commanded all of our attention through its extraordinary exuberance and its cultural connections.  It's gone.  This habitat that looks so fertile, looks so green, looks almost perfect and ideal, isn't because it's broken.  It's broken because it's short of Nightingales." - Chris Packham, The Last Song of the Nightingale, Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WCFF). 

A good wildlife habitat for the species has between two or three singing males and territories.  Lodge Hill is very special and unique, being home to an incredible 85 singing males/territories (British Trust for Ornithology 2012 Nightingale Survey) - more than any other habitat in the country!  A large number of these territories are situated within very close proximity to the proposed development on the boundary of the SSSI. 

Natural England is concerned that significant impacts to the Lodge Hill SSSI are likely to result from these applications and advises that insufficient details have been provided by the applicant - with regards to the potential impacts the residential dwellings/occupants would have on the SSSI and the proposed avoidance and mitigation measures that have been submitted.  They also advise that reliance upon bird survey information from 2012 is likely to mean the potential impacts of these applications on the SSSI have been underestimated. 

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) objects to the applications on the basis that the development is immediately adjacent to the Lodge Hill SSSI boundary, with the closest of the properties within 25 metres of the SSSI.  As a result, Nightingales will be highly vulnerable to the indirect long-term impacts arising from the proposed housing, including disturbance from noise and artificial lighting, recreational disturbance and predation by domestic cats.  They advise that the proposed mitigation put forward by the applicant, regarding a cat covenant, is unenforceable and therefore cannot be deemed appropriate as mitigation.  They also advise that 400m would be an appropriate and proportionate buffer for the SSSI. 

The Kent Wildlife Trust advises that the applications constitute development on land outside of a SSSI and such development is likely to have an adverse effect on it, both individually and in combination with other developments.  They have also advised that negative impacts will occur as a result of increased recreational disturbance, increased cat predation, and increased disturbance arising from noise and light pollution to the SSSI. 

Medway Council has recently carried out a Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation and Call for Sites this year (2023).  This consultation outlined sites with the potential capacity for around 38,000 new houses that could be built.  Plan makers need to find sites for around 19,000 houses.  The provision and benefit of up to 21 houses (including self-build dwellings), as proposed by these two planning applications, can easily be met elsewhere within the plan area. 

The impact and harm of allowing these two planning applications on appeal would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) taken as a whole.  Specifically, the impact and harm caused to the Lodge Hill SSSI.  Granting consent would also set a precedent for other SSSIs and the species they support, causing broader impacts on the national network of SSSIs and other protected wildlife habitat sites.  

These two appeals should be dismissed by the Planning Inspector. 

Thank you.