Latest update on the Save The Hoo Peninsula campaign!

Your donations have enabled us to obtain specialist legal advice, examine important new evidence and put a detailed case directly before Medway Council and the independent Inspectors overseeing its Local Plan. You can donate and support us using our CrowdJustice page here.

On 6 July 2026, Richard Buxton Solicitors, acting on behalf of the campaign, submitted a detailed letter to Medway Council and separately wrote to the Inspectors to ensure that they were made directly aware of the seriousness of the concerns raised.

The central issue is the Council’s Habitats Regulations Assessment, which is supposed to demonstrate that the enormous scale of development proposed can proceed without adversely affecting internationally protected wildlife sites.

The assessment relies almost entirely upon the North Kent Strategic Access Management and Monitoring Strategy, delivered through the Bird Wise partnership, as mitigation for the additional recreational pressure that thousands of new homes would place upon the North Kent estuaries and marshes.

However, after the scheme has operated for around a decade, the Council’s assessment does not provide robust evidence demonstrating that this mitigation is actually working.

The only monitoring study relied upon is a single Kent Wildlife Trust survey from 2022. That study itself explains that periodic “snapshot” surveys are not sufficient to determine whether changes in waterbird numbers are attributable to human disturbance and that a longer-term monitoring programme would be required.

Despite this substantial evidence gap, the Habitats Regulations Assessment still reaches an unconditional conclusion that there would be no adverse effect on the integrity of the protected sites.

Richard Buxton Solicitors argues that this falls far short of the high level of scientific certainty required under the legal principles established in the Waddenzee case and subsequent domestic case law. The letter therefore concludes that the Habitats Regulations Assessment is legally flawed and should not be accepted by the Inspectors.

This has major implications for the soundness of the Local Plan. At least 20 proposed allocations, representing more than 8,000 homes, are located within the relevant Zone of Influence. Every proposed housing allocation on the Hoo Peninsula falls within six kilometres of the protected coastal sites.

The letter also highlights an important inconsistency. The Council’s assessment accepts that further evidence is required before the effectiveness of proposed air-quality mitigation can be established, but it does not apply the same standard when considering recreational disturbance and Bird Wise.

Policy S3 of the proposed Local Plan relies upon this mitigation approach to protect and manage the North Kent Estuary and Marshes designated sites. Without reliable evidence that the mitigation is effective, our legal team’s position is that the policy cannot be regarded as sound.

We have made clear to both Medway Council and the Inspectors that the Local Plan should not be allowed to progress until these serious legal and evidential problems have been properly addressed.

This is exactly why the legal fundraiser remains so important. Your support has allowed us to move beyond general objections and place a detailed, professionally prepared legal case before those responsible for deciding whether the Local Plan is legally compliant and sound.

We will now carefully examine the Council’s response and the Inspectors’ next steps. Further legal and specialist ecological work may be required as the Examination progresses, and we will continue to keep our supporters updated.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us in the fight to protect the Hoo Peninsula.  

Please share this campaign with friends and family.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Pearce
Save The Hoo Peninsula