News

The Shepway Local Development Framework consultation document includes a map which clearly shows Hawkinge marked as a town.

After the apparent 'mistake' was brought to the attention of Parish Council Chairman, David Callahan, he immediately telephoned the District Council to ask why Hawkinge had suddenly become re-designated as a town.

Cllr Callahan told the Hawkinge Gazette, it has to be the villagers who decide whether they want to change their village status and become a town. "I would not be in favour of it," he admitted.

The Gazette contacted Shepway Council and was told that in local planning terms, Hawkinge is a ‘district significant settlement’.  The designation, ‘Town’ was used for simplicity on the map and in the summary but there is nothing more sinister than this. The word on the map should not be taken in isolation or given more significance than was intended.

The full statement issued by the District Council is as follows:

:-Considering the future role of settlements is a fundamental part of the Core Strategy. The actual Core Strategy proposals (full Preferred Options document, page 37) outline a potential hierarchy based on the existing situation and Hawkinge is in truth considered a “district significant settlement” along with Lydd. This is the ‘third rank’ of Shepway settlements (several villages in ranks below). The document comments on the characteristics in terms of services and location that have led to this finding.
:-It is only in the map of the Summary Document where there is a symbol indicative of a ‘town’. We have obviously simplified the strategy for this document, and we have tried to use simple language for the Summary.
:-The most important point is that the focus needs to be on the important key proposals, not wording. The general strategy is for long-term “consolidation” of Hawkinge i.e. proposals on brownfield land, with further expansion into the countryside not supported. Moreover the Preferred Options do take a look at local service provision for the future.
:-As always the proposals do need to be read all together.

Editor's note: If the Parish Council gave villagers the choice to stay as a village or become a town, which way would you vote?

You can cast you vote on the Gazette fun poll on the front page of the website...... click  here