Shorne Woods Country Park Brewers Road Shorne Gravesend Kent DA12 3HX Data via plota.co.uk

20260966 - Kent County Council Application Pending Consideration
Commercial & major worksCommercial premises

Proposal

KCC Consultation - Application under Regulation 3 of the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992 - Change of surface within the Country Park cafe garden from grass to permeable tarmac. Data via plota.co.uk

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View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
30 Sept 2026
✓
Consultation
1 Oct 2026
Decision
Expected by 28 Oct 2026

Under consideration

No decision has been issued yet. Plota predicts a decision between 24 Nov 2026 and 2 Dec 2026, from Gravesham's recent commercial premises.

Comments are open until 22 Oct 2026

Comment on this application ↗

Documents

View the documents on the council's website ↗

Site constraints 9

SSSI: Shorne and Ashenbank Woods SSSI
Natural England must be consulted on work that may affect it.
Sites of special scientific interest are the best wildlife and geological sites in the country. Development likely to harm one is rarely permitted.
Green belt: London
Inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.
Green belt policy allows a short list of exceptions, such as limited extensions and replacement buildings. Anything else needs very special circumstances that clearly outweigh the harm. Some green belt land can count as grey belt, where it does not strongly serve the green belt's purposes. The council decides this in its green belt assessment or on each application, so we do not mark it here.
Read the government guidance ↗
Kent Downs National Landscape
Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Previously an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is still the designation in law. Since 2023 authorities must seek to further its purpose, not merely have regard to it.
National nature reserve about 13 m away: North Kent Woods and Downs
Work nearby can need a habitats assessment.
Harm to a protected site is only accepted where there is no alternative and an overriding public interest.
Agricultural land, grade 2
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. A site survey can differ.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
National infrastructure project about 140 m away: Lower Thames Crossing
The site is about 140 m from the project boundary. Highway, decided. The project page says whether consent was granted.
Nationally significant infrastructure projects (power stations, electricity lines, pipelines, major roads and railways, harbours, airports and reservoirs) are consented by a Secretary of State under the Planning Act 2008, after an examination by the Planning Inspectorate, rather than by the council. The boundary is the one the Inspectorate consults on and can change as the scheme does. Projects are shown within 2 km of the site.
Planning Inspectorate project page ↗
Habitat network: Sssi
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Radon affected area, class 2; Priority habitat about 12 m away: No main habitat but additional habitats present.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Planning Inspectorate, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Council
Gravesham
Application type
Kent County Council Application
Postcode
DA12 3HX
Received
30 Sept 2026
Validated
30 Sept 2026
Ward
Higham And Shorne
Parish
Shorne
Case officer
Show
Target decision
28 Oct 2026
Applicant
Show

Decision outlook

Day 9 of the 56-day target. Gravesham usually decides commercial premises by day 56.

Day 947 days to the 56-day target
58%decided within 8 weeks
79%approved
7%go to committee

Plota live figures for commercial premises decided by Gravesham in the last twelve months, from validation. Gravesham decision record →

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 2 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Consultation
1 Oct 2026
Comments by
22 Oct 2026
Statutory expiry
28 Oct 2026
Env. assessment
No

Historical activity at this location

8 previous applications on record - archival context, not part of the live application.

This property

Previous applications at this address

2024 Approved
Installation of a tarmac pathway linking the main pathway to the pond dipping platform
KCC/GR/0089/2024
2024 Approved
KCC Consultation KCC/GR/0089/2024 - Application under Regulation 3 of the Town & Country…
20240556
2024 Approved
KCC Consultation KCC/GR/0089/2024 - Application under Regulation 3 of the Town & Country…
20240556
2022 Approved
KCC Consultation KCC/GR/0024/2022 - Installation of a play area
20220113
2018 Approved
Retention of a 4m high column with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
20180421
2018 Approved
Retention of a 4m high column with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
20180421
2018
Continued display of 28 non-illuminated signs around the car park.
20180422
2018
Continued display of 28 non-illuminated signs around the car park.
20180422
Gravesham
Planning Authority Score
4.4/10
Below average
#180 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Gravesham ranks #104 out of 296 councils for householder decision speed. Gravesham is also one of the strictest councils - it refuses more householder applications than almost any other, with only 78% approved vs 90% nationally.

One of the strictest councils
only 78% approved vs 90% nationally
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Gravesham decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
75%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #287 of 296
78%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #286 of 296
72%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #104 of 296
36%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #110 of 296
58%
Minor dwellings approved
64 decided (1-9 homes)
50%
Major dwellings approved
6 decided (10+ homes)
65%
Change of use approved
34 decided
619
Total decisions
156 refused in the year to March 2026
Source: MHCLG planning statistics · See full council rankings