This is the website page for information about the Loose Neighbourhood Plan. It is where you can find information about the existing plan and about how it is being updated to meet the future needs of the parish. Please check back here regularly for the latest news.
PUBLIC PRESENTATION AND EXHIBITION
Wednesday 11th June 2025
Presentation 7.00pm – 7.20pm
Drop-in Exhibition until 9.00pm
Loose Pavilion, King George V Playing Field,
Walnut Tree Lane, Loose ME15 9RG
Hear about progress towards creating a new Neighbourhood Plan for Loose.
Have your say on what you would like to see in the new plan.
The exhibition will also be at the Loose Fete on Saturday 14th June from 12.00pm.
Background
In May 2024 Loose and North Loose merged to form a significantly larger Loose parish. In recent years, both Loose Parish Council and the North Loose Residents' Association have led their communities to deliver neighbourhood plans for their respective areas. As a result, we have two neighbourhood plans covering different parts of the parish: the North Loose Neighbourhood Plan made in 2016 and the Loose Neighbourhood Plan made in 2019. To view these plans, click on the appropriate links on this page.
What is a Neighbourhood Plan?
A Neighbourhood Plan is an important planning policy document adopted by the local planning authority. For Loose the relevant authority is Maidstone Borough Council (MBC). MBC uses the Loose and North Loose neighbourhood plans alongside other policy documents when it assesses planning applications.
A neighbourhood plan cannot block housing development but it can help to shape and influence it. Having a Neighbourhood plan has a financial advantage for the local community: the Parish Council receives a larger share of the financial levy (known as the Community Infrastructure Levy or CIL) which is paid to the planning authority by developers. The entitlement increases from 15% (for areas with no neighbourhood plan) to 25% for areas with an agreed plan.
Updating the Neighbourhood Plan
Both the Loose and the North Loose neighbourhood plans are a few years old. In view of the passing of time, the evolution of Maidstone's own Local Plan and the increase in the Loose population and area, Loose Parish Council is reviewing the content of the plans.
Whilst the two plans share some common themes, they also contain some policies that are specific to certain locations in the parish. The current Loose neighbourhood plan has three main policy areas: Access and Movement, Landscape Protection, Design Quality. The North Loose neighbourhood plan's policy areas are: Health, Wellbeing and Transport Alternatives; Green Spaces, Sports and Recreation; Sustainable Design; Housing Development; Business and Employment.
A working group of parish councillors and residents is taking forward the review of the two neighbourhood plans. Its aims are: to ensure the content is up to date, relevant and effective; to integrate the two plans into a single one covering the whole parish; to manage the development of the new plan through the formal process laid down by planning regulations. Minutes of the working group meetings can be found below.
