Dartford Borough Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered a local plan strategy update on 10 November 2026, with officers reporting that approximately £30 million of Community Infrastructure Levy funding had been allocated since April 2025 and that a new local plan timetable is being prepared in response to government planning reforms.
Dartford Borough Council has allocated approximately £30 million of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding to strategic infrastructure since April 2025, while preparing a new timetable for its local plan in response to significant changes to the national planning system, according to papers considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 10 November 2026.
Housing delivery
The papers reported that 815 new dwellings were completed in the borough in the financial year to March 2026, almost identical to the previous year. This figure meets the adopted Dartford Plan target of an average of 790 or more dwellings per annum, though the papers noted this does not outweigh shortfalls recorded in previous years of the decade. The largest single site contributing to last year’s completions was the St James Lane Pit (Stone Pit 2) development. Officers reported that the council currently faces no sanctions under the government’s Housing Delivery Test, which looks back three years.
Infrastructure spending
Since April 2025, the council allocated approximately £30 million of CIL funding to support new strategic infrastructure. The papers listed the supported projects as: a new unit at Darenth Valley Hospital, a major secondary school extension, and two new large sports facilities. Additional CIL money has been passed to local town and parish councils for locally chosen infrastructure projects.
National planning reforms
The government issued a final version of its revised national planning policy framework (NPPF) in August 2026. Officers reported that they identified only limited material inconsistency between the new national policies and Dartford’s adopted local plan. However, the papers highlighted that Green Belt planning policies have changed significantly at national level, with new NPPF policy GB7 now setting out categories of development that should not be regarded as inappropriate in the Green Belt — including residential or mixed-use development within reasonable walking distance of a well-connected station.
The papers also noted that new government planning reforms have introduced a requirement to produce a Local Plan Timetable, with local plans now expected to be produced within a 30-month period, described as a significant reduction on previous timescales.
Next steps and caveats
Officers indicated that key milestones being discussed for a new local plan include a first public consultation in summer or autumn 2027 and adoption of a final local plan in 2030, subject to successful examination. The papers set out several caveats, including uncertainty over local government reform — noting that if reorganisation proceeds on the basis of the existing North Kent proposal, the new authority would need to produce a local plan covering the whole area, requiring engagement with Gravesham and Medway — as well as the progress of other local plans in the area and the rate of progress of the Kent and Medway Spatial Development Strategy.
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.