Fort Halstead, Kent
[ Community Planning Projects ]The Future of Fort Halstead
Community Planning Weekend Report Back
The outcomes from the Fort Halstead Community Planning Weekend were presented back to the community on Tuesday 24 July at 7pm at the Fort Halstead staff canteen. To downlaod the Report Back broadsheet, click on the PDF on the right hand side.
AThe Future of Fort Halstead
Community Planning Weekend
Around 100 members of the local community participated in the Fort Halstead Community Planning Weekend on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 July 2012 to draw up a viable and sustainable Vision for the site and its relationship with the neighbouring villages, following DSTL’s departure in 2017. At the Weekend people participated in facilitated workshops and hands-on planning sessions to consider key issues and opportunities and start to plan out ideas and options for the future. Following the two public days the team led by JTP analysed the outcomes and developed a new Vision for the site, which was reported back to the community on Tuesday evening, 24 July 2012.
A New Vision for Fort Halstead
First Phase - Public Exhibitions
Armstrong Kent LLP is undertaking consultation on the future of Fort Halstead and has appointed a new consultant team including JTP to assist the process. The local community was invited to the first phase of the consultation, a series of public exhibitions on 17 and 18 May 2012 in Dunton Green, Knockholt, Otford and Halstead to display initial thoughts on the challenges and opportunities to be faced in defining a future for Fort Halstead and to listen to the community views on these and any other issues that they would like to be considered over the coming months.
To view the exhibition boards, visit the project website www.forthalstead.com.
The exhibitions will be followed by a Community Planning Event in early July. We will be in touch with the local community with detailed information in June.
Background
Armstrong Kent LLP, the owner of Fort Halstead, is carrying out a three stage consultation on the future of the site. This follows Dstl’s announcement last year that it will be relocating its operations to Portsdown West and Porton Down, leaving a large proportion of the site vacant from 2017. The community planning weekend marks the second stage of this process and follows a series of public exhibitions held on 17th and 18th May 2012 in Dunton Green, Knockholt, Otford and Halstead.
The community planning weekend will build on the feedback received at the exhibitions, looking at the issues raised in more detail to plan positively for Fort Halstead’s future. It provides an opportunity to share local knowledge and contribute to the emerging vision for Fort Halstead’s future through workshops and hands-on planning groups. The aim of the event is to draw up a viable and sustainable vision for the site and its relationship with the surrounding villages following Dstl’s departure. This vision will form the basis of a Development Brief for Fort Halstead that will provide guidance for future planning applications. The outcomes of the community planning weekend will be presented to the local community at a feedback session (date to be confirmed).
Attendance at the community planning weekend is on a drop in basis, and you can stay for as long as you wish from just a few minutes, to one session to the whole event if you are able to. Members of our team will be on hand throughout the weekend to answer questions and offer support.
To find out more, visit the project website www.forthalstead.com.
To download the event programme, see the PDF on the right hand side.
Contact
For further information visit the project website www.forthalstead.com or call on freephone community telephone number: 0800 019 4576.
