Development at Elwick Place, Ashford, Kent

Phase 1 of the development has now been completed. The DA required Stanhope to begin the process of drawing down Phase 2 prior to two key dates: the “Long Stop Date” (16 March 2022) and the “Phase Termination Date” (4 May 2022) but it may only do so after satisfying a number of conditions. Delays caused by (a) the Covid-19 pandemic; and (b) the Stodmarsh issue (see below) each independently and also together cumulatively mean that Stanhope will not be able to meet the conditions before the deadlines.

The Stodmarsh issue arises from formal statutory advice issued by Natural England in 2020 on development proposals in the Stour Valley River Catchment Area ( “SVRCA”) and the potential for these to increase harmful nutrient impacts at designated protected lakes at Stodmarsh in east Kent. The SVRCA covers large parts of Ashford Borough including Elwick Place. Planning applications for housing development within the SVRCA cannot now be determined until formal assessment of the effects on the Stodmarsh Lakes has been completed by the Council as planning authority. The Council is progressing a strategy to offer suitable mitigations for sites (such as Elwick Phase 2) not able to offer onsite mitigation, but timescales for this are uncertain so it is unclear when the planning authority will be able to grant a Phase 2 planning permission on terms that will enable the drawdown conditions to be satisfied. Accordingly, the parties entered into an agreement on 4 March 2022 to extend each of the deadlines (the “Extension”) by up to 515 days or (if later) until 40 days after (i) any off-site Stodmarsh mitigation measures required of the developer in respect of Phase 2 have been complied with or if later (ii) the period for any Judicial Review challenge to the Phase 2 planning permission has expired with no challenge being made or any challenge has been resolved. Provided that if Stanhope has yet to complete a planning obligation that would result in the issue of a Phase 2 planning permission the maximum Extension is 9 months from the date on which the local Council’s resolution to grant a Phase 2 planning permission will not require any offsite Stodmarsh mitigation measures to be complied with by Stanhope. The aim is to restore Stanhope, in terms of the timing of Phase 2, to the situation it would have been in had Covid and Stodmarsh not intervened. The parties have also provided for new activity milestones in respect of Phase 2. If Stanhope fails to achieve any of these milestones the Council may terminate the DA. Additionally, Stanhope has agreed to relinquish certain rights it had over the Phase 3 land. Additional information: The current value of the Development Agreement as provided in this notice strips out the effects of inflation, as required by Regulation 72(7) Public Contracts Regulations 2015