Adams Hendry was appointed by Medway Council to provided planning and EIA advice to the highway authority in respect of a scheme to construct a new road bridge to replace the current level crossing to the east of Lower Stoke in Kent, where the A228 Isle of Grain road crosses an existing freight railway line. The proposed works also included a scheme to reinstate and improve the existing habitat in the immediate vicinity of the proposed bridge as well as landscaping and planting proposals.
Adams Hendry contributed to the EIA of the scheme, and peer reviewed parts of the ES produced by others. We also prepared the planning application and undertook key stakeholder negotiations and consultation.
Part of the site of the proposed bridge is within an internationally important site for nature conservation. To mitigate and compensate for effects on this site a package of nature conservation measures were proposed following successful negotiations with Natural England. These include works to the south of the bridge site and habitat improvement works on land at Cooling Marshes to the north west of the bridge site. Given the physical separation from the proposed bridge development (approximately 9km), these habitat improvement proposals were the subject of a separate planning application.
