The deadline to comment on the bid to open Allhallows caravans from 1 February has moved to 19 September. One objection so far, and it came from a Kent charity.

The deadline to comment on the plan to open the Allhallows holiday park a month earlier each year is Saturday 19 September 2026, a week later than the date first published.

Medway Council’s register now gives 19 September as both the application’s expiry date and the neighbour consultation expiry date (MC/26/1570, dates tab, read 14 September). When we reported the application in August, the portal gave 12 September. The council’s latest neighbour consultation date is now recorded as 28 August, which reset the clock.

The press advertisement ran on 3 September and expires on 17 September, two days before the comment deadline.

What is being asked for

Palmhall Limited, acting through the planning consultancy Lichfields, wants condition 10 of the 2021 permission MC/19/2202 changed. The condition reads:

“The Holiday Caravans shall be occupied only between the period 1st March to 31st October in each year and at no other time outside the said period.”

The application would move that start date to 1 February. The end date of 31 October is unchanged. The site is on the register as Haven Kent Coast Holiday Park, Allhallows, Rochester ME3 9QD.

The reason the council gave for imposing the condition in the first place is printed on the same decision notice: “In the interest of protection of the protected species and in compliance with Policy BNE39 of the local plan and paragraph 170 of the NPPF” (decision notice, MC/19/2202, issued 15 November 2021).

That permission was itself a substantial one. It allowed the reconfiguration of hardstanding bases and the golf course to install 95 hardstanding bases, an uplift of 84 static caravans.

The application form has a box headed “Please state why you wish the condition(s) to be removed or changed”. The answer given there, in full, is three words: “Amend occupancy date” (application form, PP-14890989). No case is made on the form for why an extra month is needed, and no supporting statement was submitted alongside it.

One comment on the file, and it is not from a neighbour

Three weeks after the council re-consulted, the register records a single response:

  • Total consulted: 9
  • Comments received: 1
  • Objections: 1
  • Supporting: 0

The one objection is a letter dated 28 August 2026 from the Dickens’ Country Protection Society, on the file as a letter of representation. Its full argument is one sentence: “The Society can see no reason to vary the condition which appears to be appropriate.”

The Society is a registered charity, number 264004. Its entry on the Charity Commission register lists six trustees and describes what it does as “Attend local exhibitions; hold annual barn dance; help with pond clearance”. Its total income in the year to 28 February 2026 was £243 (Charity Commission).

No resident has written in, for or against.

No statutory consultee has been asked

The more striking entry is on the next tab. The application’s consultee comments page records:

  • Total consulted: 0
  • Consultees responded: 0
  • “There have been no consultations requested for this application.”

The constraints tab is also empty, showing zero.

This is a site on the edge of the north Kent marshes, and the condition being varied exists to protect wintering birds. As things stand the public register shows no request for a view from a statutory body. We have not been able to establish whether any consultation is happening off the register; the council’s public file is the only record available, and it records none.

The three documents on the file are the redacted application form and a site location plan, both published on 18 August, and the Society’s letter from 28 August. There is no ecological assessment and no supporting statement among them.

The dates that matter

  • 17 September 2026: the press advertisement expires
  • 19 September 2026: comments close, and the statutory expiry date falls
  • 17 November 2026: the council’s internal target date for a decision

No committee date has been set, and the register records no decision. The internal target sits almost two months past the statutory expiry, which is normal on this portal and is not a sign of anything.

What it means for you

If you live on the Hoo Peninsula, or you keep a caravan at the park, this is the week to write. The council takes comments through the application page on its planning portal, and the comment window shuts on Saturday.

Comments have to be about planning matters. On this application that means the effect on protected species and designated sites, on the highway network, and on neighbouring amenity. Whether you like or dislike the operator is not a planning matter and carries no weight.

One practical point. Only nine people were consulted, and one letter has arrived. On an application this small, a handful of reasoned local responses is not a drop in the ocean, it is the entire body of public comment.

For other live applications in the area, see our Medway planning applications page.

Sources