3.12 Thanet is a relatively small district surrounded on three sides by the coast. The three main coastal towns of Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs, and the central island development of Westwood form the main urban areas. Outside of the urban areas is open countryside including high quality farm land and seven rural settlements. Thanet's Green Wedges serve an important function by maintaining the physical separation between, and identity of, the Thanet towns and have been consistently protected from development by local plan policies. Thanet currently has a deficiency of natural and semi-natural green space of 153 hectares, and a deficiency of public parks and gardens of 38 hectares. These limitations restrict the availability of sites that are appropriate for housing allocations. In considering appropriate site options to accommodate the housing target as required in the NPPF, the Council has also had to take into account a number of environmental issues including internationally and nationally important nature conservation designations, local wildlife designations, areas at risk of flooding and archaeology/designated heritage assets.

3.13 Identification and allocation of housing land has been informed by assessment of the sustainability of individual sites through the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment alongside the strategy for the planned location of homes whose key principles are to:-

• optimise use of capacity from sites in the built up areas of the coastal towns;
• focus provision at sites abutting those areas; and
• make modest provision at rural settlements to meet identified need for affordable homes and to provide locational choice at a scale compatible with their character and access to services and facilities.

3.14 A number of allocated sites are of strategic importance for delivering the quantity and type and variety of homes required to deliver the strategy. These are identified as Strategic sites. The distribution of allocated housing land is illustrated in Table 2.

3.15 Within the total housing provision shown below the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment suggests capacity to deliver some 3017 dwellings exists by way of sites which have already received planning permission. In addition some 1555 dwellings have already been delivered since the start of the Plan period.