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The 414-page document looks at jobs, homes, schools, shops, open space, transport and other services as well as how much and where development might take place.
Key sites are identified for development along with an up-to-date range of policies to help the council determine planning applications.
Last year, the authority consulted on its draft core strategy entitled Bearing Fruits.
But major changes in the government’s National Planning Policy Framework meant its development targets had to be reviewed and updated or risk being declared unsound.
As a result, the jobs targets now stands at 7,053 across the borough (353 per annum) for the period 2011-2031 as opposed to 8,500.
For housing, research identified a need for between 600-900 new dwellings a year but the council has decided to keep it at 540 as previously consulted on.
The decision was based on concerns raised about the levels being too high and a lack of adequate transport and other community services.
Sites that were allocated for new developments in the 2008 local plan and have been retained.
These include a further 500 dwellings on the Thistle Hill estate, 130 in nearby Plover Road and up to 2,000 as part of the regeneration of Queenborough and Rushenden.
Sites on the A249 trunk road on the approach to Sheerness, between Brielle Way and Whiteway Road, Queenborough, and at Neats Court have also been earmarked for possible employment or housing development.
A previous proposal to build on greenfield land at Scocles Road has been scrapped.
A new area has been identified on farmland adjacent to Barton Hill Drive, Minster, between the A2500 and Lovell Road, which has been set aside for 500 dwellings with five pitches for gypsies and travellers.
Proposals for the site include a new community centre and a sports pitch. An orchard and a listed building, Parsonage Farm, adjoining the development would both be preserved.
The plan acknowledges improvements would have to be made to the A2500 between Cowstead Corner and Barton Hill Drive to remove peak time vehicle queuing.
On the mainland, a new primary and secondary school are being proposed for Sittingbourne between the A249 and Grovehurst Road.
It is understood the sites were located outside the built up areas of the town to make it easier for Island pupils to attend in the future.
A number of new smaller sites at the edge of existing settlements have been put forward for extended residential development.
They are in Belgrave Road, Halfway, (140 dwellings), Scocles Court, Scocles Road (14), Minster, Alsager Avenue, Rushenden (22) and two separate sites in Power Station Road, Halfway (totalling 133).
New proposals for residential developments on already developed areas are on the Isle of Sheppey Academy, Minster Road (20), Preston Skreens, Minster Road (24), and the former bus depot at Shellness Road, Leysdown (six).
The plan also discusses the port of Sheerness and its surroundings as an area that may be considered in the future, but the way it would be developed is not yet clear.
Mick Galvin, chairman of Halfway Residents’ Association, has called for a “jobs first” approach to homes on Sheppey.
He said: “People need to have houses to live in but it’s no use just building houses with no jobs.
“My personal opinion and the opinion of the association is that we don’t want any more houses anywhere on Sheppey without the infrastructure to support it.
“We want jobs, we want schools, we want roads, we want hospitals.
“The roads jam up now. There are children leaving the Island to go to school. We don’t have new medical facilities if something happens. We haven’t even got a maternity unit.”
He warned Sheppey could become a “sink estate” with people living here having “nothing to do”.
Ken Ingleton, chairman of Minster Parish Council, agreed the council needs to look at providing more jobs.
He said: “My own first view of it is that it is an improvement on the previous one - I’m talking for Minster here - it is a considerable reduction on building in the Minster area.
“The only issue really is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of jobs coming forward and the council can make all these plans but they can’t actually make them happen.
“This is the biggest problem, and one of the biggest problems with housing developments, is that they can make the land available for building but whether it will be used is another issue.
He said Barton Hill Drive would be, “one of the best places for any future development” but added: “I am of the firm opinion that we have sufficient housing in Minster at the moment and there are other sites awaiting development in Minster.
“There are still over 1,000 houses with existing planning permissions and we are suffering a lot for infrastructure problems like the congestion on the Lower Road.”
He said one of the “carrots” the council are waving is the improvements to the A2500, but from the size of the development at Barton Hill Drive not much could be done unless Kent County Council put money into it.
Mike Haywood, Labour Group leader on Swale council, said the allocation on Barton Hill Drive could help to release funding to upgrade the Lower Road, which is a good thing.
“But the fundamental point is that it is no good making agreements on housing numbers if you do not make developers honour their commitment to community facilities and we have a real problem with lots of houses being proposed but not enough community facilities being provided alongside it,” he said.
“We need a new start in Swale and a council with a more imaginative approach to bringing in jobs and new homes.”
Swale Liberal Democrats spokesman Keith Nevols said: “It is clear to me that the council’s current leadership completely lacks the energy, vitality and initiative to actually make something happen.
“As for the plan itself, it seems a random case of here’s a spare bit of land, let’s plonk some houses on it.
“My main concern is over the local facilities needed to support such housing expansion.
“We have seen in the past that these are very much an afterthought.
“There is reference to extra schools but what about medical facilities, public transport, postal services, shops, pubs, street cleaning, road maintenance, public and community services?
“Will any of these properties be made affordable to local residents? There is no point in lots of empty houses which no-one can afford.
“Has the council allowed for the possibility of people moving out of London due to benefit cuts, and hence relying on the claiming of benefit payments here?”
Exhibitions
Exhibitions about the Local Plan will be held at these locations:
To see the local plan or make comments, visit http://swale-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/
Alternatively, there are reference copies at Swale council offices and the library.
Email bearingfruits@swale.gov.uk or write to Spatial Planning Manager, Swale Borough Council, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3HT.
The deadline is 5pm on Monday, September 30.
