SEVENOAKS LOCAL PLAN UPDATE
You may recall Sevenoaks District Council’s (SDC) draft Local Plan failed the scrutiny of the Planning Inspector in 2019 and that SDC is now preparing a new Emerging Local Plan. This will contain policies and priorities which will guide what can be built, and where, over the next 15 years. A “regulation 18” consultation with the public will take place from November 16th to 11th January. This will contain the draft policies and will focus on non-Green Belt sites put forward for development, and so will not include any sites within Fawkham; these would be included in a second “regulation 18” consultation on Green Belt sites, expected to take place next autumn. Fawkham Parish Council will be responding to both consultations, and members of the public can do so too.
We know that SDC is under pressure to meet Government housing targets. A new “call for sites” has taken place, although what sites have been put forward by landowners and which sites SDC proposes to allocate for development is not yet known. As part of SDC’s previous draft Local Plan in 2018/19, “call for sites” bids were made by various landowners in the Parish. These were to provide for housing and mixed use development of varying size (from 31 to up to c.800 dwellings) on land in the Green Belt. Two sites within Fawkham Parish were included in that draft Local Plan: Fawkham Business Park and Grange Park Farm, with 31 and 33 dwellings respectively. In addition, farmland east of Fawkham/Valley Road and west of Banckside in Hartley, known as “Forty Acre field”, and land at Gay Dawn Farm/Corinthian Sports Club/ Golf Course in Fawkham and Hartley, were also put forward for large-scale housing
Since the previous draft plan, planning permission has been granted for 26 dwellings at Salts Farm depot and 26 dwellings on the site of the former Fawkham Manor hospital. These two developments will see the number of dwellings in the Parish grow by 22%.
Further planning applications can be submitted at any time under normal planning legislation, with three weeks given to make comments and/or raise objections.
The Parish Council is alive to the possibility of further proposals, and will do its best to protect the Green Belt which “washes over” the Parish and meet the wishes of those residents who responded, to this effect, in the Village Survey of 2019 and more recent consultation on the emerging Neighbourhood Plan. The Parish Council will continue to keep residents updated. To receive updates from SDC on the Emerging Local Plan, please sign up here:
Kind regards,
Fawkham Parish Council
