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The Reg 18 Consultation on the Sevenoaks Local Plan 2042 closes on 11 December 2025

By now, you are hopefully aware of the proposals in Sevenoaks District Council’s (SDC) Draft Local Plan, which has been out for consultation since 23 October. The sites proposed for development include 1,189 homes in Ash/New Ash Green, 171 in Hartley and 71 in Fawkham (see  below for details).

If you are interested in what the outcomes could mean for you and other residents of the district, please respond to the statutory consultation before it closes on Thursday 11 December 2025. Ways to respond to SDC:

• Comments on the policies described in the Draft Local Plan and the Evidence Base documents can be submitted via an online survey or via a printable PDF file, at< https://engagement.sevenoaks.gov.uk/strategic-planning/b96ad0e6, where you can also find links to the Draft Local Plan and the Evidence Base documents.
• Comments on the development sites included in the Draft Local Plan can be submitted via an online survey or via a printable PDF file, at https://engagement.sevenoaks.gov.uk/strategic-planning/11e3b063/, where you can also find links to all the proposed development sites. See below for key sites in the Hartley/New Ash Green/Ash/Fawkham area.
• Alternatively, paper forms can be collected from your local Parish Council office or any library within the Sevenoaks District.

Your voice matters, as we can collectively provide strong, evidence-based reasons why some sites should not be included in the final Local Plan. Sevenoaks District Council can only remove sites if it can provide robust evidence that will stand up to examination by the Planning Inspectorate.

NHE has not posted any updates until now, as we wanted to hear what SDC said at their New Ash Green drop-in meetings, which took place on Thursday 27 November. Unfortunately, nothing in their presentation added any further details to what had already been published. Questions were invited from the audience, and we hope to have written answers in the next few days, which we will share with you.

Hartley (HPC) and Fawkham Parish Councils have engaged a planning consultant and will prepare a joint response. HPC will also liaise with Ash cum Ridley PC, to ensure that all concerns are identified and considered.

The Sevenoaks District Local Plan explains how the Council intends to meet its development needs and protect the environment within the District up to 2042. The document focuses on the opportunities for new homes, employment spaces and infrastructure provision within and around existing settlements. It seeks to deliver much-needed new homes—including affordable housing—while promoting health and wellbeing, protecting the character of our towns and villages, and safeguarding the overwhelming majority of our Green Belt.

However, with 93% of the District designated as Green Belt—the third highest proportion in England—and over 60% recognised as National Landscape—previously known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)—SDC has had to consider a number of Green Belt sites in order to meet the new mandatory target set by the Government for over 17,000 homes in our district over the next 15 years. The majority of sites included in the Draft Local Plan are a direct result of the Government’s new grey belt definition, which meant SDC had no choice but to consider these sites for potential development if they had been put forward by a developer. The Government has effectively made all land immediately adjacent to towns and villages grey belt. Developers can therefore put forward proposals to expand all towns and villages, without communities being able to rely, in most cases, on any previous protection the Green Belt provided, as the Green Belt purpose “to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment” is no longer a Government priority.

5 sites are identified  in Hartley: HART3&5 are actually in Fawkham; HART4 has already been granted planning consent; HART2 involves demolishing existing properties and  the Wellfield Community Centre in Wellfield; HART6 is a proposed new development of 114 houses on the basis of this land being considered Grey Belt.

The development of these sites and those proposed at New Ash Green will have a significant impact on the Ash Road and other infrastructure within the village and surrounding areas.

Local proposed development sites (in decreasing order of number of residential housing units and new employment sites)       

For details visit: https://documents.sevenoaks.gov.uk/Environment%20and%20Planning/Planning/Planning%20Policy/SHELAA%202025%20Appendix%20C%20-%20Suitable%20Sites.pdf

Units	Pages	Ref	SHELAA Ref	Location
580 + community use (E/F2(b)	548-552	NAG9	MX/21/00041	Land South of Redhill Road, New Ash Green
280	219–223	NAG6	HO/21/00164	Land west of New Ash Green
150	382–386	NAG7	HO/21/00280	Land at Slides Farm, North Ash Road, New Ash Green
114	138-142	HART6	HO/21/00062	Land adjacent to Banckside and Downs Valley, Hartley
80	189–193	NAG4	HO/21/00107	Heaver Trading Estate and Swan Meadows Farm, Ash Road, New Ash Green
40	457-461	HART2	HO/25/00028	Land at Brambledown and Wellfield, Hartley
40	128-132	HART5	HO/21/00058	Orchard Farm, Fawkham Road, Longfield, Kent
31	159-163	HART3	HO/21/00086	Fawkham Business Park, Fawkham Road, Fawkham
10	335-339	NAG1	HO/21/00238	The Forge, Ash
9	412–416	HART4	HO/25/00007	Land at Ash Road, Hartley
9	583-587	NAG2	NAG09	The Royal Oak car park, Chapel Wood Road, New Ash Green
5	109–113	NAG5	HO/21/00032	Grosvenor, Church Road, Hartley
5	482-486	NAG8	HO/25/00049	Melsetta, Church Road, Hartley
?? + EMP		NAG3		New Ash Green Village Centre
EMP	28-32	ASH1	EM/21/0013	Beechcroft Farm Industries, Chapel Wood Road, Ash
EMP	33–37	HART7	EM/21/00014	Hartley Breakers Yard, Hartley Hill

You may also wish to follow the following guidance by a smaller Hartley group:

Please use the following key points as you see fit, adding any of your own comments as appropriate, then as preferred option email to : planning.policy@sevenoaks.gov.uk 

or post ASAP to : Attention Aaron Wilkinson, Strategic Planning Team, Sevenoaks District Council, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, TN13 1HG.

Every member of a household should send their own email or letter, showing name, address, email and telephone contact number. Comments must be received by no later than 11.59pm on 11 December 2025.

There are other policies in the Plan which you can comment upon, but ST1&2 are the main ones relating to housing.

Please feel free to share information below.

Sevenoaks District Local Plan – Comments 

 ST1 Policy

1. Support that growth should be focussed within existing settlement boundaries. 
2. Brownfield land should be considered for development where the existing use is not viable. 
3. The Green Belt boundary around Hartley should not be amended as there are no “exceptional circumstances”. No land around Hartley should be classified as Grey Belt, as the existing and strongly performing Green Belt helps protect against urban sprawl and development and would have a significant impact on the village. 
4. Services such as roads and public transport are either poor or at full capacity, and any significant additional housing will overwhelm the village. 
5. Evidence based documents from Neighbourhood Plans (Hartley and Fawkham) should be included as relevant documents in any assessments. When development briefs are being prepared for allocated sites, reference should be made to Design Codes and Guidelines and Local Landscape Character Assessments in Neighbourhood Plans. 
6. Development should not encroach on existing Green Belt land around Hartley, and in particular HART6 should not be classed as Grey Belt as it is not sustainable and should not be considered as it provides a check against urban sprawl.
7. Under SDC Core Strategy Policy LO1, development should be focussed on the built confines of existing settlements, and priority should be given to protecting the rural character of the district. This applies particularly to Hartley. 
8. A fuller investigation needs to be undertaken in respect of windfall sites based on delivery rates, in order to ensure that the correct methodology relating to figures for both small and larger sites is used and the housing numbers in Table 1.2 adjusted appropriately.
9. The classification of Hartley as a Primary Service Centre (PSC) in the Settlement Hierarchy 2025 is strongly opposed for reasons already given by Hartley PC. This is a village, not a PSC. One example is the walking distance of 1.2km to a train station, which should be changed to 800m, and the distance should not be measured from the edge of Hartley. 
10. Concern is also expressed about the impact of the proposed developments at New Ash Green and the significant detrimental impact that will have on existing services such as GP surgeries, schools and the very major effect it will have on Ash Road, which is already gridlocked at times.
11. Option 2 is preferred – development at Pedham Place – this provides housing in a location that is well served by good transport infrastructure, albeit it would need improving and can be provided, relatively easily, with other suitable infrastructure and services. It is also close to public transport facilities, which could be easily improved. It is previously developed land, namely a former landfill site, now a golf course. It also meets the guidance set out under the Grey Belt definition for development.

ST2 Policy 

HART 2 

We oppose the loss of the Community Hall but if this proposed demolition and redevelopment goes ahead, then the following should be taken into account:

• The community hall facilities should be replaced with a hall of no lesser standard or size
• An assessment of the capacity of the existing local infrastructure and services should be undertaken, and any shortfall made up
• There should be no loss of any amenity space, and if possible it should be improved
• The land should be checked for contamination due to the existing substation and garages on site

HART6 

We strongly object to this proposed development as it is outside the existing Settlement Boundary and ask for this allocation to be deleted.

The site is good quality open farmland with Ancient woodland to the north and south. It is prime agricultural land used for arable crops such as wheat and barley each year, and should be preserved for future food production. Protection of ancient woodlands and their boundaries, specifically as buffer zones, is paramount.

The site is in the Green Belt and strongly assists in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment. It cannot be classed as Grey Belt, as any development would represent significant encroachment on the countryside. The SDC Sustainability Appraisal 2025 records clear concerns regarding securing Green Belt boundaries in relation to this site.

Hartley is not a sustainable location for large housing developments like this because of its significant Green Belt areas that surround the village, and lack of services. The Sustainability Appraisal 2025 indicates that if this development goes ahead it is not of a scale to provide new community infrastructure for Hartley and would therefore have a detrimental impact on the rest of the village.

Housing development and the resultant activity generated on this site would have a severe and permanent adverse impact on the visual openness of the land and the strong rural character of the area. It would also have an adverse impact on Fawkham Valley, St Mary’s Church and Baldwins Green Conservation area. It would not respect the landscape qualities of the Fawkham Valley and would visually intrude on the local area and the valley horizons.

The Ash Road is already at or near capacity, and this potential development, plus the proposed addition of almost 1200 new houses in New Ash Green, will cause gridlock. The highways in this area cannot cope with such large-scale development and the addition of probably in excess of 3000 vehicles on Ash Road. Nothing has been said by KCC about if and how this huge increase could be accommodated

The classification of Hartley as a Primary Service Centre in the Settlement Hierarchy 2025 is strongly opposed for the reasons already given by Hartley PC regarding the methodology, factual incorrectness and lack of consultation about the Assessment. This is a village, not a Primary Service Centre. 

The existing services are already struggling to meet current population needs. We have a hosepipe ban because we cannot provide enough water. Our GP services located in Longfield and New Ash Green cannot meet current demand, so adding almost 1500 houses to this area will certainly overwhelm them. We are also in a Groundwater Protection Zone, and no indication is given as to how this is to be protected, and what impact such a development would have on this zone.

Such development would be contrary to Fawkham and Hartley PC’s Neighbourhood Plan Policies, as it would affect the strongly rural character of the Fawkham Valley and the special views identified in both Plans. It would also be contrary to Government policy, as such development would not contribute to or enhance the natural and local environment.

HART 6 should be removed from the list of sites allocated for development for the reasons given above.