Sevenoaks District Local Plan

Sevenoaks Council are consulting on their new district plan, which will run from 2027 to 2042.  These are the rules people need to follow to get planning permission (in conjunction with national planning guidance issued by the government).

The main change is the increased housing targets.  At the moment Sevenoaks only need to build 700 new homes a year.  The new target is 1,145 homes a year, a total of 17,175 over the 15 years of the plan.

The draft plan contains a list of sites that will help the district meet this target.  It allows for 4,000 units already with planning permission and likely "windfall" sites (ones that crop up later that are not currently allowed for).  The proposed sites add another 11,400 units.  Separately the council also propose to allow 2,600 units at Pedham Place Golf Course, between Swanley and Farningham.  Wasps Rugby Club, which went into administration with debts of nearly £100m in 2022, also wants to build a stadium there.  It is surprising that Sevenoaks are considering granting this when nearby Crockenhill Football Club had to drop down a division because Sevenoaks would not allow them to put up floodlights at the nearby Wested Lane ground.

Locally the sites in the plan are set out below.  Considering the results of the settlement hierarchy assessment, Hartley appears to got off fairly lightly in terms of new development.  New Ash Green looks set to increase by half as much again.

HART2 Brambledown and Wellfield (40 units)

HART3 Fawkham Business Park, Fawkham Road (31)

HART4 Land near Woodcroft, Ash Road (9)

HART5 Orchard Farm, Fawkham Road (40)

HART6 Land adjacent to Parkfield and Downs Valley (114)

NAG1 The Forge, Ash (10)

NAG2 Royal Oak Car Park, Chapelwood Road (9)

NAG3 New Ash Green Village Centre (70)

NAG4 Heaver Trading Estate & Swan Meadows Farm, Ash Road (80)

NAG5 Grosvenor, Church Road, Hartley (5)

NAG6 Land west of New Ash Green on Chapelwood Road (280)

NAG7 Slides Farm, North Ash Road (150)

NAG8 Melsetta, Church Road, Hartley (5)

NAG9 Land south of Redhill Road (580)

Sevenoaks did not accept all site nominations, the following were rejected.

1. Land to west of Manor Lane Hartley - this is the land that runs from Church Road to the back of properties in Manor Drive.  The site was rejected on transport grounds, although part is due to be reclassified as grey belt.

2. Land at rear of Olinda, Ash Road and Chantry Avenue.  Although council say it is due to be reclassified as grey belt, it should not be developed on open space and Grade 3 agricultural land grounds.  

The following sites are provisionally categorised as grey belt.  Details are in the Sevenoaks Stage 2 Green Belt Assessment (Oct 2025)

Northfield, the land between Hartley and New Ash Green was excluded from the study because it is deemed to be green belt of fundamental importance.

HA01 (Land at Bramblings)

HA02 (Woodland by Rectory Meadow)

HA03 (Rectory Meadow)

HA04 (Downs Valley to Fawkham Valley Road)

HA05 (Old Downs Wood)

HA06 (Land at back of Braemar Lodge, Castle Hill etc)

HA07 (Land at back of Rose Cottage, Castle Hill etc)

HA08 (Land at back of Holly Cottage, Castle Hill etc)

HA09 (Land at back of Greenacre, Hartley Green etc)

HA10 (Hartley Country Club)

HA11 (Hartley Primary School)

HA12 (Properties at bottom of Fairby Lane)

HA13 (Land at back of Chantry Avenue)

HA14 (Land at back of Chantry Avenue)

HA15 (Kingswood, Ash Road)

HA16 (Vrindhaven and Woodcroft, Ash Road)

HA17 (Land formerly part of Southdown, Manor Drive)

AG01 (Land to north of Chapelwood Road)

AG02 (Land bounded by Chapelwood Road and Manor Lane)

AG03 (Beachcroft Estate)

AG04 (Land at Ash Place Farm)

AG05 (Land at Ash Place Farm)

AG06 (Slides, North Ash Road)

AG07 (Grosvenor and Hamilton, Church Road, Hartley)

A very important consideration for councils when deciding whether to grant planning permission is how "sustainable" the site is.  The council has therefore made an evaluation of sustainability by means of a settlement hierarchy assessment.  This was scored on a number of factors including existing population, transport (nearness to train stations and bus routes) and what services the settlement currently has (e.g. schools, doctors' surgeries, shops, halls, recreation space, churches, car parks etc).  

To take an easy example, Ridley scores 2 points, one for the farm shop and one for the Church.

As well as the area itself, settlements were scored by services easily reachable but just outside.  This meant that any services within 1.2km of the settlement boundary were also included.  This has very significant consequences for Hartley, as this criterion means that all the services in Longfield and New Ash Green are counted in Hartley's assessment.  New Ash Green, being out of range of Longfield scores very much less as a result.

The settlements were then sorted into the categories of Principal Town, Town, Primary Service Settlements, Secondary Service Settlements, Villages, Hamlets and Clusters.  This was based on the score in the assessment, although Westerham kept its town status, even though it scored lower than Hartley in the lower category.

Selected scores from the assessment were:

1. Sevenoaks Urban Area (Principal Town) - 784

2. Swanley (Town) - 182

3. Edenbridge (Town) - 176

4. Hartley (Primary Service Settlement) - 148

5. Westerham (Town) - 126

6. Otford (Primary Service Settlement) - 98

7. New Ash Green (Primary Service Settlement) - 90

8. West Kingsdown (Secondary Service Settlement) - 55

9. Eynsford (Secondary Service Settlement) - 53

10. Seal (Secondary Service Settlement) - 50

11. Kemsing (Secondary Service Settlement) - 47

12. South Darenth (Secondary Service Settlement) - 45

26. Fawkham (Hamlet) - 18

32. Ash (Hamlet) - 14

40. Hodsoll Street (Hamlet) - 6

68. Ridley (Cluster) - 2

82=. Barnfield Park (Cluster) - 0