With the demand for housing never greater it is likely Sevenoaks will face some difficult decisions
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By 2030 Sevenoaks with its bustling high street and independent shops, circled by Green Belt could be a different town.
Plans for affordable homes in and outside the capital are likely to drive planning permission – making it just that little bit easier to get the go ahead. District planners are already looking at ways to ease tough planning policy – terms like building on Green Belt land only in "exceptional" circumstances are set for a slightly different interpretation and big build schemes like those at Fort Halstead are in the pipeline.
There will be a new community centre, car park and a scheme to convert the Greatness Quarry into a leisure park is actively being considered by Sevenoaks Town Council.
So what can we expect as we head towards another decade? A busier town for sure but one which many fervently hope will retain its small town feel and avoid becoming simply another satellite of London.
Planning permission for 450 homes and a business park on the site of the Ministry of Defence research establishment was granted in September 2015. The then owners – a consortium – had hoped to start work on the site – by the end of this but delays in closing the secretive establishment mean the first spade is not likely to hit the turf for at least two years. It could be eight years before the development is complete.
Planning consultant Alison Tero of CBRE said the military establishment was sold to investors, Merseyside Pension Fund last year and they were waiting for MOD staff to vacate.
"It has taken a bit longer than originally anticipated," she said.
"Once they have vacated there will be a clear-up programme which will probably be six to nine months. Until we know exactly when the MOD are going to leave I cannot give you an exact date."
She said the development, which also includes an 80 bedroom hotel, village hall, medical centre and nursery, was likely to take between four to five years to build.
Down the road at Broke Hill Golf Club another development is in the offing. The site is being sold off for development and new owners, Canterbury based Quinn Estates want to build 800 homes. The Green Belt site has been put forward as part of Sevenoaks District Council's call for sites and as yet no planning application has been put forward. But villagers living nearby held a public meeting to discuss the proposal with one telling Kent Live "the mood was hostile." No decision about whether to include the site in the Local Plan has been made, a Sevenoaks District Council spokesman said.
Sevenoaks District Council is currently pulling together the first draft of the district's Local Plan – a version of which will dictate planning policy up until 2035. Planners are currently pouring over thousands of household surveys sent out last year. They will be used to produce a first version of the plan which will be published in the summer when people will be given another opportunity to comment on proposals.
The draft will include the council's best estimate of the number of homes the district is able to build on an areas made up of 93 per cent Green Belt and 61 per cent declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). A final version will then go before a planning inspector at a public inquiry early next year.
Council leader Peter Fleming said officers would be probing sites put forward for possible development using three key principles and would firstly look to develop the seven per cent of the Sevenoaks district not classed Green Belt.
"The second principle will be to look at land that’s within the Green Belt but has previously been developed, so land that’s had another use that will never be a corn field again. So if it’s concreted over in the green belt then as long as it’s in a sustainable location we should look to use that," he said.
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"And then absolutely the final line in the sand is the exceptional circumstances test, which is one that the government expects us to look at. This is exceptional sites in the Green Belt. There’s no real definition of what exceptional sites are, which is helpful, but what they really mean is something that will bring on board significant benefits, whether that be roads or schools or other much needed infrastructure. Interestingly though it can’t be housing number – that is not an exceptional circumstance."
Campaigners fighting for a town grammar school thought they were almost there when former grammar school girls Theresa May and then Education Secretary, Justine Greening declared their support for selective education and it looked as if a law might change – meaning Sevenoaks could have a stand alone boys grammar.
But the slashing of the Conservative majority in last summer's general election and a Parliamentary timetable packed with Brexit legislation means any new laws would prove politically problematic. So despite the opening of a the Weald of Kent girls' grammar annexe for 120 girls last September it looks as if a boys' equivalent maybe a fading dream.
Sevenoaks grammar school campaigner, Sarah Shilling said she was frustrated her three sons were now travelling seven miles a day to Tonbridge.
"It is on the back burner at the moment – it was knocked off the agenda when Theresa May lost her majority," she said.
"It is great for the girls but there was never a lack of girls' places within the system. We asked for blue and we were given pink. Now it's wait and see and hope the political tide turns."
Work on Sevenoaks' new 83 bedroom Premier Inn began last June and it is scheduled to open to guests this summer. Council bosses said everything was running smoothly and the hotel would help meet a growing demand for visitor beds. The hotel is being built on the site of the old Sennocke car park. Its backers Sevenoaks District Council said giving people an option to stay in the town rather than travel, was likely to generate a further £10 million for the local economy by encouraging people to spend in the district's restaurants, shops and other services.
Meanwhile another council backed project promises to help ease the town's parking problems. Buckhurst Road 2 closed in January and will re-open with 480 parking spaces in the spring of next year.
A district council spokesman said its aim was to meet a shortage of long stay parking for town centre workers which he said had held back some businesses as wells as offering further parking to shoppers and residents. While the car park is being built 100 free spaces are being offered in Morewood Close and a shuttle bus to Blighs will continue to run at peak times during weekdays.
It was hailed as a victory for commuters in 2016 but at the end of the same year plans to introduce the Oyster Card to Sevenoaks were quietly dropped by Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling.
Members of the Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association remained hopeful but the government has now ruled out allowing Transport for London to run services on the Sevenoaks line when its contract is renewed next April.
Association secretary, Andrew Stott said the Oyster card dream was now "completely dead". And he added there was more "bad news" for rail users in the town.
The new contract will slash the number of trains between Sevenoaks and Hastings from four an hour to two an hour. It will mean people shopping in Tunbridge Wells, children travelling to school in the town and back and workers commuting between the two will have less of a choice, he said.
"And all to make trains from Hastings – Amber Rudd's constituency – three minutes faster," he added.
Town chiefs are due to unveil their latest thinking on the Great Northern Masterplan on March 19. It follows a lengthy consultation on plans to re-energise the area around the Bat and Ball station and old Tarmac quarry site. Among the schemes being considered are a water park, new housing and the re-development of historic buildings and oasthouses on the 75 hectare Greatness Quarry site, which is due to close in 2025.
Assistant Town clerk, Hugh D'Alton said the council would give a full presentation – including timescales at its annual town meeting. The project is due to run alongside a £900,000 revamp of Bat and Ball Station.
The council has now secured a £750,000 lottery grant to develop a new community centre on the site and a contractor has been appointed.
"We will be proceeding in earnest as soon as all relevant permits have been signed off, " Mr D'Alton said.
"It's really excited to kick off the first major project in the Northern Sevenoaks regeneration, especially one which will have such a catalytic effect, unlocking further development potential and encouraging increased investment in the area."