Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question not answered here, please contact us and we will look to add it to our frequently asked questions.

‘Save our Heath Lands’ (SOHL) is an action group of local residents in Lenham and surrounding villages set up to fight Maidstone Borough Council’s proposals to build a new town in Lenham Heath for over 5,000 homes. We represent the local community and provide a united voice in opposition to these proposals.

Maidstone Borough Council has identified Lenham Heath as the location for its new Garden Community scheme. They are currently proposing a new town with 5,000 homes, two primary schools, a railway station and a commercial/retail centre.

The land identified is north of the railway and towards the A20.  The identified site is currently made up of multiple different landowners. The principal (largest) landowners are currently in negotiations with Maidstone Council to see if they can agree on terms on which a planning application could be submitted.

 

Garden Communities are part of a national government initiative to deliver large scale new developments that will create well-planned, sustainable places for people to live. They are purpose built new settlements, or large extensions to an existing town. They are expected to have their own identity, attractive environment and provide a mix of homes including affordable and self-build. A key requirement is that they are to be planned by local authorities or by the private sector in consultation with the local community. More detail on the Government’s initiative can be found here.

Maidstone Council is required to increase housebuilding across the borough each year. It maintains that it has no alternative but to find large sites for new houses, however, the formula used to calculate the total number of homes per year is based on an outdated population growth estimate from 2014. We believe the Council is overestimating the housing need for the borough.

Heathlands has been included in the Council’s Local Plan, but the Council has to overcome several hurdles to get the Local Plan passed.

The Local Plan has been put forward for examination by an independent Planning Inspector appointed by the Government.

Although the Inspector agreed there was some merit to the proposal to develop significant housing in what was described as ‘the broad Lenham location’, he found the specific policy through which MBC proposed to deliver this was ‘not sound’.  For it to be deemed sound, this required the Council to carry out major pieces of work in agreement with third parties, such as Network Rail, which will not be easy to address.

Maidstone Borough Council has a lot of work to do to resolve these issues of soundness highlighted by the Inspector which are not just in relation to Heathlands. It’s likely that any resolutions proposed by MBC will be subject to a six-week consultation.

SOHL continues to fight the Heathlands proposal from being included in the Local Plan and has set up a ‘fighting fund’ should it need to legally challenge the Local Plan.

 

 

The Council have no planning permission yet nor is the land in question acceptable land to grant permission for housing on. It will need to get its  Local Plan passed before it can start obtaining agreement from landowners and submitting planning permissions. The current plans propose the first house building to start in 2029, subject to them getting permission.

This is our last chance to fight Heathlands from being an allocation site in the Local Plan. We now need to move fast to ensure that we have the funds needed to legally challenge the Local Plan – which could cost around £50,000.

SOHL has set up a ‘fighting fund’, please help us by donating what you can.

 

Keep up to date on the action we are taking via our website and on our social media channels:

Facebook: Save Our Heath Lands
Twitter: @SOHeathLands
Instagram: @SOHeathLands