SOHL has played a critical role in fighting the Heathlands proposal and holding Maidstone Borough Council to account since September 2019.
Numerous speeches and questions have been prepared and presented for countless committee meetings, councillors have been lobbied, council reports scrutinised, and challenges made to call out the Council’s lack of transparency and secrecy.
And the fight goes on!
Here are some key milestones:
The Council’s original Heathlands masterplan (2020)
SOHL successfully secured the movement of the original masterplan’s “red line” away from the existing Lenham Heath settlement between the railway line and the M20 and more towards the A20.
SOHL threatened legal action in November 2020 on behalf of small landowners who had not given consent to their land being included in the Council’s plans.
At the meeting of the Council’s Policy & Resources Committee on 24 March 2021, the Director for Regeneration & Place, Mr William Cornall reported to members that the development was expected to shift northwards from its current location towards the A20 and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. He said that it was ‘probable’ that the 18 landowners who mounted a legal challenge last November to have their land removed from the masterplan would ‘be obliged’.
Local Plan Regulation 19 Consultation (2021)
In October 2021, the Council agreed to include the Heathlands masterplan in the Regulation 19 draft Local Plan. Consultation took place from 29 October to 12 December 2021
Here is our detailed submission to the formal consultation setting out our evidence-based objections.
Independent Examination of Maidstone Borough Council’s proposed Local Plan (2022-2024)
On 31 March 2022, the Council submitted the Local Plan to the Secretary of State for independent examination. Mr David Spencer from the Planning Inspectorate was appointed by the Secretary of State to carry out the independent examination.
In September 2022, Stage 1 of the Independent Inspection took place and you can find details of the Inspection and everyone’s responses here. The submission from SOHL can be viewed here.
A Stage 2 hearing was undertaken in May and June 2023 with SOHL, Lenham Parish Council and others representing residents at the hearing and in further consultations on technical documents following.
The Conservative ruling administration of the MBC duly adopted the Local Plan with Heathlands as an allocation in March 2024.
Legal Challenge of the Maidstone Local Plan Adoption (2024)
In May 2024, SOHL took the unprecedented decision to mount a legal challenge against the adoption of the Maidstone Local Plan. Working with a distinguished environmental law firm our three grounds of challenge were on the following points:
- The Inspector’s misinterpretation of the deliverability of the Local Plan
- The Inspector’s conclusion in his report about finding a suitable site for a secondary school in the Maidstone urban area for the proposed Invicta Barracks development; and
- The Inspector’s conclusion on the timing of delivery for the above secondary school in Maidstone.
High Court Judge, the Honourable Sir Peter Lane considered our case on 24th June 2024. On review of our claim he decided to refuse permission to proceed.
Development of Supplementary Planning Document (2025)
Maidstone Borough Council and Homes England have pressed on with preparing a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the Heathlands development in order to progress their Outline Planning Application.
SOHL continues to fight every step of the way. We will scrutinise and challenge every weakness in the SPD and ensure that sufficient rigour, protection and accountability is maintained in each part of the planning process.