Landowner Statement

With reference to Sevenoaks District Council's proposals for development of the airfield site in Chiddingstone Causeway and in advance of next Monday's open public meeting, the Parish Council has today received the following statement from Jonathan Morris on behalf of the landowner:

"The concept of 300 houses on the land behind The Little Brown Jug will cause concern to many local individuals and not least to the family who have been part of the village since 1870.

It is hoped that reassurance can be offered this evening by making clear that the family has no intention to bring forward 300 houses on the land and any ill-founded claims that land will be sold to a developer so they can bring forward that number can also be dismissed. The family have always tried to enable sustainable and incremental growth, in consultation with the Parish Council, which is what will happen here.

With regards to scale which is known to be causing alarm, the figure of 300 was calculated by Sevenoaks District Council using a standardised density applied across the entire site. It does not take account of engagement with the Parish Council, constraining factors such as environmental and landscape issues, access and provision of services.

Historically, in rural areas, Sevenoaks District Council have only allocated a small part of any site submitted through the Call for Sites Process. As a result of that, this site was put forward as a whole, as it has before, under the reasonable expectation that only part of it would come forward for potential development. It was not envisaged that the whole site would be subject to a draft allocation. This came as a surprise to the family, and also to Batcheller Monkhouse as advisors, but as advised earlier there is no intention to bring forward that number.

The adoption of The Local Plan is a long process and the consultation on this site is part of that; offering opportunities for the Parish Council to gain essential feedback. The next steps will be to undertake the necessary studies and investigations to determine the right scale and quantity of any development on the land that is needed to meet the identified local need, take due consideration of any constraints and hopefully deliver a sustainable development for the village. To reiterate, this will be done in consultation with both the Parish Council and also Sevenoaks District Council.

In closing, it is important to stress that this is part of the process that comes with providing a chance for the village to grow. In turn this can help provide homes for growing families or for people wishing to remain in the village. It has been done with good intentions as opposed to seeking an economic reward, as some may wrongly claim. Given the long history with the village, it has been difficult to read some of the comments made on social media. The family has a very long association with the village and several members both live and work in the local area and are actively engaged in the life of the village. In light of this, it is kindly requested that, whatever views you may have, be these positive or negative, feedback is given to the Parish Council through the right channels."