Sevenoaks Town Council continues to oppose lack of affordable housing and parking proposed at former Farmers site
Published: 09 July 2025
The Former Farmers site located opposite Sevenoaks Station on London Road has been the subject of a live planning application since 14th November 2024, when details of its development proposals were first published on Sevenoaks District Council’s Planning Portal (
24/01339/FUL). The planning application proposes to build a
6 storey building comprising 56 new homes, including a ground floor commercial space and 3 disabled parking bays. It has since been amended twice, with the latest submission being the provision of a Transport Statement as well as an updated Flood Risk and Drainage Report from the applicant.
Although Sevenoaks Town Council has lobbied for many years for development to occur at this site,
it remains concerned with the absence of any affordable housing, as well as lack of parking or delivery spaces – notwithstanding the three disabled parking bays.
The Town Council has therefore submitted the following recommendation for refusal in response to the latest consultation on the proposed development. This will be considered by the Local Planning Authority (Sevenoaks District Council) when it makes the final decision on the planning application.
Sevenoaks Town Council continued to maintain its objections to the application, including its concern about the lack of any contribution to the affordable housing needed for the residents of Sevenoaks, and recommended refusal on the following grounds:
- The scale and massing of the development is out of character with other existing and new developments in the area;
- It would have an overbearing impact on houses on St Botolphs Avenue, with the potential for serious overlooking into neighbouring gardens and houses;
- As currently proposed, the application does not include a sufficient Transport and Travel Plan, which is needed to demonstrate that the site and existing transport facilities can indeed support a carless development;
- There is a serious deficit on Biodiversity gain, given the original green state of the previous permission and the requirement under Sevenoaks Town Neighbourhood Plan Policy L1 for new development to deliver a 10% net gain in biodiversity.
- Lack of any affordable housing or contribution towards delivering it offsite - both of which the Town Council notes were conditioned on the previous Appeal decision for development on this site.
Informative:
Sevenoaks Town Council advised that consideration must also be given to the improving both design and pedestrian safety of the very busy junction where Hitchen Hatch Lane and London Road intersect. In addition, the Town Council considered that these proposals should have first been submitted to a Design Review Panel prior to the planning application stage in order to address such concerns.
This as per the Sevenoaks Town Neighbourhood Plan under Aim C6, which states that "The Town Council will normally require major planning applications or sites within sensitive locations, to be submitted to a Design Review panel for review early in the planning process".
The Town Council on review of the additional documents uploaded – namely the updated Transport Statement – noted that this fails to acknowledge the poor design of the existing junction and its crossing, nor the steep incline and narrow pavements towards the Town Centre and the deterrent that this causes to accessibility of the Town Centre to both pedestrians and cyclists.
The Town Council also noted that the proposed cycle store has insufficient cycle storage for the number of units and new residents, with no provision for a Car Club and no parking space for the delivery vehicles which would be servicing the new flats.
If you have any queries, please contact:
Georgie Elliston
[email protected]09/07/2025