
03.04.2024
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At DHA we routinely monitor and participate in the Plan making process, and it is with particular interest that we are watching the progress of Sevenoaks District Council.
Indeed, the district in West Kent is one of the most affluent in the south-east and is frequently cited amongst the most constrained authorities in England, with 93% Green Belt, 60% National Landscapes (both the Kent Downs and High Weald) and over 1,650 Listed buildings, including notable assets such as Hever Castle (childhood home of Anne Boleyn) and Chartwell (home of Sir Winston Churchill). As a consequence, housing delivery rates have been suppressed for decades, making the Plan making process a significant challenge.
The failure of a previous Plan at examination has left the authority with a Core Strategy dating from 2011 and an Allocations and Development Management Plan from 2015. It is perhaps unsurprising that in the absence of an up-to-date Plan, latest published figures for Sevenoaks District reveal a five-year housing land supply shortfall of circa 950 homes and a delivery record of just 51% of the district’s requirement (SDC, Five Year Housing Land Supply April 2023). In terms of affordable housing, the Targeted Review of Local Housing Needs (TRLHN 2022) indicated an overall affordable housing need of 423 homes every year; however since 2017, just 370 new affordable homes have been delivered in the district in total.
Local Plan 2040 Timetable
The urgent need for a new development strategy is clear, and it is encouraging that significant progress on the new Local Plan 2040 has been made. In the latest update made to the Council on Tuesday 26th March 2024, the authority’s Planning Policy Team confirmed that following review of the Regulation 18b consultation responses received during Winter 2023/24, work is well-underway on the Regulation 19 (Pre-Submission) version of the Plan and associated Evidence Base documents.
Over 5,300 respondents are understood to have provided circa 11,000 comments on the Regulation 18b consultation, with the widely reported mixed-use development proposal ‘Pedham Place’ for 2,500 new homes and Wasps rugby stadium and training ground, located within both the Green Belt and Kent Downs National Landscape, attracting the majority of public interest.
The latest timetable for the Local Plan 2040 is now as follows:
In the short term, the progress on the Plan is confirmed to make Sevenoaks District a ‘four-year authority’ under the new National Planning Policy Framework (paragraph 226), albeit the four-year figure remains subject to an additional 20% buffer for under-delivery. The authority’s Housing Delivery Test result of 51% will mean Sevenoaks remains a ‘presumption’ authority when determining applications for new housing for the foreseeable future.
Wider News
In wider Plan-making news, the Examination of the Swanley Neighbourhood Plan continues, with a joint response to the Examiner’s procedural matters and questions provided by Sevenoaks District and Swanley Town Councils on the 8th March. It is anticipated that the Examiner’s report could be published towards the end of April and subject to the outcome of a referendum, will likely join the Sevenoaks Town and Fawkham Parish Neighbourhood Plans in forming part of the Sevenoaks District development plan by early Summer 2024.
For further information on the plan making process in Sevenoaks or to consider development opportunities in the area, please contact Matthew Porter or David Bedford.
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