Broom Hill: Inspector's decision goes against residents

Last year saw an appeal by the developers ProVision against Sevenoaks District Council's refusal of permission for four applications for between 20 and 61 houses on the Broom Hill site. Residents of. Beechenlea Lane were deeply concerned about the proposals, fearing a major impact in terms of traffic, noise and a change in the character of the area in which they live, often for many years. I worked with residents in support of their stance and spoke at the second leg of the Inquiry in October (posts of 24 February and 8 October).

Late last week, the Inspector handed down his verdict, which was solidly in favour of the developer's appeals on all four applications. This is a bitter disappointment to local people, who feel that they have lost out on everything. Reading the Inspector's Decisions, it is clear that the new National Planning Policy. Framework (NPPF) weighed heavily in the Inspector's thinking. So did the lack of formal protections on the land; it was taken out of Green Belt 20 years ago, though never with the intention on the part of Sevenoaks District Council of its being subject to residential development.

The full Decisions report can be found here.