Protecting Broom Hill

I have been involved on a number of occasions with the long-running battle over the future of the Broom Hill site, and its impact on local people in Beechenlea Lane, London Road and other parts of Swanley. The site was taken out of Green Belt two decades ago for employment land, but so far attempts to intensify development on the site, and in particular to add significant residential development have been resisted.

Sevenoaks District Council did consider mixed use development for the site at the time of the council"s Supplementary Sites Allocation consultation last year. Many residents and local representatives (including me) wrote to the council at that time setting out the arguments against residential development, and the council concluded last autumn that the site should combine existing employment use with protected open space. Since the council's conclusions will not be formally established until later this year, the four applications for a variety of mixed use options brought forward by the developer ProVision look like an attempt to get planning permission before the policy is fully established.

I attended a meeting of Swanley Town Council, at which many local residents set out their concerns, on 7 February, and have since written to Sevenoaks to set out my reasons for opposing the schemes. Local residents are right to be concerned about the proposals, since they would encroach on one of the few remaining large open spaces in Swanley and increase traffic pressures in an already congested area. You can find my letter to the council here.