We're seeking to overturn the Council's decision on 3^rd February 2021 to progress the draft Local Plan that has removed the Green Belt status of some of the last remaining fields separating Southborough from Tunbridge Wells and allocated these fields for housing development in the Local Plan.  This was done without notice to the public, who were deprived of the opportunity to comment on the extensive new Green Belt reports (themselves incomplete) justifying the decision to allocate these fields for housing development.   Councillors also expressed concern that they had not been given enough time to review the documents justifying the allocation of the land for development.

The land has always been classed as Metropolitan Green Belt, deemed extremely important locally, and listed as such as recently as 2019. However, at some point between then and February 3rd, the Green Belt was downgraded to negligible, the land sold to national developers, and the proposed development included in the Council's Local Plan.

We have asked the Council to take the matter back to Full Council once all the papers supporting the proposals have been available to the public and councillors, and they have had an opportunity to comment on these and persuade the Council to remove the allocation of the fields for development.

Our lawyers have engaged in pre-action correspondence with the Council, who has refused to take this matter back to Full Council; our lawyers are now preparing to file a claim for judicial review including an injunction to restrain the Council from submitting the Local Plan to the Secretary of State for examination.

Call To Action

In order to progress the case we need to raise funds to pay for the lawyers to apply for permission to seek judicial review.

Timings

The Council will publish the final proposed housing plan next Friday, 26th March.  We do not want the draft Local Plan to include the fields for housing allocation.  If it does, we will be on the back foot at the inquiry into the Local Plan, our chances of objecting to the land allocation in the Local Plan will be reduced and we will need to spend a lot more money on representation at the inquiry, legal fees and experts.

So we need to act today.

What Are We Hoping To Achieve?

Simple. The removal of the land from the council's final housing proposal that is due to be published on Friday 26th March. Not long then.

Why Does This Matter To You?

We know that lots of people are passionate about their local communities, protecting the environment, and have a healthy interest in local government. But if we had to create a list, here are what we believe to be the key concerns;

• Loss of Green Belt and local wildlife (plus how and why the council reclassified it behind "closed" doors and why we can't read the report for ourselves)
• Is this the thin edge of the wedge? In total the developers have submitted plans for a total of 395 houses.
• Urban sprawl - this is the last open land that stops Tunbridge Wells joining Southborough.
• Traffic - we all know how awful the traffic is at the junction of Speldhurst Land and St John's Road (even though the council spent an astonishing £800,000 recently to "fix" the issue). Imagine how much worse it will be with a new housing development.
• Schools - yet more pressure on local over-subscribed schools.
• Building Works - years of it. Good grief.

What Is The Next Step?

Commission the lawyers to ask for the judicial review

How Much Are We Raising and Why?

£7,500. It's a lot of money which is why we've set up the page. Given the initial fantastic response from the local community - we already have over 130 members to our Facebook page in less than 1 week, if we can all donate fairly modest sums, we really think we have a decent chance to hit our target.

How Does This Site Work?

You pledge an amount you're comfortable with. It ONLY gets deducted if we hit the target within 30 days. So if we don't get the full £7,500, no money will leave your account. Simple.

If having read this you decide you want to donate, we are hugely and eternally grateful. Even more so if you can share this with your friends and family. If it's not for you that's fine too - thanks for taking the time to read about our cause.