Sevenoaks protesters mourn loss of local green belt outside Council

KentOnline / KMTV

It comes as the Council plans to build more than 17,000 homes and a Premiership rugby stadium in the area in the next 20 years.  Maisy Walker reports.

Transcript

00:00Save our Greenbelt! Save our Greenbelt! Save our Greenbelt!

00:07A Greenbelt area is a designated section of countryside which is protected from most forms of development.

00:13About 93% of Sevenoaks' district is a designated Greenbelt area. I'm stood in one, even though you probably can't tell.

00:21But the darkness is not stopping Sevenoaks residents from making their message clear.

00:26The district is set to maybe see 17,000 new homes built between 2027 and 2042.

00:34A plan that would require parts of their Greenbelt to be downgraded to a Greybelt to make room for the development.

00:41On Tuesday, members of the community held a procession to protest the plan.

00:45We're very concerned about the overdevelopment of the area, the demands it'll put on the infrastructure.

00:51We had a very long time where the main road was shut off permanently while they rebuilt the sewerage, water pipes.

01:01So we're very concerned that the infrastructure is not there.

01:05In terms of food security, as a country we need all the land that we've got for farming.

01:13And it's good farming land that's going to be trashed effectively.

01:17It's good grazing and it's also good arable fields that are being developed.

01:22And suddenly, on my little patch, 600 homes going through, it's taking out a huge amount of that area.

01:30They began at Sevenoaks station and marched to the district council's headquarters on Argyle Road.

01:36They held candles to mourn the Greenbelt outside the council's meeting.

01:40Our campaign today is going to be a vigil.

01:44A vigil hopefully that's not going to come true.

01:47All the candles represent our saving the Greenbelt.

01:51We want to save it. We don't want it to die.

01:53A council spokesperson for Sevenoaks District Council said we are currently consulting on the new local plan,

02:00which includes potential locations for new homes to meet the government's significantly increased housing targets for the Sevenoaks District.

02:09The government has instructed us to identify land for 1,145 new homes every year, a 63 increase on the current target.

02:19While the new local plan proposes to make the best use of existing built-up areas,

02:24we'll have to consider other sites to meet the government's housing target.

02:29Sevenoaks District Council's consultation, which includes 30 pop-up events, will close on 11 December.

02:36Maisie Walker for KMTV, Sevenoaks.

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