00:00Disgruntled dog walkers in a park in Sittingbourne, worried their days enjoying the open space
00:06might be numbered. Three acres of nature in Riddles Road is under threat after being enjoyed
00:13for the last 75 years, now that Kent County Council, who own the land, has decided to
00:19sell up shop. But locals are far from wagging their tails over the decision.
00:24Communication we've had on that has been non-existent. There's been no form of communication with
00:29residents, so we're now taking it ourselves to inform the local community. This space
00:33of land is probably the last bastion of green space that we've got in the area. We have
00:37construction to the east, construction to the west, and this last green oasis is all we've
00:43got left. Residents in particular fear the land might
00:46be lost to housing developers and feel there's already enough construction work going on around
00:52them. We're becoming a bit of a concrete jungle around here. This is the only free space around here.
01:03There are probably plenty of other places that across Sittingbourne that could have houses built
01:09on them just fine. But if this was a huge piece of land, I might feel differently because obviously
01:17people do need houses to live on. But it's not really. It's just going to be a small development
01:22and it's going to rob the residents of this immediate area of a green space that is walkable.
01:27This forms part of a larger trend of the council selling off its assets, such as buildings and artwork,
01:35to try raise money. Yet the Labour MP for the area, Kevin McKenna, argues that the council shouldn't be
01:42selling off assets when it won't exist in a few years, when new councils under local government
01:48reorganisation take over. A Kent County Council spokesperson said,
01:53We are presently inviting comments on the proposed disposal of open space land
01:58at Riddles Road in Borden. The land was declared surplus in July 2026,
02:04meaning KCC has no operational use for the land, but no decision has yet been made.
02:09The public consultation isn't until late September. So until then, the campaigners have no choice
02:16but to remain dogged. Megan Shaw in Sittingbourne.
Comments