Three residents' associations are walking the fields off Brittains Lane on Sunday 23 August, where the draft Local Plan earmarks 284 homes on two grey belt sites. Comments close 17 September.

Residents living around Brittains Lane are organising a countryside walk on Sunday 23 August to look at the two sites on the western edge of Sevenoaks that the district’s draft Local Plan earmarks for 284 new homes, with just under four weeks left to comment on the plan. (Riverhead Parish Council, Brittains Lane Proposed Development: Countryside Walk and Talk)

The walk, organised by the Redlands, Montreal Park and Ashgrove Area residents’ associations and publicised on Riverhead Parish Council’s website on 13 August, meets at the Brittains Lane end of Redlands Road at 10.30am and is expected to last around an hour. The organisers say they will be “discussing the proposed building developments on Brittains Lane (sites ST4-4 and ST4-5) and looking at the impact these sites would have on the surrounding landscape, including local National Landscape areas (formerly AONB), the Brad stream, and Great Britain’s Wood”. All ages and dogs are welcome; the notice advises suitable footwear and waterproofs and warns of “a couple of mild inclines”. (Riverhead Parish Council, Brittains Lane Proposed Development: Countryside Walk and Talk)

What the plan proposes for Brittains Lane

The two site references come from Policy ST4 of the Sevenoaks District Local Plan, the Regulation 19 version published for its final round of public comment on 23 July. Policy ST4 lists the “greenfield grey belt” sites the council intends to allocate for housing, and in the Sevenoaks urban area it includes:

  • ST4-4, Land west of Brittains Lane, Sevenoaks: 5.25 hectares, 56 homes.
  • ST4-5, Brittains Lane, Kippington, Sevenoaks: 8.09 hectares, 228 homes.

Together that is 284 homes on 13.34 hectares. The seven Sevenoaks urban area sites in the policy, which also include land north of Barnett Field on Blackhall Lane, land at the Croft on Bradbourne Vale Road, land to the rear of 34 Chipstead Park, a mixed-use site east of London Road at Dunton Green and the 1,500-home site north of Sevenoaks west of Otford Road, total 2,148 homes. (Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks District Local Plan, Regulation 19 Publication version, Policy ST4 (PDF))

Key facts on the two Brittains Lane sites in the Sevenoaks Regulation 19 Local Plan: ST4-4 Land west of Brittains Lane, 5.25 hectares, 56 homes; ST4-5 Brittains Lane, Kippington, 8.09 hectares, 228 homes; 284 homes on 13.34 hectares in total; residents' walk Sunday 23 August 10.30am; comments close 11.59pm Thursday 17 September 2026
Graphic by Sevenoaks Online

The larger of the two is new to this version of the plan. When the council published the revised draft in June it listed Brittains Lane, Sevenoaks, 228 homes, among the sites added since last year’s consultation, alongside 810 homes at Broke Hill golf course, 300 at 160 London Road and 10 more at Glyn Davies Close in Dunton Green. The 56-home site west of the lane is not on that list of additions. (Sevenoaks District Council, Council considers updated Local Plan to meet Government housing target) We reported the wider changes, including the rise in the district’s target to 17,460 homes over 15 years, when the revised plan appeared: Sevenoaks revises Local Plan upward to 17,460 homes.

What “grey belt” means here

The plan explains that its growth strategy directs development first to sites inside existing settlements and to previously developed land, and then to what it calls “poorly-performing Green Belt, now known as ‘grey belt’”. It says grey belt sites are only considered suitable for allocation where they are in a sustainable location, with particular reference to public transport, and describes the allocated sites as “predominantly located on the edges of higher-tier settlements or close to train stations”. (Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks District Local Plan, Regulation 19 Publication version (PDF))

Grey belt land also comes with conditions. The plan says that before such a site can come forward it must meet the national “golden rules”: policy-compliant affordable housing on major greenfield sites, “necessary improvements to local or national infrastructure”, and “the provision of new or improved green spaces that are accessible to the public”. Major sites will also have to submit what the plan calls a “Social Value” summary setting out how the development benefits existing and new communities. (Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks District Local Plan, Regulation 19 Publication version, paragraphs 4.32 and 4.33 (PDF))

An allocation in the Local Plan is not planning permission. It establishes the principle of housing on the land; the number of homes, layout, access and landscaping would be settled through a planning application, which residents can comment on separately when it is made.

What it means for residents

If you live off Brittains Lane, in Kippington, or on the Redlands, Montreal Park or Ashgrove estates, this is the last formal chance to comment on the allocations before the plan goes to a Government inspector. The council’s Statement of Representations Procedure says comments must be received “no later than 11.59pm on Thursday 17 September 2026”, and that anything received after that “will be marked as late and may not be considered by the Planning Inspector”. (Sevenoaks District Council, Statement of Representations Procedure, July 2026 (PDF))

Representations can be made through the council’s online Regulation 19 survey, by email to planning.policy@sevenoaks.gov.uk, or by post to the Strategic Planning Team, Sevenoaks District Council, Council Offices, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks TN13 1HG on the downloadable paper form. Hard copies of the plan are available at the council offices, at every library in the district and at each town and parish council for the length of the consultation. (Sevenoaks District Council, Statement of Representations Procedure, July 2026 (PDF))

Because this is the Regulation 19 stage, comments carry most weight if they address whether the plan is “sound” and legally compliant, rather than simply whether you like a site: the council has published a guide to responding which explains the tests. You can see the boundaries of both Brittains Lane sites, and every other allocation, on the council’s interactive map of development sites. (Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks District Local Plan Regulation 19 Publication, summer 2026)

For how the plan reached this point, and the reaction when the consultation was approved, see Sevenoaks Local Plan consultation approved. To follow any application that eventually comes forward on the land, our guide to Sevenoaks planning applications explains how to search and track the council’s portal.

Sources

Image: Brittains Lane by Marathon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.