Planning officers are recommending approval for up to 135 homes on green belt land south of Phillippines Close, Edenbridge, despite 151 objections. Sevenoaks councillors decide on Thursday 18 June.

Plans for up to 135 new homes on green belt farmland at Edenbridge go before Sevenoaks councillors next Thursday, 18 June, with planning officers recommending approval despite objections from 151 residents, Edenbridge Town Council and neighbouring Hever Parish Council. (Sevenoaks District Council, Development Management Committee agenda, 18 June 2026)

The application, reference 25/03241/OUT, seeks outline permission for “residential development of up to 135 new homes” on land south of Phillippines Close, with all detailed matters except access left to a later stage. It is the largest housing scheme to reach the committee this year, and it lands while the council can show less than three years of housing land supply against the five the government requires. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/03241/OUT)

What officers are recommending

Edenbridge housing scheme key figures: up to 135 homes, grant recommended, 151 objections, 50% affordable housing, 2.96 years housing land supply, decision 18 June 2026
Chart by Sevenoaks Online.

The chief planning officer’s report asks the committee to grant permission, subject to conditions and to a legal agreement under Section 106 of the planning acts being completed by 30 October 2026. That agreement would tie the developer to a substantial package: half of all the housing would be affordable and delivered on the site itself, with financial contributions towards primary and secondary education and special educational needs provision, new and improved green space on site, a 10 per cent biodiversity net gain, walking and cycling improvements, and money for an additional bus service and railway improvements. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/03241/OUT)

The application was referred to the committee by Councillor McArthur, on grounds including the impact on the purposes of the green belt, a claimed failure to comply with national “golden rules” and grey belt policy, and concerns about highways, emergency access and sustainable transport. That referral is why the scheme will be decided in public by councillors rather than by officers under delegated powers.

Why the green belt may not save the site

The land is in the Metropolitan Green Belt, and the question of whether it stays open is the heart of the case. The officer report works through the government’s recent “grey belt” rules, under which green belt land that makes a limited contribution to the green belt’s purposes can be released for housing where a council cannot show a five year housing land supply.

Two findings in the report do most of the work. First, the council’s own Stage 2 Green Belt Assessment treated the parcels around the site as provisional grey belt land. Second, the council’s housing land supply currently stands at 2.96 years, well short of the required five, which the report describes as “a clear and demonstrable unmet need for housing in the District”. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/03241/OUT)

The site is also already pencilled into the council’s emerging Local Plan as a proposed housing allocation, reference EDEN15, “Land east of Mead Road”, for 120 dwellings, slightly fewer than the 135 now applied for. Edenbridge itself, with 9,214 residents, is the district’s third largest settlement and sits in the second tier of the council’s settlement hierarchy, which counts in the scheme’s favour on sustainability.

What objectors say

The council received 152 public comments on the application; 151 of them were objections. The most common grounds were inadequate drainage and flood risk, raised by 96 objectors, unsafe access and highway safety, raised by 84, harm to the green belt, raised by 74, and worsened parking and congestion, raised by 73. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/03241/OUT)

Edenbridge Town Council’s objection focuses on how anyone would actually get in and out. The main access would be from Phillippines Close, which the town council describes as a private, unadopted road serving an industrial area off Hever Road and a residential care home. The emergency access would run via Mead Road, a narrow no-through lane, and the town council questions how its use could be limited to emergencies. It also points to congestion on Hever Road, where parked cars already reduce the carriageway to a single lane in places, and to roughly 90 existing addresses on the suburban stretch of that road. Hever Parish Council, the adjoining authority, objects on similar access grounds and on the loss of hedgerows, ponds and meadows.

Kent County Council’s highways officers, for their part, raise no objection subject to conditions, and the county’s flood, ecology and rights of way officers are likewise content subject to conditions.

What else is on the agenda

Three other applications are listed for the same meeting (agenda, 18 June 2026):

  • Eight Gypsy and Traveller pitches at Farningham Hill Stud, London Road, Farningham (25/02418/FUL), each with a mobile home, touring caravan, dayroom and two parking spaces. Officers recommend granting permission with conditions restricting occupancy, capping the site at eight pitches and barring commercial activity. Farningham Parish Council objects, and the application was referred to committee by Councillor White over the concentration of pitches in the parish and green belt harm. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/02418/FUL)
  • Between one and nine homes at Church End, Ash Road, Ash (26/00992/PIP), an application for permission in principle of the same type as the recent New Ash Green and Kemsing proposals we covered in our June planning applications roundup.
  • A householder scheme at Mapledene, Otford Lane, Halstead (25/03421/HOUSE), covering extensions, dormers and landscaping.

What it means for residents

If councillors follow the officer recommendation, the principle of 135 homes at Edenbridge would be settled, but no bulldozers follow immediately: the layout, design and landscaping would all come back as later reserved matters applications, each open to comment. If councillors refuse against advice, the developer can appeal, the route that produced a £400,000 costs warning when the committee refused the New Ash Green solar farm earlier this month.

The committee meets at 7pm on Thursday 18 June in the Council Chamber at Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, and meetings are open to the public. You can read every document, and comment on the Ash application while it remains undecided, by searching the application references on the council’s Public Access portal. Our planning applications guide explains how to track and comment on schemes near you.

Sources

Image: High Street, Edenbridge by Oast House Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph. Chart by Sevenoaks Online.