Residents want football goals on the big field at Hollybush in Sevenoaks. The district council ePetition is open to sign until 17 October. How to add your name.

Residents are petitioning Sevenoaks District Council to install football goals at Hollybush, the recreation ground off Hollybush Lane in Sevenoaks. The ePetition opened on the council’s own system on 13 September and runs until 17 October. (Sevenoaks District Council, ePetition: Football goals at Hollybush)

The petition asks the council “to install football goals at Hollybush Park, giving local children and residents a safe place to play football, stay active and meet up with friends”. Five people had signed by Friday evening. (Sevenoaks District Council, ePetition: Football goals at Hollybush)

The case the petition makes

The petitioners’ argument is about who the ground currently serves. The existing playground “mainly serves younger children”, they say, “while older children currently have very limited facilities at the park”.

Their supporting statement makes three points:

  • the ground has a large open field that older children and teenagers could use more
  • goals would be “a relatively simple and cost-effective improvement” encouraging outdoor exercise and giving teenagers a positive place to socialise
  • Hollybush is already an increasingly active park, “with tennis, padel, pickleball, hockey and fitness classes already providing a range of opportunities”

(Sevenoaks District Council, ePetition: Football goals at Hollybush)

That last point reflects a real change at the site. Two of the tennis courts at the Hollybush Tennis Centre on Holmesdale Road were converted into three padel courts under a 2024 planning permission, part of the padel wave we tracked across the district in our padel courts report. (Sevenoaks District Council planning portal, ref. 24/00859/FUL)

Key dates for the Hollybush football goals ePetition: opened on the district council's ePetition system on 13 September 2026, five signatures by 19 September, closes to signatures on 17 October 2026. Anyone who lives, works or studies in the district can sign with a name, address and email
Graphic by Sevenoaks Online

A ground whose future is already being argued over

The petition lands at a site both councils have been contesting. Hollybush Recreation Ground is owned by Sevenoaks District Council, and Sevenoaks Town Council asked for it to be transferred to the town ahead of local government reorganisation. The district council refused on 21 April 2026, saying a transfer “would materially undermine financial resilience”. (Sevenoaks Town Council, Local Government Reorganisation and potential asset transfers)

The town council’s same page says the district has its own development ideas for the ground, including improving the café provision and potentially enabling residential development to fund park improvements, plans it says were not shared in advance with the town, the sports clubs or residents. If no transfer happens, the ground passes to the new unitary authority when the district council is abolished. (Sevenoaks Town Council, Local Government Reorganisation and potential asset transfers)

How to sign, and what happens next

  • The petition is open until 17 October at the council’s ePetition page. You need to log in or register, then sign.
  • Anyone who lives, works or studies in the district can sign or submit an ePetition. Signing requires your name, an address within the district and an email address. (Sevenoaks District Council, ePetitions)
  • The council publishes its responses to closed ePetitions on the same pages, so the reply will appear alongside the petition itself.
  • For what the ground and the town’s other green spaces offer today, see our guide to parks and playgrounds in and around Sevenoaks.

Sources

Image: Hollybush Lane Recreation Ground, Sevenoaks. Photo by DS Pugh, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.