Sevenoaks councillors granted eight Traveller pitches at Farningham, up to nine homes at Ash and a Halstead extension at the 18 June planning committee. The 135-home Edenbridge decision has not yet been issued.

Sevenoaks councillors have granted three of the four applications heard at their Development Management Committee on Thursday 18 June, with the council issuing the decision notices the following day. Eight Gypsy and Traveller pitches at Farningham, up to nine homes on green belt land at Ash and a house extension at Halstead were all approved. The biggest scheme of the night, up to 135 homes on green belt farmland at Edenbridge, has not yet been decided.

We previewed all three of the contested cases before the meeting. Here is what the committee actually did.

The decisions in full

Sevenoaks Development Management Committee, 18 June 2026 decisions: Farningham 8 Traveller pitches granted, Ash Church End up to 9 homes granted, Mapledene Halstead extensions granted, Edenbridge 135 homes no decision yet
Chart by Sevenoaks Online.

Eight Traveller pitches at Farningham, granted. The committee approved application 25/02418/FUL for eight Gypsy and Traveller pitches at Farningham Hill Stud on London Road, with the decision notice issued on Friday 19 June. (Sevenoaks District Council, Public Access, application 25/02418/FUL) Officers had recommended approval, two years after the council refused an identical scheme on the same site in June 2023. The pitches, which have been occupied since 2022 and would house seven families from one extended family group, were granted subject to conditions capping the site at eight pitches, restricting occupation to Gypsies and Travellers, barring commercial activity and requiring acoustic fencing of up to 3.5 metres against the M20 and A20. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/02418/FUL) The full background is in our report on the Farningham Traveller site.

Up to nine homes at Ash, granted. Permission in principle for between one and nine homes at Church End, Ash Road, Ash (26/00992/PIP) was also granted, with the decision dated 19 June. (Sevenoaks District Council, Public Access, application 26/00992/PIP) The site sits in the green belt close to the New Ash Green settlement boundary. The council had refused a near-identical application on the plot on 19 March, on the single ground that the whole site fell within the buffer zone of a high-pressure gas main; the resubmission cleared that hurdle with a non-objection letter from Scotia Gas Networks. Ash-cum-Ridley Parish Council and the New Ash Green Village association had both objected, warning that several small sites along Ash Road are adding up to far more housing than any one decision suggests. The detail is in our piece on the Ash Church End homes.

House extensions at Halstead, granted. The committee’s fourth item, a householder application at Mapledene, Otford Lane, Halstead (25/03421/HOUSE) for extensions, a garage, dormers and landscaping, was approved on 19 June. (Sevenoaks District Council, Public Access, application 25/03421/HOUSE)

The Edenbridge 135 homes: still no decision

The night’s headline case, outline permission for up to 135 homes on green belt land south of Phillippines Close, Edenbridge (25/03241/OUT), has not been determined. As of 21 June the council’s planning portal still records the application as “awaiting decision”, with no decision notice issued. (Sevenoaks District Council, Public Access, application 25/03241/OUT)

That is not unusual for a scheme of this kind. Officers had recommended that permission be granted only on condition that a legal agreement under Section 106, securing 50 per cent affordable housing on site plus contributions to schools, green space, buses and rail, was completed by 30 October 2026. Where a committee follows that route, the formal decision is held back until the agreement is signed. (Sevenoaks District Council, officer report, application 25/03241/OUT) The scheme drew 151 objections, and the committee’s minutes, which will record exactly what councillors resolved, have not yet been published. We will report the outcome once the council confirms it. For now, see our preview of the 135-home Edenbridge scheme.

What it means for residents

For the three approved schemes, a grant of permission is not the end of the process. The Ash decision is permission in principle, which settles only that housing is acceptable on the land; a second, technical-details application covering access, layout, drainage and the gas-pipeline safeguards still has to be submitted and decided before anything is built. The Farningham pitches are now lawful subject to the conditions, including the acoustic barrier, being met. The Halstead extension can proceed in line with its approved plans.

All three sit in the Metropolitan Green Belt, and each was decided against a backdrop the officer reports return to repeatedly: a district that cannot currently show the five-year housing land supply the government requires, and a separate, severe shortfall in authorised Traveller pitches. That is the pressure now shaping how green belt cases are judged here, and it is unlikely to ease soon.

You can read every document, track a decision or comment on a live application by searching the reference on the council’s Public Access planning portal. Our guide to tracking Sevenoaks planning applications explains how to search by street and set up alerts for your own address, and our June planning applications roundup covers the latest schemes lodged across the district.

Sources

Image: Sevenoaks District Council Offices by Richard Kelly, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Chart by Sevenoaks Online.