Planners recommend three Gypsy and Traveller pitches off Troy Lane, Edenbridge, despite 74 objections. Councillors decide on 15 October, with Halstead's Cock Inn.

Council planners are recommending approval for three Gypsy and Traveller pitches on farmland off Troy Lane, west of Edenbridge. The site drew 74 letters of objection, and Edenbridge Town Council objects too. (Sevenoaks District Council, officers’ report on 25/02693/FUL)

The Development Management Committee decides the application on Thursday 15 October. The same meeting decides whether the forecourt of the former Cock Inn in Halstead can become a private garden. (Sevenoaks District Council, Development Management Committee, 15 October 2026)

Troy Lane: what is proposed

The site is a triangle of land of 1.06 hectares at the junction of Troy Lane and Hilders Lane. It is in the Green Belt, beside the railway line and south of Yew Tree Farm, a Grade II listed building.

The application asks for:

  • three pitches, each with one mobile home and one touring caravan
  • hardstanding and car parking
  • new fences, gates and landscaping

There are no day rooms proposed. A stable block approved on the land in 2022 was never built, and it has been taken off the plans.

Councillors Baker and Morgan asked for the committee to decide it. They argue the parish already has a disproportionate number of pitches, and that the scheme is inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

Why objectors are against it

Edenbridge Town Council’s objection, as the report summarises it, says:

  • it is inappropriate development in the Green Belt and the land is not brownfield
  • it would “effectively double the number of residents in Troy Lane”
  • it sits beside a listed farmhouse, on part of the original farm
  • the site is poorly served: the bus stop on Hilders Lane is no longer used, and both lanes are narrow, have no pavements and carry the national speed limit

The 74 objection letters raise traffic, drainage, light, noise and wildlife. They also cite the number of pitches already in the Edenbridge area, and fear the site would grow beyond three pitches.

Why officers say yes

The report calls the site “provisional grey belt land”. Under the national planning rules published in August 2026, grey belt land can be developed where there is an evidenced unmet need. Officers say that test is met.

The council’s own figures show the gap. Its 2025 accommodation assessment found the district needs 192 more pitches by 2042, 115 of them in the first five years. Permissions since then have cut the remaining need to 170 pitches, as of September 2026.

Bar chart of Gypsy and Traveller pitch need in Sevenoaks district: 192 pitches needed to 2042 under the 2025 assessment, 115 of them in the first five years, 170 still unmet as of September 2026, and 23 proposed for allocation in the emerging Local Plan.
Pitch need against planned supply. Chart by Sevenoaks Online
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The district has no adopted site allocations, so the council cannot show a five-year supply of pitches. The emerging Local Plan identifies a potential 23 pitches over four sites. The report says “there has been a failure of policy to deliver Gypsy and Traveller sites over a considerable period of time”.

Officers also give significant weight to the family’s own circumstances. The report says the pitches would house families with children who cannot attend school without a settled base.

On the number of pitches near Edenbridge, the report says the share between parishes “is not in itself a measure of a site’s suitability”. It says distribution is a matter for the Local Plan, not for a single application.

Conditions if it is approved

The recommended conditions include:

  • the site may only be occupied by Gypsies and Travellers as national policy defines them
  • no more than three pitches, and no more than two caravans on each, one of them static at most
  • no vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and no commercial activity, including storage of materials
  • no external lighting without the council’s approval
  • trespass-proof fencing along the railway, agreed with Network Rail
  • a 10% biodiversity net gain, managed for 30 years

The Environment Agency and Network Rail did not object. The site has no mains sewer, so foul drainage would need its own permit.

The Cock Inn, Halstead

The Cock Inn, at the junction of Shoreham Lane and Station Road, has permission to become a house. That was granted in March 2024. (Sevenoaks District Council, officers’ report on 26/00808/FUL)

The new application would turn the tarmac area in front of the former pub into an enclosed garden. That land belongs to Kent County Council as highway land, though it is not part of the road or the pavement. It has been used for informal parking.

Halstead Parish Council strongly objects. It says the corner is “very dangerous currently for children, families and those using mobility aids” walking to the village school, shop and recreation ground. It wants a pavement there instead. It also says longer vehicles cannot turn left from Station Road into Shoreham Lane without crossing the triangle.

There were 13 representations: 11 objections and two neutral comments. Councillor Grint referred the application to committee over highway and pedestrian safety.

KCC Highways objected at first, then withdrew its objection after the plans changed. The new access and parking were dropped and the fence was cut to 0.6 metres. Officers recommend approval, with visibility splays kept clear.

Planning permission alone would not let the owners build it. A separate application has gone to the Secretary of State to stop up the highway on the land. If that is refused, the land stays with KCC.

Two tree orders

The committee will also consider confirming two tree preservation orders:

  • a mature sycamore at Rivendell, 99 Oakhill Road, Sevenoaks
  • a mature fir and two mature pines at Woodlea, Crouch House Road, Edenbridge

What it means for you

The meeting is at 7pm on Thursday 15 October in the Council Chamber, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks. Democratic Services can be reached on 01732 227165 or democratic.services@sevenoaks.gov.uk.

You can read every document on each application, including the objections, on the council’s planning portal. Search for 25/02693/FUL or 26/00808/FUL. Our planning applications guide explains how to comment on a scheme near you.

A planning inspector allowed a separate traveller site in West Kingsdown last month. Our report on that appeal has the detail. We will report the committee’s decisions after the meeting.

Sources

Image: Troy Lane, by N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph (Wikimedia Commons). Chart by Sevenoaks Online.