Vote YES to the Neighbourhood Plan and help fight the Garden Community

Lenham Parish Council is currently consulting local residents on the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan (LNP).

This plan has provided the opportunity for the parish council to allocate the sites for a further 1,000 houses which were imposed by the Maidstone Borough Local Plan 2017 and to provide for essential infrastructure to support the growth.  This is in addition to the existing 400 houses which are already committed (in the pipeline).

Originally the Borough Council wanted to build 1,500 houses in Lenham over five years (2021 – 2026) but thanks to the arguments put forward by the parish council to the Planning inspector in 2017, this led to a reduction in the number of houses to 1,000 over a 10 year period and has enabled Lenham Parish Council and its residents to determine which sites should be allocated for housebuilding.

Supporting LNP will ensure that:

• New houses are allocated on sites away from the most sensitive areas
• The local primary school is saved
• Lenham is better protected against unwanted future developments
• Enhanced funding is secured for better facilities in Lenham such as sports fields and in the Square
• Green spaces and historic landmarks are protected.

SOHL fully supports the Parish Council’s Neighbourhood Plan as it does not include provision for the Council-led garden community.  The Parish Council is also clear that it will not accept any new developments that were included in the recent call for sites, but only the 1,000 additional houses accepted in the 2017 Local Plan.