Present:

Members	Present	Apologies	Reason
Chair: Cllr G Darrington	✓
Deputy Chair: Cllr P Darrington	✓
Cllr C Barnes		✓	Personal Circumstances
Cllr P Brown		✓	Personal Circumstances
Cllr S Durden	✓
Cllr M Horwood		✓	Work Commitments
Cllr K Mitchell		✓	Holiday
Cllr L Taylor	✓
Cllr E Uttley	✓

Officers: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Ryan Hayman
Senior Executive Assistant – Adele Farrier

Also Present:
Cllr J Knight
Cllr C Prestedge
Cllr R Wood

Public – None present.

MEETING COMMENCED: 19:38

12449 – APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Cllr C Barnes
Cllr P Brown
Cllr M Horwood
Cllr K Mitchell

12450 – DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
NONE

12451 – MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
To approve as correct the Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 19th February 2025.
APPROVED AND SIGNED

12452 – DECISIONS TO BE CONSIDERED BY SWANLEY TOWN COUNCIL

24/03352/FUL 37A/B Swanley Centre London Road Swanley Kent BR8 7TL – COMMENTS DUE BY 01/04/2025
Installation new shopfronts and external alterations including the installation of access ramps, refuse storage and bollards. Additional details in relation to bollards and proposed materials
NO OBJECTION.

25/00326/OUT Land South Of Hockenden Farm Lane Swanley Kent BR8 7QH – COMMENTS DUE BY 27/03/2025
Outline planning application, with all matters reserved except access, for the erection of up to 10,500 sqm of employment floorspace to provide Use Class B2/B8/E(g).
STRONGLY OBJECT.

Swanley Town Council strongly objects to this proposal on the grounds of this being considered inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

• We acknowledge that a significant amount of land is now under threat of development as a result of the Government virtually removing most Green Belt protection, which have been reflected in other Planning Inspector decisions which have been taken to appeal in the local area.
• As people will know, ‘Grey Belt’ under the Government’s amendments to the NPPF can include open field and undeveloped countryside.
• However, there has been no professional assessment as to whether this land is considered ‘Grey Belt’ under the new government policy and therefore it is subjective as to whether this is the case and constitutes inappropriate development or not. We acknowledge that it is a subjective assessment, the SDC Local Plan has not yet reached a stage where the clarity of this land is agreed in terms of whether it is highly performing Green Belt, or the Government’s wide ranging ‘Grey Belt’ grading, which removes the protection.
• Sevenoaks District Council previously advocated for the development of this land in the ‘Call For Sites’ as an area to develop new affordable homes, and therefore on balance we recognised that, if further evidence supported it, we would have held no objection, recognising national planning caselaw already establishing pieces of land such as this as infill. This would have protected the wider Swanley Green Belt from further housing development, if the Local Plan was agreed upon based on the proposed sites.
• On that basis, until such time as SDC concludes its Grey Belt Assessment work, carried out by independent planning consultants using the new Government criteria, we cannot support this proposal.
• Due to specific use of Class B2/B8/E(g) this constitutes warehouse and distribution ensuing unacceptable levels of vehicular movement which will result in inconvenience to local residents in respect of noise, pollution, travel distribution particularly during peak periods, although no actual times of operation have been mentioned within the outline planning application.
• There are significant pollution levels already at the junction of Birchwood Road and London Road. AQMA No.14 has already indicated an annual mean exceedance of nitrogen dioxide gas.
• We await Kent County Council Highways response in respect of essential traffic management.

12453 – DECISIONS MADE BY PLANNING AUTHORITY

24/03455/HOUSE 10 Haven Close Swanley Kent
Proposed extension to existing dropped kerb.
GRANTED – STC COMMENT – NO OBJECTION 06/02/2025

12454 – INFORMATION ONLY

25/00642/WTPO 18 Squirrels Close Swanley Kent BR8 7FF
Oak tree – reduce 1 metre beyond previous reduction points

DATE OF NEXT MEETING – 9th April 2025
MEETING CLOSED: 20:45

SIGNED: 09/04/2025

Cllr G Darrington
Chair of Development Control