Please see below the latest from Sevenoaks District Council:
The Council has today served an Article 4 on the land at Hever Road, Edenbridge. Many of you may have already seen them, but there are now orange sheets at the entrances to the footpaths on the land outlining what the Council have done. This information can also be found on the below web links. Officers from the Council have been working on this tirelessly for the last week since the land came to our attention:
https://www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/info/20008/planning/524/warning_on_green_belt_land_sales
https://www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/info/20008/planning/523/article_4_directions_consultation
All the information regarding the Article 4 is within those above links. I would ask that any comments about the land and the Article 4 is now sent via the consultation page to planning.comments@sevenoaks.gov.uk. If you feel the matter is very urgent and is a Planning issue then please contact planning.enforcement@sevenoaks.gov.uk . Any other issues such as harassment, anti-social or threatening behaviour needs to be reported to the Police.
The Council are aware that the land has been split into 12 separate plots and is being sold by a company called Exclusive Property Sales. A copy of the Article has been served on this company. The company has also been reported to Trading Standards as we feel that land has been sold with wrong information.
There is a member of the public who has bought three plots of the land to the south west of the land. They have also been served a copy of the Article 4 and time has been spent explaining what the Article 4 meant for them as the owner of the land and what they can’t do without planning permission.
This person has also been told to do no more works to the hedge. No works should be done to hedges as the nesting season runs between March and October and the issue of the hedge that has already been cut is now with the local Wildlife Liaison Officer and the Police. KCC has been made aware of potential damage and blocking of a footpath.
One thing that cannot be removed is the temporary Heras fencing that has been put around the site. The person who has the three plots to the south west is simply mapping out the land that they are now the owner of. The fencing is not fixed to the ground and is therefore not classed as development. If the owner continues to erect this temporary fencing then they are allowed to at this moment in time. SDC will keep in contact with this person as to how ‘temporary’ the fencing is going to continue to be.
It appears that issues from the previous weekend include the owners of the horses grazing on the land not being aware that the land had been cut up and sold off. The Police are aware of these issues and any further issues such as these are to be reported to them. It is likely that the horses will have to be moved off the land in due course.
All comments and correspondence should be directed to planning.comments@sevenoaks.gov.uk
SDC are also aware of negative and threatening posts that have been going around social media and this is not acceptable. Council officers, local councillors and parish and town councillors have communicated and worked extremely hard on this matter over the past week.
