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Brett Aggregates plans sand quarry at heart of Heathlands Garden Village at Lenham Heath

A firm wants to spend 16 years digging up sand right in the heart of countryside earmarked for a new garden village.

Brett Aggregates Limited wants to excavate 28.5 hectares of green fields next to Chapel Farm off Lenham Heath Road in Lenham Heath, near Maidstone.

The site proposed for a sand quarry at Lenham Heath includes Grade 1 agricultural land
The site proposed for a sand quarry at Lenham Heath includes Grade 1 agricultural land

It reckons it can extract 3.3m tons of soft sand from the site over the course of 16 years.

The land lies at the heart of an area designated in the Maidstone Local Plan for Heathlands, a garden village scheme of 5,000 homes.

But the firm, part of Robert Brett and Sons Limited (Brett Group), argues that the quarrying plans will not interfere with what it described as the “aspirational” garden village, because they say they will be in and out before Maidstone council and Homes England, who are partners in bringing forward the garden village, will require the land for development.

The firm has asked for an opinion from the minerals authority - which is Kent County Council - on what details it will be required to submit in a formal Environmental Statement when it makes its actual planning application.

The company, which was founded in 1909, is one of the largest aggregate suppliers in the country and employs more than 800 people. It has previously extracted sand at nearby Lenham Quarry but quarrying there has now finished.

The site of the proposed sand quarry in Lenham
The site of the proposed sand quarry in Lenham

The issues KCC will be seeking to have addressed include whether the quarrying will have any adverse effects on the Lenham Heath and Chilston Park and Bull Heath Pit Local Wildlife Sites, or on the River Stour which runs very close by.

The site is currently used for arable crops and is of the highest quality.

It is accessed at present from the Stour Valley Walk, off Lenham Heath Road, but Brett is proposing a new access for the quarry is created to run north, before turning east, passing close to East Lenham Roughett Ancient Woodland, before turning north again and joining up with the A20.

The site is a very large tract of open land, with the Lenham Waste Treatment Plant on its north-east corner.

It is the only site mentioned within the Kent Mineral Sites Plan, adopted in September 2020, that is shown as suitable for the extraction of soft sand.

The entrance to the Stour Valley Walk from Lenham Heath Road, with the site proposed for a sand quarry on the left
The entrance to the Stour Valley Walk from Lenham Heath Road, with the site proposed for a sand quarry on the left

Lenham residents are likely to be concerned about traffic. The firm estimates that once in full swing the quarry will generate 75 HGV movements every day.

John Britt is the chairman of Lenham Parish Council. He said: “The council has not yet had a chance to look at the detail of the scheme and so has not yet formed an opinion.

“However, we would definitely not want to see any traffic from the quarry going along Lenham Heath Road, which is single-carriageway in some parts.

“We appreciate that the applicant plans to create a new access to the north which will take it over an existing bridge over the railway line.

Cllr John Britt
Cllr John Britt

“That route is known locally as the old cart track ride.

“There will be some concern over whether the railway bridge, which was probably erected in the 1950s, will take the weight of today’s much larger 40-ton trucks.”

The company hopes to start soil-stripping the site in 2027, with mineral extraction following for the next 16 years, taking it to 2043.

It said that after quarrying finishes it will make good the site but it will not import any new material to fill the void. It means the land on which the new garden village may eventually be built will lie much lower than it is now.

Kate Hammond is the chairman of Save Our Heathlands, the residents’ group which has been vigorously campaigning against the garden village concept from the start.

Kate Hammond, chairman of Save Our Heathlands, has been fighting to stop the land being developed
Kate Hammond, chairman of Save Our Heathlands, has been fighting to stop the land being developed

She said: “This really is the huge elephant in the room, which Maidstone council, as promoter of Heathlands, has been consistently ignoring since 2020.

“Allowing for the site’s restoration, it is going to be 2050 at least before this land is available for housing.

“In the meantime, who will want to buy a house nearby and effectively live next to a building site for all that time while the quarrying is going on?”

A spokesman for Maidstone council said: “This site has been earmarked [for a sand quarry] in the Kent Minerals and Waste Plan for several years, and so the proposed phasing of Heathlands already allows for the working of minerals.”

Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.

There is a sewage works adjacant to the site proposed for a sand quarry at Lenham Heath
There is a sewage works adjacant to the site proposed for a sand quarry at Lenham Heath

Details of the quarry scoping request can be found on the Maidstone council website, under application number 25/500249.

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