About this site
WASPS Rugby Football Club are proposing to build a large stadium, training facility and hotel at Junction 3 of the M25.....AND.....Pedham Place Golf Course is being proposed in the Local Plan 2042 for a housing estate of 2500 homes.
This site is a community-run effort by local residents that aims to give you clear information about that development within the parish of Farningham, on the Green Belt, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and adjacent to a Conservation Area.
The proposal is at an early stage of the formal process. This process involves Regulation 18 (from 23rd October 2025 to 11th December 2025). Next year, there will be a Regulation 19 (which will look at planning permission itself) for the sites that make it through Regulation 18. After that, Regulations 22 takes the Local Plan to the Inspector, followed by a Public Examination, Regulations 25 & 26. Sevenoaks District Council are hoping to complete this all by December 2026. Please see illustration below of the stages:
|
Step |
Regulation |
What Happens |
Legal Note |
|
None (pre-Reg 18) |
The council starts gathering
data: housing need, environment, transport, etc. May also issue a “Call for
Sites”. |
Informal stage. No legal duty
to consult yet. |
|
|
Regulation 18 |
Council must publicly
consult on a draft plan and ask: “What do you think?” |
Legal duty to
consult any person who may be affected (Reg 18). |
|
|
Regulation 19 |
Council publishes the plan
it wants to adopt. You can now object on legal and
soundness grounds (e.g. not justified, not effective, not compliant
with NPPF). |
Critical stage: your
last chance to influence what gets adopted. |
|
|
Regulation 22 |
Council submits the Reg 19 plan
+ evidence + consultation responses to the Planning Inspectorate. |
Council loses control of the
process at this point. |
|
|
Not a “regulation” stage, but
legally required |
An independent Planning
Inspector holds a public examination to test if the plan is
“sound” and “legally compliant”. You may be invited to a
hearing if you objected at Reg 19. |
Required by law. Inspector
checks legality and compliance with national policy. |
|
|
Regulation 25 |
Inspector issues a report:
either (a) sound, (b) sound with changes, or (c) unsound. |
Council can only adopt the plan
if it complies with this report. |
|
|
7. Adoption |
Regulation 26 |
Council votes to adopt the
plan. It now has full legal force and guides all planning
decisions. |
Must publish the plan and
adoption notice within set time. |
|
N/A (but allowed under Planning
Act) |
Anyone can challenge the
adopted plan within 6 weeks if it’s legally flawed. |
Judicial Review in High Court. |
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