The last week has bought three pieces of fantastic news for residents of Sevenoaks.
Firstly, following my meeting last week with the Minister, and my question in the House of Commons at the end of last year, I am delighted that Kent’s Nightingale Court has been granted funding by the Ministry of Justice to remain open for another 18 months.
This is fantastic news and will help to reduce delays to cases and deliver speedier justice for victims in Sevenoaks. The court, based at Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel, will continue to carry out Crown Court work and provide an additional two hearing rooms on top of the current operational capability. This will also help reduce the drop off in cases, something that is a particular problem for domestic violence or sexual assault.
A huge thank you to our brilliant Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott, PCC for Kent and my fellow Kent MPs for all their hard work on this, and to Minister Cartlidge for listening to our concerns.
Secondly, last week I had the pleasure of helping to formally open the Sevenoaks campus of the Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys. This is a huge milestone for our area and one that has only come about due to the determination of Cllr Roger Gough and a Conservative-led Kent County Council, plus years of campaigning by parents, local councillors, and my predecessor Sir Michael Fallon. I am proud to have supported it since my election campaign.
In 2010, Sevenoaks only had one local choice of secondary schools for girls and one for boys. We now have three schools for each to choose from. This means more boys and girls are getting their top choice of school, with no need to travel out of area for grammar provision, and less time spent on the school run. Politics can really make a difference. Our boy’s grammar annex would not have happened under the Lib Dems, they oppose the grammar annex policy. Thank you to everyone who has voted Conservative at a county, district, town, and national level, and helped put this amazing school in place; I will do all I can to support it.
And finally, at the start of this week I was delighted to hear that our campaign to protect the Green Belt land on the former Broke Hill golf course in Halstead has been successful. A developer had sought to use the land to build up to 800 houses. They were refused planning permission by the Conservative led Sevenoaks District Council Official, and thankfully the Planning Inspector has also now refused their appeal.
This is a superb result and I know the news will come as a huge relief to the local community. I am proud to have played my part in opposing this development and my huge thanks go to Sevenoaks District Council, and local district councillors John Grint and Gary Williamson. The district council had twice refused applications in this location and fought the appeal hard on behalf of the local community. I also thank the residents who wrote in their hundreds against this application, and Halstead Parish Council - and in particular parish Chairman Jean Peel. The parish council supported the district council’s opposition to the appeal and invested a huge amount of time, effort and money into doing so. Jean was brilliant at organising the local campaign and will rightly earn the immense gratitude of local people.
The Green Belt must be protected, and it was absolutely imperative that this land was not given over to housing. The decision shows that if we all work together as a community, we can defend our precious green spaces from unwanted development. And win.
As ever, if you wish to raise with my any local concerns with me, do get in touch at [email protected]. I am keen to make Sevenoaks an ever-better place to live and work for all residents.
