Planning and Housing

Larger developments: We need both houses to sleep in and safe play areas, sports courts for teenagers, ground-floor provision for small businesses like accountants, hairdressers and corner shops. In short, everything which makes a community, keeps us safe and reduces car dependency.
New developments elsewhere in the UK prove we can have the same here for our young families, as well as good-quality social housing.

Other planning: Covers Farm and Chevening Estate are applying for landfill again, but existing heavy lorries along traffic-choked access routes are already a problem. If Chevening Estate really wants more visual screening from the M25, there are better, green alternatives which don't need 60 lorries a day for up to five years.

Fly-tipping from building works and household clearances: We need cost-benefit analysis comparing the cost of Sevenoaks District Council cleaning up all this dumped waste with active steps we can introduce. Of course, the government also needs to address the absurdity of businesses who 'do the right thing' taking waste to a recycling facility having to pay for this privilege, while 'dumpers' don't get caught and save themselves thousands of pounds.

Wild Flowers in our public spaces: Without touching children's play spaces or mown verges for drivers' visibility, let's convert our public, grass spaces into colourful habitats to support bees and other species.

Residents' parking in Town: In each of Brasted, Sundridge, Ide Hill, Bessels Green and Chipstead, residents cannot park within walking distance of their homes, even with heavy shopping, children or the less mobile to pick up and drop off. We can have a system that supports residents and businesses, and also welcomes visitors and shoppers.