Paris Farm's 35 homes and eight self-build plots at West Malling go to councillors on Thursday 24 September, after the committee ran out of time on 16 September.
Update, 28 September 2026. The committee approved Paris Farm by nine votes to three and unanimously refused the Town Hill plots. Read the decisions on all five schemes.
Tonbridge and Malling’s Planning Committee did not get through its housing agenda on 16 September. It adjourned, and it comes back on Thursday 24 September at 7.30pm.
Two schemes are still undecided: 35 homes at Paris Farm, East Malling, and eight self-build plots on land east of Town Hill, West Malling. Both villages are about nine miles north-east of Tonbridge.
The council’s own notice to members is blunt about what is left. The reconvened meeting “will only consider those items not determined before adjournment” (agenda frontsheet, dated 17 September). It is in the Council Chamber at Gibson Drive, Kings Hill, and members of the public can watch online.
Officers recommend approval of both.
What is still to be decided
Paris Farm, East Malling: 35 homes, 14 of them affordable
The application is from Esquire Developments and covers about 2.4 hectares of paddocks south-east of East Malling, between Four Acres and 193 The Rocks Road. It is countryside under the adopted plan, and it has no relevant planning history.
The scheme is 35 homes of one, two, three and four bedrooms, all two storeys, in a mix of flats, terraces, semis and detached houses. Fourteen of them, 40 per cent, would be affordable, which is the full policy requirement. (officer report, 25/01325/FL)
Councillor Tatton asked for it to come to committee because the site is not allocated in the existing Local Plan. It is, however, in the draft one: the report identifies it as allocation EM4 in the emerging plan, with a yield of 35 dwellings. That draft plan is out for consultation until 25 October.
Two parish councils object. East Malling and Larkfield Parish Council names two concerns: the loss of more farmland and countryside in East Malling, and the road. It says The Rocks Road is not suitable for extra traffic, and points to “the constricted nature of the roads in East Malling Village with its on-street parking and restricted pattern of pavements”. Ditton Parish Council objects in support of those highway concerns.
Residents’ objections in the report run to prematurity, traffic, visibility at the new junction, parking, the walk to the station, biodiversity, the conservation area, flooding and the loss of farmland. One objector notes the site sits in a groundwater source protection zone. There was one letter of support.
Kent County Council as highway authority raised a holding objection at first. It now raises none, subject to road widening, two passing bays, an extension of the 20mph limit and other works being built first. Those would be secured through the section 106 agreement.
If it is approved, the cash contributions listed in the report come to £759,283, on top of the road works:
| Contribution | Amount |
|---|---|
| Primary education | £179,973.60 |
| Secondary education | £185,774.07 |
| Land for secondary education | £159,133.50 |
| Special educational needs | £18,614.35 |
| Open space, sport and play | £150,501 |
| NHS, towards local GP premises | £51,229 |
| Libraries, adult social care, childrens’ services, skills, waste | £14,057.90 |
Town Hill, West Malling: eight plots people build themselves
The second application is an outline scheme from Cooleo Properties Ltd for eight self-build and custom-build plots on land east of Town Hill, reached from the A20 London Road. An existing stable building would be demolished. The plots range from about 580 to 1,080 square metres. (officer report, 25/00767/OA)
The site is inside the West Malling Conservation Area, and the scheme would cut a new pedestrian opening through the historic ragstone wall along Town Hill.
There were 23 objections and one letter of support. The objections cover heritage, trees, biodiversity, highway safety, parking and overdevelopment, and one raises that the site is a former burial ground. The parish council objects, on the loss of undeveloped land, the removal of part of the ragstone wall, the access onto London Road, and the loss of green separation between West Malling and Leybourne.
The council commissioned its own heritage review from Chris Blandford Associates. It agrees with the applicant that the harm to the conservation area would be “less than substantial”, and at a low level, moderated by the retention of mature vegetation and the design code. Under national policy that harm then has to be weighed against the public benefits.
Councillor Dean called the application in over housing delivery, the countryside location and the conservation area.
Why officers keep recommending approval
Both reports turn on the same number. The council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of housing land. Its latest published position, from March 2026, is 2.96 years.
That matters because it switches on the national presumption in favour of sustainable development, and it reduces the weight of the council’s own countryside policies. Both reports say so in terms.
The Town Hill report adds a second shortfall. The council’s Housing Topic Paper puts the backlog of self-build and custom-build plots at 111 plots as of October 2025, a figure that rises as more people join the register. Eight plots would chip at it.
This is the same argument running through the borough’s Local Plan row, where the government has already overruled the council’s refusal to publish its draft plan and South East Water says it cannot supply the growth the plan needs.
What it means for you
- If you want to speak or listen, the reconvened meeting is 7.30pm on Thursday 24 September in the Council Chamber, Gibson Drive, Kings Hill. A link to watch is published on the council’s website.
- Both applications were called in by ward councillors, which is why they are being decided by the committee in public rather than by officers.
- Approval would not be the end of it. Both recommendations are to grant subject to a section 106 agreement: 31 December 2026 for Paris Farm, 3 November 2026 for Town Hill, or later if the council agrees. No permission is issued until that is signed.
- If you are tracking a site near you, our Tonbridge planning news page explains how to follow an application on the council’s register and when comments count.
What we could not confirm
The council has not published what the committee decided on the three schemes it did reach on 16 September: the 50 retirement units at St Andrews Close in Aylesford, up to 65 homes on the MOD land at Kings Hill, and the 300-home scheme at Northern Fields, Bull Lane, Eccles. The minutes of the meeting are not out, and on 21 September the planning register still recorded no decision on any of the three. We will report the outcomes when they are published. Our preview of all five schemes sets out what each one is and what officers recommended.
Sources: Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, Planning Committee, 16 September 2026 and reconvened Planning Committee, 24 September 2026; the council’s planning register, checked on 21 September 2026.
Have your say