Malling community activism news

• 60 homes proposed by Vita Group at Belvidere House in East Malling close to rejected Ivy Farm site, kentonline.co.uk (Jul 28, 2025) — “The whole battle between locals trying to protect their area from over-development and the developers starts all over again. It’s relentless.” Gary James
• Community groups call for locally-owned solar farms in Kent, BBC News (Jul 23, 2025)
• Planning free-for-all as Maidstone council misses five-year housing target, kentonline.co.uk (Jul 05, 2025) — “Horrendous... Developers will now rule the roost”, Cllr Valerie Springett
• Kent landscape that inspired Dickens made nature reserve, BBC News (May 30, 2025)
• Pleas to 'use water wisely', BBC News (May 18, 2025)
• Neigbourhood Plan Community Survey for West Malling, westmallingpc.org (Apr 16, 2025) — A survey form is dropping through West Malling letter boxes. It has been sent out by the Parish Council to collect information on how everyone would like to see West Malling develop, or be protected from change, in future. The Neighbourhood Plan will eventually be published and a public vote will take place before being submitted to TMBC. Once approved, it will carry equal weight to the Local Plan. Please have your say. You can also complete it on line at surveymonkey.com
• West Peckham residents buy The Larkins historic pub, BBC News (Jan 04, 2025)

• Save West Malling Farmers Market, Petition set up by local Councillors, change.org (Oct 03, 2024) — calling on Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council to lift the four hour parking restriction for traders, so that they can continue to provide a Farmers Market on the fourth Sunday of each month in West Malling
• The neighbourhood of East Malling, West Malling & Trottiscliffe, in the constituency of Maidstone and Malling, is one of the one in four neighbourhoods across England that breach multiple nature pollution thresholds, friendsoftheearth.uk (Sep 03, 2024) — New research by Friends of the Earth shows 1 in 4 neighbourhoods classify as nature pollution hotspots. Pollution hotspots are areas where air, water, noise and light pollution levels all exceed safe thresholds for wildlife. Friends of the Earth is calling for the right to a healthy environment to be enshrined in a new Environmental Rights Act. The law would empower communities to hold regulators and public bodies to account to reduce the multiple layers of pollution affecting their areas to better protect wildlife and people.

• Over 25,000 oppose quarry extension into ancient wood, woodlandtrust.org.uk (Aug 02, 2023) — "Over 25,000 of you joined us in responding to the consultation on the shocking proposal."
• Oaken Wood: The largest destruction of ancient woodland this century, stuartjeffery.net (Jul 17, 2023)

• Hosepipe ban announced for Kent and Sussex, BBC News (Aug 03, 2022)
• Appeal for water customers to be mindful when turning on the tap, southeastwater.co.uk (Jul 11, 2022) — South East Water is asking people to be mindful of the amount of water they are using as hot temperatures push up demand beyond levels expected for the time of year. Water latest, southeastwater.co.uk

Café and water sports facility in Leybourne Lakes Country Park to open in 2022, Nov 3, 2021...^[1]

• Malling parkrun Event #200 includes "an amazing number of donated food bank items for the Trussell Trust". Read the "moving item" in Malling park run Event #199, Oct 7, 2019...^[2]
• We could build more than a million homes on brownfield land… so why aren't we? Feb 28, 2018...^[3]
• 14% of Tonbridge and Malling is 'Built on', compared to 6% nationally, Nov 9, 2017...^[4] These figures are based on data for 2012^[5] Given the multiple large scale developments permitted in the 11 years since then, the figures for both the Malling part of the borough, and that part of the borough outside the green belt are likely to be considerably higher multiples of the national figure. Philralph (talk) 10:32, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
• Following West Malling Parish Council's decision to produce a Neighbourhood Plan, and the formal approval process, the Parish Council is asking residents 4 questions to help start the process. You can see a summary of answers from West Malling residents who attended the event on 3rd July, but also still give your answers via the PC website. See our talk page for a sample response, October, 2016. East Malling Green Belt Questionaire
• Communigrow still needs more 'friends'. If you live locally and might be interested in this local food project please get in touch, December 8, 2014...^[6]

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