I've backed the Friends of Oaken Wood
Kent County Council's draft Mineral Sites Plan would quarry about 41 hectares of ancient woodland site at Oaken Wood. I've added my name, as founder of BUILD UK, to the Friends of Oaken Wood community response.
I’ve added my name, as founder of BUILD UK, to the Friends of Oaken Wood community response to Kent County Council’s Pre-Submission Draft Mineral Sites Plan.
The plan allocates Land to the South and West of Hermitage Quarry, Aylesford, for extraction. That would remove about 41 hectares of plantation on ancient woodland site at Oaken Wood (also known as Barming Woods), near Maidstone. Ancient woodland is classed as irreplaceable habitat. Once it is gone, it is gone.
What the response says
The Friends of Oaken Wood have written a detailed, evidenced submission to the planning inspector. It is not a petition and it is not a list of complaints. It goes through the council’s own documents and argues the plan is neither legally compliant nor sound. It makes three representations:
- The irreplaceable habitat test. National policy and Kent’s own adopted Policy DM 2 allow the loss of ancient woodland only for wholly exceptional reasons and with a suitable compensation strategy in place. The response argues neither is met. Heritage sales of Kentish Ragstone average 1,740 tonnes a year, against an allocation of a potential 23 million tonnes. At least 57 hectares of the compensation land is outside the operator’s control. By the council’s own figures, this loss is greater than HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing together.
- Alternatives. The response argues the plan has not shown there is no reasonable alternative to losing the woodland, and that the Sustainability Appraisal does not lawfully examine it.
- Oaken Wood geological SSSI. The site sits next to a nationally important geological SSSI, described in its citation as the best example in Britain of a particular Ice Age landform. In 2023 the council’s own assessment found a significant adverse effect on it. The boundary has since moved, but the landform has not been assessed and the effects of blasting are left to a later planning application.
Read it in full: Friends of Oaken Wood community response (PDF).
Why I backed it
This is what accountability looks like at a local level: ordinary people reading the paperwork properly, quoting it back, and asking the decision-makers to meet their own rules. I think that deserves support.
Add your name
If you want to support it too, you can add your name to the community response until 11.59pm on Sunday 4 October 2026.
You don’t need to live near Oaken Wood. Read the response first. The form explains how your name and postcode will be used, so read that too before you sign.
This post was written using AI as a disclosed accessibility tool by a dyslexic author. The ideas, experience, and policy positions are entirely human.