The fight for Oaken Wood: we make legal move to help save ancient woodland

CPRE Kent are taking legal action in the fight to save Oaken Wood and prevent one of the largest losses of ancient woodland in England in recent years… and we’re asking for your help in funding that challenge.

Kent County Council has included Oaken Wood, near Maidstone, in the proposed Kent Mineral Sites Plan. If that allocation is confirmed, about 41 hectares of ancient woodland could be lost for the quarrying of Kentish ragstone and aggregates.

We say the allocation of ancient woodland in the Plan is unacceptable. We do not believe the county council has properly justified the loss of this irreplaceable habitat or demonstrated the “wholly exceptional reasons” required by national planning policy.

Further, it is ridiculous to even entertain the idea that we can simply plant saplings and move some soil to mitigate against the loss of ancient woodland.

Our county councillors can still change course.

This is not a done deal. There are alternatives, and councillors can still choose a different path.

When the county council voted in July to move the Plan forward, councillors had not seen the Regulation 19 responses or the evidence now before the council. That consultation has since brought forward substantial objections, new evidence and alternatives to the proposed allocation that we and others believe should have been properly considered. We believe the county council must take that material into account before deciding whether to submit the Plan.

In fact, we believe this point is important enough to justify taking costly legal action. CPRE Kent have therefore served a Pre-Action Protocol letter asking for the submission decision to be brought back to full council.

Our position is clear. The Oaken Wood allocation should be deleted, the hard-rock strategy and sustainability appraisal reconsidered, any material changes consulted upon, and the final decision on whether to submit the Plan returned to full council.

But taking legal action is expensive.

We need your help to meet the legal costs of pressing the county council to reconsider this decision and, if necessary, taking further action to protect Oaken Wood.

Please help us make sure Kent’s elected councillors are given the chance to look again.

Help ensure this decision gets the scrutiny it deserves. Help Oaken Wood outlive the quarry.

• You can visit our CrowdJustice page here