The story so far
Sevenoaks Quarry
Situated approximately a 10-minute walk away from the Bat and Ball railway station, Sevenoaks Quarry has been around for over 100 years and is one of the largest sand quarries in the region.
With the quarry due to cease operations by 2030 and with a pressing need for more affordable homes in Sevenoaks in sustainable locations, in recent years Tarmac had been exploring the potential that exists for the quarry to contribute to the needs of the district – delivering not just new homes, but also community facilities, environmental benefits and much-needed improvements to infrastructure.
In February 2022 an outline application was submitted to Sevenoaks District Council. Details of the application can be found here. After several years of consultation and deliberation, the outline application was resolved to be approved by Sevenoaks District Council’s Development Management Committee in June 2023. Planning permission is granted once the required legal agreements have been signed, securing the delivery of the scheme.
As this is an outline application, further consultation will now take place with the community as part of a series of reserved matters applications to decide the finer details of the development. This website will be updated as and when these reserved matters applications come forward.
What are reserved matters?
A reserved matters application is the next stage after an outline planning permission has been granted. It will provide more detail than was shown in the outline application for some or all of the following areas:
- Appearance and design – details of how the development will look, including the architectural style and detailing. This will include the development of a design code, which will need to be approved by the District Council prior to any reserved matters applications being approved.
- Means of Access - covers accessibility for all routes to and within the site, including vehicular, pedestrian and cycle access, and how they link up to other roads and pathways outside the site.
- Landscaping - establishing the open space network within the site, including planting, wildlife habitat creation and the provision of the lakes. As a planning condition a landscape and ecological plan will need to be approved by the District Council prior to any reserved matters applications being approved.
- Layout - includes buildings, routes and open spaces within the development and how they are to be arranged on the site.
- Scale - includes information on the size of the development, including the height, width and length of each proposed building.
Outline permissions cannot be implemented until a reserved matters application has been granted planning permission, which specifies these details.
Health and safety
Our ambition is to realise continuous improvement for all our employees and contractors
This approach to improving safety extends across our supply chain and to every aspect of our business - from the way we manage sites and the way train and equip our employees and contractors - to the safety features we install in our vehicles to protect road users.
We're proud to work with experts in the field of Health and Safety, such as the British Safety Council and The Health and Safety Executive and are also one of the founding partners of a mental health programme for people working in the construction sector called Mates in Mind.
We also have a brand new National Skills and Safety Park - 'The Park' - that is home to operational onboarding, professional operational training, assessments and health and safety learning, demonstrating our commitment to building the right safety culture as well as creating an enhanced experience for employees.