Maidstone Borough Council is proposing to build over 2000 houses on farmland at Lidsing, a small hamlet of 13 houses near Hempstead, Lordswood and Bredhurst. The area is accessed by country roads which will be completely grid-locked by the development. The only road improvement proposed to support the additional traffic – probably an additional 4000 cars or 10,000 extra car journeys every day – is a spur road to the M2 motorway which will destroy an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Local communities will be overwhelmed. Health services locally are already over-stretched and will not cope with the needs of potentially 8000 extra residents.

The so-called ‘Lidsing Garden Village’ is proposed in Maidstone Borough Council’s new Local Plan but so far there has been very little community engagement from MBC.  Local people – even those who have lived their whole lives in Lidsing knew nothing about the proposals until they found out via social media! The first consultation in December 2020 received 1700 objections against the Lidsing proposal which MBC have seemingly ignored; the results from the second public consultation in December 2021 are still being analysed, however, MBC have stated that the ‘majority’ of the 2250 objections received relate to the proposed Lidsing Garden Development.

If this development goes ahead on a greenfield site with the spur road in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and next to Bredhurst Woods with SNCI status, it will adversely affect many people’s lives and set a dangerous precedent for other large developments in areas which should remain protected.

Please help Save Lidsing and the countryside and protect this area for future generations. Let Maidstone Borough Council know that they cannot ignore local people by signing and sharing this petition.