Vexour Farmyard Hampkins Hill Road Chiddingstone Kent TN8 7BB Data via plota.co.uk

26/01463/AGRNOT - Agricultural/Forestry Notification Approved

Proposal

Agricultural extension to the existing farm building range, forming a covered agricultural storage structure required for the existing mixed farming enterprise at Vexour Farm. The extension will provide two straw storage bays, one covered muck store/farmyard manure bay (not for slurry or sewage sludge storage), one dry goods store and one grain store. The additional covered storage is required due to the increased scale of the holding and increased livestock numbers, which have created a greater operational need for straw, manure, dry goods and grain storage. Part of the proposed roofing over the muck store is supported by Catchment Sensitive Farming capital grant funding, as the covered muck store will improve farmyard manure management, reduce rainwater entering stored manure, and help reduce the risk of nutrient runoff and pollution. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
9 Jun 2026
✓
Approved
7 Jul 2026

Approved on 7 Jul 2026 · Delegated Decision · Last checked 11 Jul 2026

Site constraints 4

Green belt: London
Inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.
Green belt policy allows a short list of exceptions, such as limited extensions and replacement buildings. Anything else needs very special circumstances that clearly outweigh the harm. Some green belt land can count as grey belt, where it does not strongly serve the green belt's purposes. The council decides this in its green belt assessment or on each application, so we do not mark it here.
Read the government guidance ↗
High Weald National Landscape
Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Previously an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is still the designation in law. Since 2023 authorities must seek to further its purpose, not merely have regard to it.
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 2
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No listed building at the site · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

Work with planning data?

Every application in Sevenoaks - and every UK council - as a live feed, an API, or a bulk CSV export.

About Plota's data service

Important details

Council
Sevenoaks
Application type
Agricultural/Forestry Notification
Postcode
TN8 7BB
Received
9 Jun 2026
Validated
9 Jun 2026
Ward
Penshurst, Fordcombe & Chiddingstone
Parish
Chiddingstone
Target decision
7 Jul 2026
Decision
Prior Approval Not Required
Decision date
7 Jul 2026
Decision level
Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show
Agent
Sentry

How this decision compares

Decided in 28 days from validation, 34 days faster than Sevenoaks's median of 62 for commercial and major works. Approved, as 67% of commercial and major works here are.

43%decided within 8 weeks
67%approved
33decided in the last year

Plota live figures for commercial and major works decided by Sevenoaks in the last twelve months, from validation. Sevenoaks decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Planning Portal ref
PP-14675992
Statutory expiry
7 Jul 2026
Env. assessment
No
Sevenoaks
Planning Authority Score
5.6/10
Average
#115 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Sevenoaks ranks #109 out of 296 councils for householder decision speed. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (90%) than the national average (90%).

These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Sevenoaks decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
87%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #177 of 296
90%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #194 of 296
72%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #109 of 296
34%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #93 of 296
85%
Minor dwellings approved
213 decided (1-9 homes)
100%
Major dwellings approved
7 decided (10+ homes)
71%
Change of use approved
14 decided
1,130
Total decisions
143 refused in the year to March 2026