Kent community activism news

• Hedgerows the 'unsung heroes of the countryside', BBC News (Feb 16, 2026) — A group of Kent volunteers is aiming to provide vital habitat for wildlife by planting about 3,800 yards (3,500m) of hedgerows in the countryside this year.
• ‘To live a normal life again, it’s a dream come true’: UK’s first climate evacuees can cast off their homes and trauma, theguardian.com (Feb 09, 2026)
• Behind the scenes as GPs face 'tidal wave of demand', BBC News (Jan 22, 2026)
• ‘Fear of the next deluge’: flood-scarred Britons join forces to demand help, theguardian.com (Jan 12, 2026)

• Local authorities across the South East have been given more than £133m to deliver cycling, wheeling and walking schemes, BBC News (Dec 10, 2025) — £25,924,411 allocated over a four-year period to Kent County Council
• Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown, theguardian.com (Nov 29, 2025) — Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications
• Nearly £500k funding offered for green projects, BBC News (Nov 09, 2025) — Maidstone Borough Council is offering nearly £500,000 worth of funding to support environmental initiatives to combat climate and nature crises in the borough
• England facing drastic measures due to extreme drought next year, theguardian.com (Nov 08, 2025) — Government and water companies are devising emergency plans for worst water shortage in decades. Comment: It surely then doesn't make sense to plan for and enable such a high proportion of new build in the most water stressed parts of England such as the South East?
• Kent GPs under 'unsustainable pressure', BBC News (Sep 30, 2025)
• Food banks warn demand has reached crisis point, BBC News (Sep 23, 2025)
• Kent Wildlife Trust purchases land for rewilding project, BBC News (Sep 11, 2025)
• Trial sees A&E visits drop by nearly 70% for group, BBC News (Aug 21, 2025)
• Community groups call for locally-owned solar farms in Kent, BBC News (Jul 23, 2025)
• South East hosepipe ban comes into force, BBC News (Jul 18, 2025)
• Councillor backs campaign to block housing scheme, BBC News (May 20, 2025)
• Pleas to 'use water wisely', BBC News (May 18, 2025)
• Kent Wildlife Trust bids to raise £500k to buy land, BBC News (Apr 15, 2025)
• Butterfly project aims to halt population decline, BBC News (Apr 05, 2025)
• West Peckham residents buy The Larkins historic pub, BBC News (Jan 04, 2025)

• Charity preparing to take legal action against a government decision to permit a housing development in part of the Kent countryside, BBC News (Dec 20, 2024)
• The neighbourhood of East Malling, West Malling & Trottiscliffe, in the constituency of Maidstone and Malling, is one of the one in four neighbourhoods across England that breach multiple nature pollution thresholds, friendsoftheearth.uk (Sep 03, 2024) — New research by Friends of the Earth shows 1 in 4 neighbourhoods classify as nature pollution hotspots. Pollution hotspots are areas where air, water, noise and light pollution levels all exceed safe thresholds for wildlife. Friends of the Earth is calling for the right to a healthy environment to be enshrined in a new Environmental Rights Act. The law would empower communities to hold regulators and public bodies to account to reduce the multiple layers of pollution affecting their areas to better protect wildlife and people.

• Over 25,000 oppose quarry extension into ancient wood, woodlandtrust.org.uk (Aug 02, 2023) — "Over 25,000 of you joined us in responding to the consultation on the shocking proposal."
• Oaken Wood: The largest destruction of ancient woodland this century, stuartjeffery.net (Jul 17, 2023)
• Kent and Sussex hosepipe ban announced amid water shortage, BBC News (Jun 19, 2023)

• Hosepipe ban announced for Kent and Sussex, BBC News (Aug 03, 2022)
• Wild bison return to UK for first time in thousands of years, The Guardian (Jul 18, 2022)
• Appeal for water customers to be mindful when turning on the tap, southeastwater.co.uk (Jul 11, 2022) — South East Water is asking people to be mindful of the amount of water they are using as hot temperatures push up demand beyond levels expected for the time of year. Water latest, southeastwater.co.uk
• London Resort plans officially withdrawn, with the intention of resubmitting them later in the year, Wikipedia (Mar 29, 2022)
• New Public Living Room In Deal, Camerados (Feb 04, 2022)

They want to build a theme park here? Swanscombe peninsula, Britain's newest protected place, Dec 29^[1]

• Tragic waste of green fields as undeveloped brownfield hits new high, CPRE research reveals, Nov 26..^[2]
• The absurdity of Lenham Heath 'garden town', CPRE Kent, Nov 3..^[3]
• Campaigns… and how (hopefully) to win them, CPRE Kent, Jun 21^[4]
• Proposed anti-democratic planning reforms have met with universal condemnation, May 19^[5]
• Pressure on the Green Belt has quadrupled since 2013, Feb 25..^[6]

References

Councillors revolt over government plans to dismantle planning system, CPRE Kent, Dec 10, 2020..^[1]

• A message to the people of Gravesham…, CPRE Kent, Dec 10, 2020..^[2]
• Gravesham district launches website in response to Green Belt threat, CPRE Kent, Nov 30, 2020..^[3]
• Plans for £3.5bn theme park on Kent marsh dismay conservationists.^[4] Oct 21, 2020
• CPRE Kent supports county MPs in attack on 'inherently unreasonable' new housing targets.^[5] Sep 13
• CPRE Kent backs Sevenoaks District Council's decision to begin judicial review proceedings in its challenge to the Planning Inspectorate^[6] May 11
• Car 'splatometer' tests reveal huge decline in number of insects.^[7] Feb 12
• Gravesham residents form group to fight council's housing proposals, CPRE Kent.^[8] Feb 10
• Maidstone councillors of all political colours call on Government to ease housing targets. Jan 28^[9]
• £1 million for Biodiversity and Climate Change in Maidstone. Jan 24^[10]
• Sevenoaks sticks to its guns and refuses to withdraw draft Local Plan from examination, CPRE Kent.^[11] Council leader Peter Fleming: "It is clear to me the way this has been handled calls into question the integrity of the whole Plan-making system in this country. . ."To call into question an evidence-led approach comes to the root of our concerns with the actions of the inspector. If we are not to follow the evidence to make our Plan then the government may just as well dictate how many homes an area should have and then pick sites, we need to put an end to the thinly veiled charade that Local Plans are in any way locally led." Jan 20

References