The Bearsted Woodland Trust has revised its plans to create a car park to service the reserve off the A20 Ashford Road.

In January, the trust submitted a planning application to Maidstone council to create a car park with 32 spaces on newly acquired land adjacent to Gore Cottages.

The original idea had been to utilise the existing entrance to the cottages, but to widen the splay.
However after representations from the public, the Trust is now proposing to create a new access, to service only the car-park mid-way along the boundary fence.

The car park has become necessary because the 10.5 hectares of public open space have become so popular with visitors - especially during lockdown, that the existing public car park in Church Lane and the surrounding roads are often over-full.

The Bearsted Woodland Trust was created in 2004, with a gift of land from the Ashness family, it was later further expanded to the east with a donation from Pauline Moore, followed by a strip of land bridging the River Len and connecting to the A20.

Maidstone Borough Council will now determine the planning application on the basis of the revised plan and the statutory public consultation period will be extended.

Application 20/506039 refers.

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