A solitary field is stranded between Junction 3 of the M25 and the edge of the town of Swanley in Kent. Half wheat stubble and half ploughed earth, the mix of gold and brown aptly resembles the striped shirts of Wasps Rugby Football Club.
It is here that the historic club, which went bankrupt in 2022, hopes to revive its fortunes. A draft plan, unveiled by Sevenoaks District Council last November, proposes the construction of a 28,000-seat, multi-use stadium and training ground, as well as a new hotel and the development of 2,500 homes on the site of Pedham Place Golf Club, a stone?s throw away on the opposite side of the M25.
The prospect of a stadium with a larger capacity than London?s O2 Arena has left the residents of the nearby villages of Crockenhill, Eynsford and Farningham, whose narrow country lanes abut the site, stunned. For them, this isn?t simply an arable field; it is the embodiment of the green belt, which prevents London?s suburban sprawl from further encroaching on the Kent countryside.
Look across the field towards London and you see grey, 1960s Swanley; turn and face the opposite way and, over the ridge, are the rolling hills of the Kent Downs, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
In the Darent valley, the river is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world. It flows past the Norman remains of Eynsford Castle and Lullingstone Roman Villa, shaping this ancient and much-treasured landscape.
Wasps RFC is not without its own history, of course. Established in 1867, the club won the Premiership title six times and the European Cup twice, before falling into financial difficulties, attributed by the club to the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns.
In recent years, it has been based in High Wycombe and then Coventry. But the club has also been resident in several grounds across London and its new owner, Christopher Holland, wants to return to a location that is relatively close to the capital, where Wasps has a strong fan base.
However, even for the rugby lovers in the area, the announcement of a stadium on a green belt site has been baffling. ?In one sense, as a rugby lover, I thought, ?Brilliant?,? says Vince Robson, 66, the chairman of Eynsford Parish Council. ?However, thinking about it practically, it doesn?t make sense at all.
?The footprint is akin to the Oval [cricket ground in south London] or the O2, and those are places where they have undergrounds and multiple buses servicing them. And they?re not talking about just rugby. They want to bring in other events and concerts.?
The village of Crockenhill, one mile away from the proposed site, has a population of 1,500. ?So, 28,000 coming to watch the rugby is unimaginable,? says independent district councillor for Crockenhill and Well Hill, Rachel Waterton, 43. ?Imagine that many people descending and dispersing into the area around matches and events. What of the pressures on our roads and emergency services??
When it was introduced in the mid-20th century in a bid to prevent urban creep, London?s green belt was supposed to encourage the reuse of brownfield sites which are previously developed land.
But the Wasps plan is an example of how, even with green belt protections, ways can be found to build on agricultural land. The field, currently owned by Swanley Town Council and rented to a local farmer, has been described as ?poorly performing green belt? by Sevenoaks District Council, which is under pressure from central Government to triple house-building rates and ?maximise? the potential of greenfield sites.
Together with the Pedham Place development, the scheme is described by Sevenoaks as ?a once-in-a-generation opportunity? that will ?bring unparalleled economic, sports development, health, education, skills and cultural benefits to the District?.
Those living nearby are less enthusiastic about Wasps showing up. ?What happens if they go bankrupt again? Who then uses the stadium?? says Su Hewitt, who lives in picturesque Farningham, and is part of the local ?Bees not Wasps? campaign. What Hewitt and her neighbours fear is not only the strain it will put on already poor infrastructure, but that the development will break the buckle of the green belt.
?There is a definitive boundary around Swanley Town. If this boundary is eroded, development will blur into the green belt and create pockets of undeveloped land,? says Waterton. ?This will create further opportunities to develop these infills.?
On New Year?s Day, Waterton mobilised 15 farmers and their tractors for a protest parade. One of those farmers was David Gunn, 67, whose land will be overshadowed by the development.
When we meet on the narrow lane that runs alongside the disputed site, he has already spent the morning stuffing leaflets through letterboxes, trying to mobilise local support against the proposal. ?I already struggle to use the lanes in my tractor,? says Gunn, referring to this road and the others in the area, which are all single lanes with passing places.
Gunn and his fellow campaigners are sceptical that the developers will have the money to improve on them. But, even if they did, says Waterton, ?improvements to our country lanes will only draw additional traffic, cutting through our villages.?
While locating a stadium close to a junction of the M25 might appear a logical proposal, locals say it will compound what is already a major bottleneck. ?Most days there are significant traffic jams from Swanley to the Dartford Tunnel. As a result, the Swanley roundabout is regularly gridlocked and the road from the junction to Swanley solid,? says Simon Nichols, who lives in Crockenhill.
Swanley train station, with its fast, 30-minute trains to London, might also have seemed well-placed for match and concert-goers travelling from London. However, according to Hewitt, ?it sometimes takes me that long to drive the 2.7 miles from my home because the traffic is so bad.?
With Brands Hatch racetrack only four miles away, locals have a ready example for how congested their own area could become if the stadium goes ahead. ?It?s gridlocked when there are events and we all know to keep away,? says Robson. ?There is no way the roads could cope with the massive traffic influx to a 28,000 seater stadium.?
In the pretty village of Eynsford, Latif Oztosun is crossing the 17th-century stone bridge over the River Darent on his morning walk. The university lecturer moved to the area in 2019 after regularly visiting for a number of years. ?I?m originally from south-east London. Coming to these areas was to escape the creep of London and mass development that?s going on around the suburbs.?
He is unapologetic about his opposition to the plans: ?I?m quite a proud Nimby, actually. There?s only so much carrying capacity a destination can have and the green belt must be protected. It?s something that?s so staunchly part of our British culture.?
That the green belt might be eroded for a rugby stadium is ?rather strange?, he says. ?They seem to be a defunct rugby club, they went bankrupt as far as my understanding is. It seems totally at odds with the ethos with what the area is about. We live in this lovely area because we love the wildlife, we love the greenery and we want to preserve the historic nature of the place.?
He also questions the motivation of the district council. ?It seems at odds with their own goals. On the one hand, we?re protecting the green belt, and, on the other hand, they?re talking about all the benefits a stadium is going to bring us. It?s very peculiar.?
However, in a district that is 93 per cent green belt, there?s an understanding that building has to take place somewhere ? and many locals feel that the council has deliberately chosen a site on its northern fringes, far away from its core centres in the south.
The residents of the villages close to the proposed development have until January 11 to respond to the first consultation, but as it is a district-wide consultation, Gunn and Waterton and their fellow campaigners worry that those in the south of the district closer to Sevenoaks will vote in favour of the development, in order to keep it away from their own backyards.
A spokesman for Sevenoaks District Council says: ?We are currently asking our communities for their views on the Local Plan, which will help to deliver much needed new homes, including affordable homes, while protecting the environment.
?The new Local Plan includes sites put forward by landowners for possible development in the most suitable and sustainable locations, close to existing settlements with transport and services. One of these sites is Pedham Place in Swanley.?
Meanwhile a spokesman for Wasps RFC says the new stadium will be designed to minimise the impact on the environment. And adds: ?We aim to provide substantial benefits to the local communities, including job creation, economic growth, and enhanced local facilities. We?re committed to an open dialogue with the community, integrating their feedback into our planning process.?
For Nichols, the proposed development isn?t about whether he is a Nimby or not. If the proposal were to result in truly affordable housing, he would welcome it. ?Like many of my neighbours, I have brought up my children in Crockenhill and, despite having good jobs, none of them can afford to buy in our area.
?However, similar developments have resulted in small two or three-bedroom houses selling for ?300,000 to ?400,000, which are not really affordable to local people when the average wage in Swanley is ?30,000.?
There is even less justification for the Wasps stadium, he says: ?The area has no affiliation with Wasps. It was proposed simply on financial grounds, with no thought to the impact on local communities. It?s an opportunity to make money.?
Locals recently met online for a 30-minute Zoom conference with their local Conservative MP, Laura Trott. ?She told us that she is opposed to the Pedham Place development because it?s against what she stood for in terms of building on green belt land,? says Robson, who was present at the meeting.
?However, she is much more open to the thought of the Wasps stadium because she can see the benefit of that. But she is cautious, saying it depends on how the infrastructure is developed and what the residents think.?
For Waterton it is an open-and-shut case, one that is about preserving a way of life. ?People want to live in the countryside, but if you keep building on it, it?s not the country, is it? It?s the town.?
For her, the battle to save the green belt has to be fought one field at a time. ?A ploughed agricultural field on the edge of our small village is not previously developed land. It is part of the green belt we value immensely. Once it?s gone, it?s gone.?
Topic: DT Today (Read 1976 times)
Always a Wasp