Ham Hill planning application rejected

The area planning committee of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council has rejected the planning application for 8 one-bedroom flats to be built at Dene Hall, 269 Malling Road, Ham Hill.

Dene Hall, Ham Hill in earlier days.

The local Snodland councillors all voted against the application, which contributed to the rejection of the application by 10 votes to 3, with 4 abstentions.

We hope that the applicant either decides to renovate the existing property, or comes forward with a new application that is more appropriate on this restricted site.

As the planning history on the site is complicated, it would take up too much space to go into detail regarding the reasons for rejection, particularly as this is complicated by the view taken by the Planning Inspector in 2008.

The building that is currently on the site has a rich history.  It is now known as Dene Hall, but it wasn't called that when it was built. The exact date of construction is not known, but it was listed as a "Coffee Tavern" in the 1881 census. Since then, it has had a variety of uses, including as a post office, a sweet shop, a general store and more recently as private residence.

The tenants in 1901 were George and Sarah Jane Hicks and their lodger Violet Edmeades. In surely one of the saddest moments in Snodland history, Edmeades and Sarah Jane Hicks were accused of the murder of Edmeades' recently born child in 1903, but this was reduced to "concealment of a body" when the Judge at the Kent Assizes couldn't find sufficient evidence to proceed with the murder charges. Edmeades received one month in jail, and Hicks received nine months hard labour. It is not known what happened to the two women after they were released, but they do not appear to have returned to live in Snodland.

David Lettington