Yalding Parish
The Parish of Yalding comprises the villages of Laddingford and Yalding, together with their rural catchment areas, and the hamlet of Benover.
Our Parish is a quintessentially British dwelling place boasting a vast and rich history situated at the confluence of three rivers; the Saxon manors are recorded in Domesday. The three medieval bridges, the Grade 1* Listed Norman church, numerous timber framed and thatched cottages, Georgian and Victorian manor houses and traditional Kentish oast houses together with properties built during the current and last century, moulds a modern community whilst preserving the heritage of the past.
Parts of the Parish lie within Conservation and SSSI Areas, with village greens, grassy verges, over 100 listed buildings and three Scheduled Ancient Monuments. Yalding has been described as the Garden of Kent and Edmund Blunden remembering the area in which his childhood was spent wrote “I could wish that every child had had such a place to grow up in.
Following the devastating floods of October 2000, residents came together, with those from higher ground offering beds and assistance to those who were badly flooded. This spirit of belonging has remained ever since and was proven, again, during the floods of Christmas Day 2013.
There is a wealth of community activity betokening community spirit and a feeling of friendliness and welcome as you pass people in the street, much appreciated by visitors.
Families have resided here for generations yet many regional and international accents can be heard from those who now call it home; our young people are desperate to stay.
Community activities are too numerous to mention; we have over fifty clubs and societies ranging from parent and baby groups to the pensioners’ clubs, fund raising groups, church groups, singing, dancing and music groups, sports clubs, social groups, book clubs, exercise groups, scouts, gardening and allotment societies, art and photographic groups, bee keeping enthusiasts and drama productions. In addition to these will be groups set up to arrange events and other activities. There are also many charitable organisations, such as Kenward Trust, where people can volunteer to undertake a range of tasks utilising their skills.
Most days see groups of cyclists and ramblers enjoying the countryside, stopping for a cuppa, an excellent pub lunch or an award-winning curry. Views of both the villages and the countryside have been captured by artists and photographers, many of which can be viewed at our pop-up gallery.
Summer weekends sees an influx of visitors to the riverside car park, picnicking, enjoying the rivers and visits to the teapot museum/café. The weir pool offers some of the best white water in the south to the delight of the many canoeists attracted to the area. Our three marinas are a haven to boating enthusiasts all year round.
Yalding Parish
The Parish of Yalding comprises the villages of Laddingford and Yalding, together with their rural catchment areas, and the hamlet of Benover.
Our Parish is a quintessentially British dwelling place boasting a vast and rich history situated at the confluence of three rivers; the Saxon manors are recorded in Domesday. The three medieval bridges, the Grade 1* Listed Norman church, numerous timber framed and thatched cottages, Georgian and Victorian manor houses and traditional Kentish oast houses together with properties built during the current and last century, moulds a modern community whilst preserving the heritage of the past.
Parts of the Parish lie within Conservation and SSSI Areas, with village greens, grassy verges, over 100 listed buildings and three Scheduled Ancient Monuments. Yalding has been described as the Garden of Kent and Edmund Blunden remembering the area in which his childhood was spent wrote “I could wish that every child had had such a place to grow up in.
Following the devastating floods of October 2000, residents came together, with those from higher ground offering beds and assistance to those who were badly flooded. This spirit of belonging has remained ever since and was proven, again, during the floods of Christmas Day 2013.
There is a wealth of community activity betokening community spirit and a feeling of friendliness and welcome as you pass people in the street, much appreciated by visitors.
Families have resided here for generations yet many regional and international accents can be heard from those who now call it home; our young people are desperate to stay.
Community activities are too numerous to mention; we have over fifty clubs and societies ranging from parent and baby groups to the pensioners’ clubs, fund raising groups, church groups, singing, dancing and music groups, sports clubs, social groups, book clubs, exercise groups, scouts, gardening and allotment societies, art and photographic groups, bee keeping enthusiasts and drama productions. In addition to these will be groups set up to arrange events and other activities. There are also many charitable organisations, such as Kenward Trust, where people can volunteer to undertake a range of tasks utilising their skills.
Most days see groups of cyclists and ramblers enjoying the countryside, stopping for a cuppa, an excellent pub lunch or an award-winning curry. Views of both the villages and the countryside have been captured by artists and photographers, many of which can be viewed at our pop-up gallery.
Summer weekends sees an influx of visitors to the riverside car park, picnicking, enjoying the rivers and visits to the teapot museum/café. The weir pool offers some of the best white water in the south to the delight of the many canoeists attracted to the area. Our three marinas are a haven to boating enthusiasts all year round.
The Parish-wide Neighbourhood Plan
This Plan seeks to maintain the history and integrity of the Parish and the strength and camaraderie of the people who live here whilst creating a sustainable community for the future. It is our responsibility to deliver this with care, consultation and diligence.
Vision
We will preserve the rich history of the Parish, its rural character and attractive appearance, where people are friendly and welcoming, putting down roots and integrating into a vibrant community.
The Parish will be a safe, secure and healthy place to live where the community is prepared for and resilient to flooding.
We will ensure that development is sensitive and sustainable, delivered with purpose and imagination. It will reflect our heritage and maintain a thriving community with appropriate amenities and services, meeting the diverse needs of our residents across the generations, for the young and not so young alike.
Residents will be well connected with appropriate infrastructure allowing both free movement in and around the parish for business and pleasure and access to state of the art communication facilities.
The Parish will have excellent leisure, sports and social facilities for all age and ethnic groups and we will continue to welcome visitors and build a strong tourist economy.

Objectives
These Objectives provide guidance for the Yalding and Laddingford Parish Neighbourhood Plan and a measure against which policies and progress can be assessed. They are not expressed in any particular order of priority.
The twelve key objectives of the Neighbourhood Development Plan are:
• Understand the part that the historic and environmental setting of the Parish has played in shaping the community, and continue to promote these unique characteristics. The plan seeks imaginative ways of ensuring that the Parish sustains its considerable character yet remains adaptable and resilient enough to continue to provide for the needs of all its people. It also robustly protects and preserves the natural landscape and built heritage that make the Parish unique.
• Provide and apply a robust framework for managing and positively influencing all types of future development. Achieving flexible housing for all age groups and income brackets whilst maintaining the rural character and attractive appearance of the Parish is a core deliverable from the neighbourhood plan. It proactively identifies suitable sites for appropriate development, encouraging the realisation of relevant planning consents and sufficient affordable rural housing and commercial premises. The plan will ensure that the design of properties and materials used are of good quality and fit sympathetically within the existing built environment.
• Promote the growth of new business in the Parish, as well as understand the needs and ambitions of existing businesses to help them thrive. The Parish benefits from several established local businesses ranging from construction and engineering to retail and automotive facilities, pubs and restaurants, agriculture, a traditional forge and a thriving creative sector. Many of these businesses have been operating in the Parish for several decades, passing through generations as they grow. Residents and visitors also enjoy a monthly Farmers’ Market which has been running every month since the turn of the millennium. A thriving local economy means more local jobs, less commuting, a cleaner environment and a secure future for our Parish and its services.
• Enhance the already excellent sports, social, recreational and leisure facilities required by a healthy and growing community. The plan will make provision to continue providing and maintaining these facilities, identifying additional land suitable for activity and working towards the building of a new community centre. It will also take all feasible steps to encourage and develop the wealth of community activities which already cater for all age groups, backgrounds and abilities.
• Protect the well-being of the natural environment. The plan will enhance, manage and protect the environment at all times, overseeing natural resources to the highest environmental standards. It will appraise emerging technologies (for example solar energy and electric car charging points), with a view to adopting appropriate facilities which advance the stated aims of the plan and complement the environment. The plan proactively avoids significant harm to areas designated for their ecological importance, whilst ensuring that a network of natural habitats is provided.
• Improve the travel experience including to and from the Parish as well as internal movement. The plan proactively pursues the provision of appropriate public transport to improve parish service links, making them safe and easily accessible. It continues to support The Medway Valley Rail Partnership (MVRP). It will help to enhance movement around the Parish, by maintaining, improving and extending footpaths, cycleways and bridleways, and endeavours to reduce traffic congestion. It improves parking facilities, and introduces traffic calming where required and feasible.
• Acknowledge and meet the need for better communications infrastructure for the Parish. The plan identifies and focuses on appropriate methods to ensure that the Parish benefits from modern communications services. To enable the Parish to thrive and remain attractive to businesses and future generations, ultrafast broadband services and improved mobile signal reception must be universally available. Parish residents should have the same access to these services as residents in urban communities, and the neighbourhood plan will enable this continued access.
• Make the Parish resilient to all flooding events and manage the threat of flood by safeguarding the functional floodplain. The plan sympathetically yet robustly seeks to defend against inappropriate development in areas subject to severe flooding. It wholeheartedly supports the continued cooperation with all agencies to seek a scheme for more robust long-term flood defences and promotes the rapid recovery from inevitable flood events across all corners of the parish.
• Encourage tourism and the enjoyment of our natural environment. The plan will support proposals which provide excellent curated information relating to the facilities in digital and traditional forms. It will ensure that this information remains accessible to all. Parish surroundings are widely recognised as areas of natural beauty, with wide open spaces, extensive waterfront and plenty of fresh air. These include a range of recreational options appealing to all ages and include field sports, walking, jogging and hiking, boating in all its forms, fishing and shooting.
• Support educational and out-of-school facilities for the benefit and wellbeing of parish children. The plan supports ideas and proposals that enhance the overall educational facilities on offer to younger residents. It will back schemes that continually develop and enhance the pre-school facilities, existing library and two primary schools. The plan aims to deliver ongoing educational and vocational benefits to all younger residents, whether they are utilising the schools and library or as members of the various Parish organisations, such as the Sea Scouts or sporting groups.
• Identify community assets and amenities of benefit then plan to protect and enhance them. The neighbourhood plan identifies community assets (for example the Grade 1 listed church), whether natural or man-made, then supports proposals which protect, preserve and appropriately enhance them. It will involve Parish residents in the evolution and implementation of these plans, developing knowledge, experience and interest as the plans are delivered in the future. Finally, the plan will link to tangible planning projects within the Parish encompassing these specific aims and involving residents in their execution.
• Search for a sympathetic and sustainable use for former commercial and industrial sites whether centrally located or on the Parish outskirts. As a former industrial hub, the Parish benefits from an extensive range of previously utilised sites and building which are ripe for redevelopment and re-use. Sites and buildings in this category will be evaluated for their most appropriate and beneficial re-use whether commercial, residential or blended usage. These sites offer significant opportunities for imaginative re-birth of former key facilities and the neighbourhood plan will enable these transitions.

Documents
The Yalding Parish-wide Neighbourhood Plan is being developed by members of the Parish with the assistance of Feria Urbanism, who are a design studio with specialisms in neighbourhood planning, civic design, urban strategies and design training.
Since discussions started about developing a neighbourhood plan for Yalding and Laddingford there have been a number of regular meetings, both public and of the steering group. Minutes of these meetings are published below, along with discussion documents that have been produced by Feria Urbanism following the public meetings.
All documents are in pdf format and are for general consumption. Each one can be downloaded from the respective links below.
Minutes-07.09.2018
Minutes-18.09.2018
Minutes-25.09.2018
Minutes-23.11.2018
Minutes-14.12.2018
Minutes-15.01.2019
Minutes-25.01.2019
Minutes-26.02.2019
Minutes-12.03.2019
Minutes-26.03.2019
Minutes-09.05.2019
Minutes-14.06.2019
Minutes-12.07.2019
Minutes-09.08.2019
Minutes-20.09.2019
Minutes-11.10.2019
Minutes-08.11.2019
Minutes-13.12.2019
Minutes-10.01.2020
Minutes-14.02.2020
Minutes-13.03.2020
Minutes-23.10.2020
Minutes-28.01.2021
Download the May 2016 design forum final slideshow
138_SS_160519 Final-Slideshow Part 01
138_SS_160519 Final-Slideshow Part 02
Download the results of the April 2016 Laddingford & Yalding Visioning Events
Download the April2016 PLACE Assessment Results Plan
Download Public consultation meeting 28 Feb 2019
Feedback and responses document:
Download the five individual PLACE assessment handbooks for the parish
Events
2018
September 7 – Steering Group
September – 18 Steering Group
October 5 – Steering Group
October 9 – Steering Group
October 23 – Maidstone BC Public meeting
October 30 – Steering Group
November 9 – Steering Group
November 23 – Steering Group
December 14 – Steering Group
2019
February 15 – Steering Group
February 25 – Steering Group
February 26 – Steering Group
February 28 – Public Meeting
March 03 – Steering Group
March 26 – Steering Group
June 14 – Steering Group
July 12 – Steering Group
August 09- Steering Group
September 20 – Steering Group
October 11 – Steering Group
November 08 – Steering Group
December 13- Steering Group
2020
January 10 – Steering Group
February 14 – Steering Group
March 13 – Steering Group
Contact
If you wish to contact anyone regarding The Parish-wide Neighbourhood plan, please email steeringgroup@yaldingpnp.org