Homes England will show the revised Heathlands masterplan at three drop-ins on 9 and 10 October, then a webinar on 12 October, before the planning bid lands.

Homes England will put the revised plans for Heathlands, the 5,000-home settlement proposed east of Maidstone, in front of residents at three drop-in events in October.

They are the last scheduled chance to question the scheme before the outline planning application is submitted, which the agency expects to happen by the end of 2026 (Heathlands Garden Community project site, 15 September 2026; Maidstone Borough Council, 18 September 2026).

The events are in Charing, Harrietsham and Lenham, with an online webinar after them.

When and where

  • Friday 9 October, 9am to 1pm: Charing Church Barn, Market Place, Charing, TN27 0LP. Charing is over the boundary in Ashford borough.
  • Friday 9 October, 3pm to 7pm: Harrietsham Village Hall, Church Road, Harrietsham, ME17 1AP.
  • Saturday 10 October, 2pm to 8pm: Lenham Community Centre, 12 Groom Way, Lenham, ME17 2QT.
  • Monday 12 October, 7pm to 8pm: an online webinar. You have to register in advance through the project website, heathlandsgc.co.uk.
The four Heathlands engagement events: Charing Church Barn on Friday 9 October 9am to 1pm, Harrietsham Village Hall on Friday 9 October 3pm to 7pm, Lenham Community Centre on Saturday 10 October 2pm to 8pm, and an online webinar on Monday 12 October 7pm to 8pm
Graphic by Maidstone Live. Source: Homes England and Maidstone Borough Council, Heathlands Garden Community project site, 15 September 2026.
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This round is shorter than the last one. In May the project team held four in-person sessions, including two days at Lenham Community Centre on 15 and 16 May, an afternoon and evening at Charing Church Barn on 20 May, and a session at Harrietsham Village Hall on 21 May. October gets three.

What is being shown

Homes England says the updated proposals respond to what people said in May, reviewed alongside the project team’s own technical work.

Jayshree Patel, Head of Planning and Enabling at Homes England, said: “We were really encouraged by the feedback received in the first round of engagement in May, and we’ve listened carefully to what the community has told us. This next stage is about showing how feedback has shaped the proposals while continuing the conversation to ensure local residents understand what is being submitted.”

Councillor Simon Wales, Maidstone Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness, said the events give people the chance “to see how previous feedback has informed the proposals ahead of the planning application”.

The outline application will fix the principles: land uses, access and movement, landscape and supporting infrastructure. The detail comes later, through a series of reserved matters applications.

The questions the council has already put on the record

This is where an hour at a village hall is worth more than a leaflet. Maidstone Borough Council has already told the Heathlands team, in writing, what its environmental statement has to answer. That document is public, and it gives you the questions.

The council’s EIA scoping opinion, reference 26/502146/EIASCO, was issued on 28 August 2026 after going to planning committee on 20 August. We reported it in full in our story on the scoping opinion.

On the new railway station, which the opinion calls “an inherent part of the proposed development”, the council requires the applicant to:

  • assess what happens if the station is delayed, and what happens in a no-station scenario
  • identify the consents and approvals the station needs
  • name who is responsible for funding it, building it and running it
  • record the status of any agreement with Network Rail and Southeastern
  • set out the conditions, obligations or phasing controls that would actually secure it

So there are five straightforward things to ask on 9 and 10 October. Does the updated masterplan model a Heathlands without a station? Who is paying for it? Is there anything in writing from Network Rail or Southeastern yet?

The phasing question is the sharpest one. Lenham Parish Council, responding on 8 July and quoted in the council’s own scoping opinion, said phase one would allow roughly 1,771 to 2,000 homes to be built before any new station exists.

What Heathlands is

The site covers 330 hectares between Lenham and Charing, about nine miles east of Maidstone town centre. It is allocated in the borough’s adopted Local Plan Review 2021 to 2038 and has its own supplementary planning document.

The allocation is for:

  • around 5,000 homes
  • employment space
  • schools
  • local centres
  • green infrastructure
  • a new railway station on the Maidstone to Ashford line

The London to Ashford railway already runs across the site, dividing its northern and southern halves. Three ancient woodlands sit inside the boundary, and the Kent Downs National Landscape lies to the north and east.

One thing worth holding on to at a consultation event: Maidstone Borough Council is a co-promoter of Heathlands as well as the authority that will decide it. That is why the scoping opinion went to committee rather than being signed off by an officer, and why the council paid the consultancy Ramboll for independent advice on the developer’s scoping report.

What it means for you

  • Nothing is decided. No planning application has been submitted, and an engagement event is not a statutory consultation. Comments made in October carry no legal weight.
  • The stage that does count is still ahead. When the outline application is validated, the council must consult on it, and objections then go on the planning file.
  • Register for alerts now if you want to catch it. Our Maidstone planning applications guide explains how to search the Mid Kent register and set up email alerts, so a scheme this size does not go past you in a week you were busy.
  • If the station matters to you, ask about it in October, while the masterplan can still move. Our train times guide covers the line the new station would sit on.

Sources