Fawkham Parish Council

08/05/2026

We are very pleased to say that two new Fawkham Parish signs have been put in place this week.

After the previous sign on Baldwins Green was demolished by an HGV, we thought it would be good to take the opportunity to create a new design, incorporating residents’ suggestions alongside the elements of the previous design. The other sign on the green outside the Rising Sun was also showing its age so we replaced this one too. These were funded via our Parish CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy*)and the insurance payment.

The legend on the sign aims to reflect Fawkham’s special character and includes the following elements:
• The scroll bears the word Fawkham, supported on the left by oak leaves and on the right by seven acorns, indicating our inclusion in the District of Sevenoaks.
• The beautiful Norman church of St. Mary’s Church features in the top panel, along with bluebells representing the Ancient Woodland found across the Parish.
• On the bottom left panel is the de Faukeham coat of arms, as depicted in a stained glass window which existed in St Mary’s church until Victorian times. A drawing of this window was made for Thorpe’s Custumale Roffense in 1788, in which details of the coat of arms can be seen. The de Faukehams were the family who were granted the manor after the Norman conquest, and adopted the name of the village. The drawing can be seen here: Church window. The Latin inscription beneath it, Regnat Populus, means “Let the People Rule”.
• The bottom right hand panel shows the white horse of Kent on a red background, to indicate our inclusion in the County of Kent. Beneath it, a blue wavy line on a silver background is a visual pun on the watercourse which flows down Valley Road on a regular basis!
• The central bottom panel shows a tractor on fields bounded by hedgerows, reflecting the rural nature of the Parish.
• The design is edged in green, to represent the Green Belt which washes over Fawkham.
We are very pleased with the new signs, and hope you are too!

*CIL is received from development in the Parish and can only be used to fund certain expenditure.

06/05/2026

It’s National Hedgerows Week - Hedgerows are a distinctive rural feature in Fawkham, found along the sides of lanes and public footpaths, and around gardens and fields. They provide homes and food for wildlife and offer vital green corridors that help animals move between sites. They connect otherwise disjointed and isolated habitats into a network for insects and the creatures that feed upon them: amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals, including badgers, bats, hedgehogs and dormice.

As well as their biodiversity value, Fawkham’s hedgerows have amenity and aesthetic value, adding to the landscape character of the Parish. A profusion of hawthorn and blackthorn blossom can be enjoyed in the spring, wild dog roses bloom in summer, while sloe berries on blackthorn, berries on hawthorn and rosehips are abundant in autumn.

The hedges also help to slow or stop floodwater and flints from pouring off the valley-side fields into our lanes and help to combat air and water pollutants.

The Parish’s hedgerows are shown on the map below.

There is a mixture in size, age and condition of hedgerows throughout Fawkham Parish. Many are believed to be several hundreds of years old and species-rich. Several are relicts of Ancient Woodland which now edge fields cleared for agriculture, and many connect with other hedgerows and into shaws or blocks of woodland.

Woody species found include spindle, field maple, hazel and dogwood which often indicate older hedges. Other species include whitebeam (which is rarely found in the wild), elm, ash, blackthorn, wild cherry, rowan, hawthorn, wild rose, oak and sycamore. Some hedgerows have been surveyed in detail to find out which woody species they contain, and full details of these can be found in Appendix 4 here:https://fawkhamparishcouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Evidence-Report-Biodiversity-Assets-3.24.pdf

The CPRE report that hedgerows surveys indicate there were more than 500,000km of managed hedgerows in England in 1984, but by 2007 more than 100,000km had been lost. Many of those which remain have been managed poorly or not at all. CPRE launched a Hedgerow Heroes project to plant or rejuvenate 100 miles of hedgerows this year. Our Neighbourhood Plan includes several policies which aim to protect hedgerows from development.

05/04/2026

🐥 Happy Easter 🐣

The Easter bunny has left some eggs in some secret places around Fawkham.

*Please take one per household to allow as many children as possible to find one.

Fawkham Parish Council

25/03/2026

13/03/2026

Did you know a mobile library service visits Fawkham every other Wednesday, stopping from 9.30-10.00 outside the Rising Sun Inn? The library has a good range of books, including a children’s section, and a copy of “Fawkham - the story of a Kentish village.” Books can also be ordered in for collection from the mobile library.

For further details, including the upcoming dates for the mobile library to visit Fawkham, please see the information on Kent County Council’s website: https://local.kent.gov.uk/kb5/kent/directory/service.page?id=ofdMn55miHY&communitychannel=8

11/03/2026

VALLEY ROAD SCHOOL FOOTWAY IMPROVEMENTS UPDATE
KCC has finished installing safety railings along the worst sections of the footway to the school, which will greatly improve the safety of those who use it. This follows a successful bid to SDC by KCC and FPC for CIL monies and a contribution from the parish's CIL fund. Two new flashing school warning signs have also been installed, replacing the previous ones which haven’t worked properly for many years.

The photos below show one of the new signs, along with the new railings. A “porcupine wall” was put in place, and the bank re-profiled, to support the new railings.

Both of these improvements were among the projects leading on from Fawkham’s Neighbourhood Plan, and we are very pleased to see that they have come to fruition. We will update you on progress with other projects very soon.

09/03/2026

Great British Spring Clean 2026: 13-19th March

If you'd like to take part, we have some litter picking sticks, rubbish sacks, hoops which hold the sacks and hi-vis jackets, so let us know if you'd like other borrow some, either during the Spring Clean or at any time.

We know there are residents who regularly collect litter - thank you to them!

Do post photos here of the litter sacks you pick, and either leave them next to the SDC black litter bins or take them home to put out with your waste.

Important: please keep young children under close supervision and, for safety reasons, stick to picking litter on pub right of way, the footway to the school or other safe areas.

03/02/2026

Fawkham Patish Council recently raised with KCC Highways the issue of the appalling state of Valley Road, particularly the area south of Manor Lane and Court Lodge shown in the photographs below. As a result, the highway steward visited yesterday and has marked up patches along the length of road from Malabar to Court Lodge for some permanent patching, which can be carried out while this section of road is closed. KCC Highways has also arranged for a gang to attend the length of Valley/Fawkham Road to make them safe tomorrow, with a view to permanent large scale repairs from May 2026. We would like to thank our KCC member, Maxine Fothergill, for adding her support to this.

23/01/2026

Nominations for Sevenoaks District Council’s Local List

Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) is looking to expand the number of historic structures and places on its “Local List” to help protect local history and identify what makes the area special. The Local List includes buildings and structures of local architectural and historic interest that make a valuable contribution to the distinctiveness of the district. The special interest of anything on the Local List will be considered when deciding future planning applications.

As you may have seen in the latest InShape newsletter, SDC has launched a new online process by which buildings and structures can be nominated for the Local List. Fawkham Parish Council is planning to make some nominations from within the Parish, which enables us to move forward with a project arising from the Neighbourhood Plan. You may see some of us out and about taking photos which are needed for nominations over the coming months.

Anyone can make a nomination, and can nominate their own property, using the new online process which can be found here: https://www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/locallist

Or you can let us know of any buildings or structures you’d like us to look at nominating: please email [email protected] or comment below.

View and make a nomination for the Local List which contains buildings and structures of local architectural and historic interest.

21/01/2026

FPC is being consulted on an application for “Permission in Principle” to build 2 -3 new houses in a field on Valley Road, close to Court Lodge. You can find full details here:https://pa.sevenoaks.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=T75G7NBK0LO00. FPC is currently considering its response, the deadline for which is 29th January.

14/01/2026

Sevenoaks District Council agrees to dispose of Small Grains amenity open space to Fawkham Parish Council

We are very pleased to let you know that at last night’s SDC Cabinet meeting it was unanimously agreed that Small Grains amenity open space be disposed of to Fawkham Parish Council. This follows a review of FPC’s business case which set out clear social, environmental and economic reasons to do so.

It is intended that the cost of the purchase, and associated solicitor fees, will be paid from Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds held by FPC (rather than from the precept/Council Tax). The additional ongoing maintenance costs have already been factored into our precept (FPC’s part of your council tax) which, as you may have seen, is reducing for the coming financial year.

Small Grains is an important community asset and was designated as an amenity open space in the Fawkham Neighbourhood Plan in February 2025, following over 70 years of such use. FPC is committed to retaining and enhancing Small Grains as amenity open space for the benefit of the community, and we hope to make enhancements to it. One of these is a plan to segregate the areas used for parking and access to parking from the grassed areas, which will protect the open space and safeguard its users.

FPC Councillors would like to thank the Chair, Laura Evans, and District Councillor Sean Malone for all their hard work and commitment to this project.

Fawkham Parish Council