Following concerns raised by residents, Sevenoaks Town Council ran an informal consultation between October 2025 and January 2026 on several locations which it considered would benefit from further corner protections, by way of double yellow lines. This with the intent to submit the locations for consideration, design and delivery by Kent County Council, should they be supported at this informal consultation phase.
The Consultation Report, which included both a full and isolated (affected roads only) analysis of responses for each location was received and considered by Sevenoaks Town Council's Planning & Environment Committee on 2nd March 2026, when the following resolution was reached:
Minute Number 693c) It was RESOLVED that the Town Council submit all fourteen locations as listed below, for consideration, design and publication by Kent County Council to receive double yellow lines via a legal Traffic Regulation Order:
- Location 1a (private, western section of St James’ Road): With its extension into St James’ Road removed, but St John’s Road retained
- Location 1b (public, eastern section of St James’ Road): As consulted
- Location 2 (St George’s Road): As consulted
- Location 3 (Amherst Road): As consulted, with stipulation that the lines be kept to the minimum length required to achieve the aspired safety improvements
- Location 4 (Bethel Road): As consulted, with stipulation that the location be progressed only if the Design Team is satisfied that the safety benefits would significantly outweigh any harm to parking availability and displacement
- Location 5 (Mill Lane): With attention drawn to potential displacement into Silk Mills Close and request for the lines to be extended to mitigate this
- Locations 6-10 (Hillingdon Avenue, Seal Hollow Road, The Crescent): As amended in line with feedback to both the Town Council’s and Kent County Council’s similar consultation exercises
- Location 11 and 12 (Ash Platt Road and Highlands Park): With attention drawn to the four extension requests received from local residents and request for this to be included if possible
- Location 13 (Letter Box Lane): With attention drawn to the western side of Parkland Close and request for this to be included if possible
- Location 14 (Bradbourne Road): With request that this be a single line with time restrictions between 9am and 11am, in line with Sevenoaks Primary School feedback.
This request, accompanied by amended plans, has since been submitted to Kent County Council for its consideration. The scheme will now be reviewed by the County Council's Design Team, who will be asked to produce suitable designs for subsequent formal consultation via a legal Traffic Regulation Order.
Background:
Although such highway matters are the sole responsibility of Kent County Council, this project is being pursued by the Town Council due to its status as a priority item on the Town Council’s
Highway Improvement Plan. The Highway Improvement Plan is a list of priority infrastructure improvement requests that is submitted by Town and Parish Councils annually for consideration of the County Council, who aim to fulfil between 1-2 requests per year depending on cost and deliverability.
As the most local tier of council authority, Sevenoaks Town Council is contacted often by its residents with requests for parking changes, particularly where residents consider the current arrangements to be hazardous to pedestrian safety. Concerns range from persistent pavement parking – which obstructs the passage of wheelchairs and pushchairs in particular and directs their passage into the road; corner parking – which obstructs visibility of both motorists entering or exiting the road and pedestrians crossing it; to disruptive parking outside or opposite a driveway – which prevents the resident from exiting their property.
The Town Council’s concerns have been raised particularly as to corner-parking on busy junctions near schools, due to their being a regular walking route for students.
The following list of key locations which the Town Council is aware suffer from persistent parking issues, have therefore been collated as follows. These were consulted on as proposed locations for the Town Council to submit for consideration of Kent County Council to receive corner protections by way of double yellow lines.
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Location 1:
St John’s Road – the four corners leading into St James’ Road on either
side
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Location 8:
Hillingdon Avenue – the two corners leading into Wildernesse Mount
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Location 2:
St John’s Road – the
two corners leading into St George’s Road
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Location 9:
Hillingdon Avenue –
around the green island between Wildernesse Mount and Seal Hollow Road
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Location 3:
St John’s Road – the two corners leading into Amherst Road
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Location
10:
Hillingdon
Avenue – the eastern corner leading into southern Seal Hollow Road
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Location 4:
Bethel Road – the
eastern corner leading into Cedar Terrace Road
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Location 11:
Ash Platt Road – the
two corners on the southern end of Ash Platt Road, leading into Seal Road
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Location 5:
Mill Lane – on the Western side of the road
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Location
12:
Ash Platt
Road – the two corners where it bends into Highlands Park
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Location 6:
The Crescent –
extension to the existing lines leading into the Northern-most corner
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Location 13:
Letter Box Lane –
extension to the existing lines leading into Letter Box Lane from Tonbridge
Road
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Location 7:
Hillingdon Avenue – the grass verge leading into Seal Hollow Road
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Location14:
Bradbourne
Road – extension of the existing lines opposite the rear entrance of
Sevenoaks Primary School
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The consultation was launched via the Winter edition of the Town Crier – delivered to all households within Sevenoaks Town – and ran between 15th October 2025 and 31st January 2026. This period included a significant extension due to having coincided with the District Council’s Regulation 18 consultation on its draft Local Plan – a significant document which the Councillors felt should receive focused attention. As such, further advertisement was reduced until completion of the Local Plan consultation in mid-December 2025, with social media posts, focused letter-dropping and Stakeholder emails having taken place during early January 2026.
A total of 249 responses were received during this time, including written and email submissions as well as those received directly via the online survey. Late responses received via post were also accepted up until Friday 6th February 2026.