PRESS RELEASE: Sevenoaks Town Council submits name recommendations to developer for the three apartment blocks at 136 High Street

Notable women like literary great Jane Austen, former MP and MEP Dame Peggy Fenner and Council Chairman and Town Mayor Dorothy Parrott could have apartment blocks named after them on the former Tesco site in Sevenoaks.

Sevenoaks Town Council was asked to put forward possible names for the three new apartment blocks due to be built at the development site of 136 High Street.

Purelake New Homes Ltd, developer of 136 High Street, invited the Planning & Environment Committee to submit suggested names.

The following name recommendations were approved by the Committee on 27 January, with Councillors agreeing the theme of naming the blocks after famous or influential women who have either lived or worked in Sevenoaks Town.

These names have now been forwarded to Purelake New Homes Ltd for consideration, and potential submission to Sevenoaks District Council. Any suggestions will also need both Royal Mail and Fire Brigade approval.

Sevenoaks District Council’s Street Naming and Numbering Policy 2021 prevents roads and buildings from being named after a person still living.

The Town Council hopes that, if any of the below name suggestions are adopted, a plaque and brief biography could later be placed on the site to provide background information on these influential women.

Who are the possible women?

Jane Austen: famous novelist of the 19th century

Sevenoaks is associated with several of Jane Austen’s relatives, in particular her uncle Francis Austen who she visited at the Red House at the the top of the High Street.