Knockholt Society
The Knockholt Society can be contact via Tony Slinn: e-mail address tony.slinn@btinternet.com.
What is the Knockholt Society and what does it do?
Founded in 1975, the Society’s remit was, and is, as follows:
1). To stimulate public interest in Knockholt
2). To promote high standards of planning and architecture
3). To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of historic or public interest.
In a nutshell, that’s who we are. But we’re much more than that, much more than simply a residents’ association too.
As an independent, non-political body ungoverned by legal statutes, we’re often able to lobby and bring pressure to bear in cases where, for example, the Parish Council would find it difficult to tread.
Working with various local authority and other organisations—and as our remit suggests—we keep a watching brief on planning and other developments likely to have a major impact on our village.
Notably in the past, when Sevenoaks District Council and Kent County Council were very keen to build an enormous gypsy camp in the village, we were able not only to put out a newsletter to every resident informing them of what was happening, but organise lifts for those who’d have found it difficult to get to the resultant public meeting—held in a school some miles from Knockholt. The plan was dismissed.
Our planning ‘battles’ have continued over the years, notably with the application to turn Fort Halstead into an enormous housing estate which we thought we’d won at one point. But Sevenoaks District Council came back a couple of years later with an ‘employment-led’ scheme that, despite the ‘employment’ part all but disappearing over the years, currently allows the developer to build over 600 houses. Given the site’s nuclear history, however, remediation remains a stumbling block and as I write, work has yet to start.
More recently, and working with Halstead Green Belt Future Group and our MP Laura Trott, we succeeded in having a plan for 800+ houses to be built on the former Broke Hill Golf Club—Green Belt land—dismissed.
We’re keen to preserve village heritage and promote the use of our surroundings. We also act as an unofficial village historian, continually collating and evaluating items and happy to receive anything of interest. As a result, we have a photo collection dating to 1870 and have produced a DVD using those photos to map significant facets of Knockholt’s history. This year too, we’ll open a special room in the Village Centre where our records and collections of books and photos can be studied.
So if that, in brief, is who we are, but what more do we do?
The Knockholt Society organises and runs the Neighbourhood Watch scheme that extends throughout the village, perhaps our most important on-going activity.
It works via a chief co-ordinator—my wife Sandy as I write—and a series of ‘Link People’ responsible for disseminating information to every home in the village. We’re also responsible for the NW signs in the village.
We’re lucky to live in a relatively crime-free environment, but if the police inform us of a threat or scam, we get that information out as quickly as possible. Further, this system enables us to quickly, cheaply and efficiently distribute other important news throughout the village—AGM announcements and Society events, for example. More recently, that’s been boosted by the Knockholt Grapevine, an independently run email system that does a great job.
Our links with the police also extend to traffic. Speeding by motorists and motorcyclists, who seem to mistake Knockholt for Brands Hatch, is a continual problem. One of the most dangerous junctions in the village is Pound Lane with Main Road at The Pound, where a combination of speed and lack of sightlines (a virtually blind bend by the village shop and parked cars) has led to several near misses. Years ago the Society suggested The Pound should be turned into a roundabout. The excuse then, as today, is ‘no money’.
In the past the Society also ran a regular prescription delivery service for those unable to easily reach a pharmacy. That service is still available if needed, but these days on a request basis.
We try and make sure, too, that newcomers to the village receive a letter of welcome, are encouraged to take part in village affairs, and not least to join the Society.
Where funds allow, the Society responds to requests for financial help. We’ve contributed to the village school, made donations to St. Katharine’s Church and the Village Centre, and support fund-raising events such as the Flower Festival at the church and Knockholt Carnival.
Over the past few years the Society has organised private visits and lunches for villagers to notable places of interest, beginning with Hever Castle in 2017. Since then we’ve visited Chartwell, Eltham Palace, Lullingstone Castle, and Titsey Place. This year we’re planning a visit to Chiddingstone Castle and returning to Penshurst Place this Christmas for a very special private tour and lunch.
Our AGMs are held in May each year, generally feature a talk by people from the places we plan to visit, and conclude with a complimentary wine & cheese social. Above all, however, the Society is there to listen to, and where necessary act on, the concerns of people in the village.
We are always happy to welcome people who would like to serve on the committee or be active in Neighbourhood Watch, but by simply being members villagers help the Society fulfil its remit.
Dated March 2024
