Save Ash Level

10/06/2026

Save Ash Level Appeal Update

The appeal process is now moving into its next formal stage.

The Planning Inspector has now confirmed the process for the inquiry, which is due to open on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, at Dover District Council Offices.

The inquiry is expected to consider key issues, including landscape harm, heritage impact, archaeology, construction traffic, biodiversity, agricultural land and the wider impact on our community.

We've published a simple summary of what happens next, including key dates, location, the inquiry process, and the main issues expected to be considered.

Please read the full update here:

https://saveashlevel.org/appeal-what-happens-next/

Thank you, as always, for your continued support, encouragement and commitment to saving Ash Level.

Save Ash Level

Get Wild Ash Village community site Sandwich Town Kent Ash Parish Council Ash Village Sandwich Lakes Ash Kent Wild Sandwich Sandwich Chamber of Commerce Juliet's Farm Shop and cafe Deal Noticeboard Dover and Deal Green Party

17/12/2025

CPRE Kent is working to enhance, promote and protect Kent's countryside. Love Kent's beautiful rural areas? Find out more and get involved.

28/11/2025

Joint statement from Sir Roger Gale and Cllr Daniel Friend:

We strongly welcome Dover District Council’s decision last night to refuse the Little South Solar Farm application.

This was a significant and well-considered outcome. The committee listened carefully to residents, heritage experts, environmental groups and local councillors. The evidence was clear: the proposal would have caused unacceptable and irreversible harm to the Ash Levels, the setting of Richborough Roman Fort, our wildlife habitats and a historic landscape that has shaped East Kent for centuries.

Renewable energy is essential, but it must be delivered in the right places, and never at the expense of the very environment we are trying to protect. This was the wrong scheme in the wrong location, and the decision sets an important precedent for how sensitive landscapes across East Kent should be safeguarded.

We also hope the strength of local feeling demonstrated throughout this process will be recognised by the Planning Inspectorate as it considers National Grid’s far larger and more intrusive proposals for a converter station on the Minster Marshes. These marshes, together with the heritage of Richborough Fort and the surrounding nature reserves, deserve robust protection from unnecessary and unjustified development.

Last night’s decision confirms that East Kent will not accept schemes that damage our landscape, our heritage or our biodiversity under the banner of progress. We are grateful to all residents, campaigners and experts who made their voices heard, and we will continue to stand with the community to protect the places that matter.

26/11/2025

We can only hope for the same outcome.
They didn’t even have a Scheduled Monument and the gateway to Roman Britain in full eye-line and just 160 metres away!!

Harm to grade II heritage buildings on the 22 agricultural fields on the site and turning the farmland to an industrial landscape were among the reasons cited for the rejection.

Cornwall Council voted against the Speedwell Solar Farm development at Gwinear, near Hayle.

26/11/2025

The solar farm would cover an area the size of around 128 football pitches

23/11/2025

We all complain about it well how about fight for it ✊
​After 4 years of battling, the fate of Ash Level could be decided in just 20 minutes.
We cannot let them rubber-stamp an industrial scheme on our ancient land without a fight.

​THIS THURSDAY, 27th NOV
📍Where: Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield
⏰ When: Gather at 5:15pm (Hearing starts 6pm)
​
Your physical presence makes the difference. Show the Councillors that destroying our ecology, wildlife, farmland and heritage is unacceptable.

23/11/2025

Surely they won't put these on ancient farmland just metres from a Grade 1 Listed Monument and English Heritage Site - Richborough Roman Fort, the gateway to Roman Britain. Surely they won't pile drive these metres down into the buried first Roman Road in Britain - Watling Street? Surely they won't completely alter the landscape looked out across by Emperor Claudius in AD43?

Incredibly, Dover District Council has recommended the industrial solar scheme - the size of 128 football pitches - be approved!

Richborough Roman Fort is a Scheduled Monument - one of the highest heritage designations - and should require the strongest level of protection in planning law.

Get WildLocks of Sandwich CyclesAsh Village community siteSandwich Town KentCanterbury Residents GroupJuliet's Farm Shop and cafe Ash Parish Council Stop The Destruction Of Kent Deal NoticeboardAsh Village Sandwich Lakes Ash Kent

21/11/2025

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