Campaign

The Friends of Old Park & Chequers Wood was created in 2021 to raise awareness of the importance of the site and to protect it from a range of threats. The initial threats were the proposal to construct a bypass through the middle of the SSSI and a plan to build on valuable turtle dove habitat adjacent to the golf course.

In order to challenge these threats in a coordinated way, the Friends group drafted a Common Position which was adopted by 14 national and regional conservation organisations, and supported by 16 local community groups. The Common Position played an important role in galvanising opposition to the development proposals. This opposition ultimately succeeded in nipping these threats in the bud.

However, no sooner did these threats subside than a new and potentially much larger threat emerged—namely the decision by the Ministry of Defence to sell off all of its landholdings on Old Park & Chequers Wood (amounting to approximately half of the whole site). While none of the MoD’s land is classified as ‘development land’, there is a real risk that it could be bought speculatively by a developer and sold off in parcels at some future point in time.

In order to challenge this threat and maintain the integrity of Old Park & Chequers Wood as a site for nature conservation and public recreation, the Friends group is mounting a two-pronged campaign to protect the site in its entirety.

The two key campaign goals are:

1. To support the acquisition of the MoD’s landholdings by Canterbury City Council and/or a consortium of conservation organisations.

2. To extend the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) to cover those areas outside the current boundaries of the SSSI which meet Natural England’s criteria for inclusion (see map below), and thus increase their level of protection.

Interim steps in the attainment of these goals are the designation of the MoD’s landholdings as an Asset of Community Value (see map below) and the designation of the buffer zones of the SSSI as Local Wildlife Sites. The first of these steps was successfully completed in August 2024, the second is in the pipeline.

For further information on the Old Park campaign, see the Friends of Old Park & Chequers Wood Action Plan 2024 – 2030.