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Horton Kirby Paper Mill, South Darenth.
The Parish Council established an Economic Development Steering Group in 2003 when the first news of the pending closure of the paper mill became public. Membership of the group was thrown open to all local clubs, societies and interest groups and many took up the opportunity to have a voice.
The group set its objectives to have a positive influence on the future development of the mill and to try to ensure that some employment opportunities remain. Recognising that a developer may want to build houses we set out to ensure that the architectural context of the mill, the conservation area, the listed buildings and the village itself would be respected.
While Nash PLC sought a buyer for the site we quietly lobbied English Heritage, the South East Development Agency, various government quangos and Sevenoaks Planning to try and establish our agenda in their thinking.
The site is now owned by Fairview New Homes, who are developing proposals for a planning application in the late spring or early summer. These are only at the 'rough sketch' concept stage but they have shared their ideas with the group and the signs are quite encouraging.
Fairview have performed a detailed study of the village, charting it's development from roman times to the present day and paying particular attention to the development of the mill from 1820 onwards. They have studied documents and photographs at the British Museum, Ordinance Survey and Dartford Museum to seek cues for their design. They have conducted an
audit of all of the existing buildings to discover which can be re-used and which will have to be replaced.
The current intention is to retain and enhance all of the buildings that front onto Horton Road including the stable buildings that are behind the mill green. These will all be offered for mixed business use so a near 200 year tradition of employment at the bottom of East Hill and New Road will
continue.
Beyond the Mill wall the developers intend to reflect the Victorian character of the site with cobbled streets and courtyards between apartment buildings which either re-use the existing buildings or replace them with new ones of similar proportions. They hope to open up the western arm of the
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