Cabinet approved a four to six week October consultation on extending the order on 22 September, after 91 warnings and fines in four weeks this summer.

Updated 18 September 2026

The council published the minutes of the 10 September committee meeting on Friday 18 September, and they carry an enforcement figure the written report did not: 91 community protection warnings and fixed penalty notices were issued at the site over four weeks during the summer of 2026. That is a different count from the 43 fixed penalties and 56 community protection notices the report logs for the whole period since March 2024, so the two do not add up or nest, but it shows how heavily the site was being worked over one summer month. Members were also told the maximum fine rises to £500 after 26 October 2026, and that the council is in talks with Transport for London about mounting an ANPR camera on one of its lampposts.

Correction. This page previously said the decision had slipped to Cabinet on 20 October. It has not. The council published the Cabinet agenda on 14 September and it sets the meeting for 7pm on Tuesday 22 September, in the Council Chamber on Argyle Road, with the Halstead order as item 9. The 10 September minutes refer to the same date. We had followed the council's own meetings calendar, which still labels that Cabinet as moved.

Car meets have carried on around London Road at Halstead despite two and a half years of a banning order, 43 fixed penalty notices and 56 community protection notices. That is the council’s own assessment in the report that went to councillors on 10 September, which starts the process of extending the order for another three years. (Sevenoaks District Council, PSPO extension report, London Road, Halstead)

The Public Spaces Protection Order has been in force since March 2024. It covers London Road at Halstead, the Orpington By-Pass at Badgers Mount and the M25 spur road, the stretch of the A224 around Hewetts roundabout. The order bans car cruising and a list of behaviours connected to it, including:

  • revving engines, sounding horns and playing loud music
  • racing, speeding, and stunts such as doughnuts, wheel spins and handbrake turns
  • obstructing the highway, whether moving or parked, and parking on footways
  • verbal abuse or intimidation of members of the public

(Sevenoaks District Council, PSPO extension report, London Road, Halstead)

Enforcement so far, and fines five times higher

The report is candid that the order has not stopped the meets: “car meets have unfortunately continued throughout the duration.” Since March 2024 the council has issued 43 fixed penalty notices and 56 community protection notices. Thirteen of the protection notices were issued on behalf of the Metropolitan Police. (Sevenoaks District Council, PSPO extension report, London Road, Halstead)

The penalty is about to get heavier. The Government’s Crime and Policing Bill raises the maximum fixed penalty for breaching a PSPO from £100 to £500. Sevenoaks cabinet members signed a decision in June 2026 to apply the higher fine as soon as the law allows, and the council will amend the signage along the road when it does. (Sevenoaks District Council, PSPO extension report, London Road, Halstead)

Timeline of the Halstead car meets order: the PSPO came into force in March 2024; 91 warnings and fines were issued in four weeks in summer 2026, separately from 43 fixed penalties and 56 protection notices since March 2024; in June 2026 cabinet members signed off fines rising from £100 to £500 after 26 October 2026; the committee took the extension report on 10 September; and Cabinet approved a four to six week consultation on 22 September, to run from October
Graphic by Sevenoaks Online
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A camera stuck in the wiring

A deployable mobile camera was meant to be watching the area by now. The council received funding for it in January 2026 and got approval in July, but when contractor Chromovision went to install it, the wires were not usable. Kent County Council has said the fix could take a further three months. Once up, the camera would stay for at least six months. (Sevenoaks District Council, PSPO extension report, London Road, Halstead)

What happens next

The report went to the People & Places Advisory Committee at 7pm on Thursday 10 September. Members backed it, resolving to recommend to Cabinet that a four to six week consultation on extending the order be approved. (Sevenoaks District Council, People & Places Advisory Committee minutes, 10 September 2026)

Update, 23 September: Cabinet approved the consultation on Tuesday night, and the decision took effect immediately. The Cabinet minutes put the summer enforcement figure at over 100 warnings and fines in four weeks, against the 91 in the committee minutes; the two records do not agree. Members were also told just over half of the roughly 100 fines just issued were paid within 14 days, with others on payment plans and some contested and reviewed by Kent Police. Our report on the decision has the full account. (Sevenoaks District Council, Cabinet minutes, 22 September 2026)

The four to six week consultation will run from October, with residents, local schools and visitors all able to comment. The restrictions and the area covered would stay the same. The full papers, including a map of the order area, are on the council’s committee pages. (Sevenoaks District Council, People & Places Advisory Committee agenda, 10 September 2026)

What it means for you

If the meets affect you, the consultation this autumn will be the formal chance to say so, and this report is the evidence base the council will use. If you drive the A224 corridor, the practical change is the fine: councillors were told the maximum rises to £500 after 26 October 2026, from £100 today. Reports of nuisance vehicles can be made to Kent Police on 101, or through the council’s Community Safety Unit.

The same committee will consider the order at The Vine in Sevenoaks, where the story is the opposite: reports have all but stopped and the order is set to run to 2029. For what police record across the district each month, see our Sevenoaks crime figures.

Sources

Image: The A224 approaching Badgers Mount by David Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph. Graphic by Sevenoaks Online.