Residents of Teynham and Lynsted joined together during and after the Second World War to raise money, via a Welcome Home Fund to provide a playing field for both communities.
Towards the end of the 1950s, the land alongside Frognal Lane – originally a site where brick earth was excavated – was secured for a peppercorn rent. The Welcome Home Fund was spent on fencing and levelling the site and what was to become the playing field was handed over to the Parish Councils of Teynham and Lynsted for them to jointly run it.
Associated Portland Cement (later taken over by Blue Circle) entered into a 29-year lease on the land on April 1st 1960. Subsequently Blue Circle would not agree to renew the lease but allowed the field to be retained by the parish councils on a rolling one year lease.
The parish councils tried to get Swale Borough Council to place a Compulsory Purchase Order on the field and include it in its Local Plan to protect it but to no avail.
The rolling one-year lease arrangement continued when the land was eventually sold to Trenport Investments.
Teynham Parish Council continued with short term leases with the now former landowner Trenport who introduced a 6 month break clause. Teynham PC were advised on 27 February 2023 that the land had been sold to Chartway and Moat in December 2022.
Chartway and Moat then advised us, the lease holders, that we can no longer lease the land after 30th April 2023.
This is in no way the Parish Council supporting the development of this land it is just that our lease was legally terminated by Trenport. TPC never owned this land.
Teynham Parish Council
26 April 2023