Residents fear an “oasis of calm” in a busy town will be lost to housing developers.
Three acres of open space in Riddles Road, Sittingbourne are under threat after being used by the community for at least the last 75 years.
Local people use the patch of land, which was once part of a grammar school, to walk their dogs, and children play sports and ride their bikes there in safety.
But landowner Kent County Council (KCC) has decided to sell the plot, with fears it will be lost to yet more housing in the area.
Resident Ben Conway only discovered the KCC plan this week and has resolved to explore ways to save the land from the bulldozer, including village green status which would give it protection from development.
He said: “This is the last little oasis of calm in the area, the last piece of green space. We want to keep it as it is but KCC plans to sell it off, presumably to the highest bidder.
“The communication from the council has been totally non-existent. I knocked 150 doors the other evening and only about half a dozen knew anything about it.
“Nobody seems to know exactly when people started using the field but they always have for many decades.
“We have two big developments on the doorstep at present, so we need to protect this green space for local people and their children.”
Retired Border Force officer Tony Gray, 70, who has lived in the area for three decades, said: “I was shocked because I didn’t know anything about it.
“This field has been here probably for 70 or 80 years and is in the council’s local plan as a green space for use by the public. We have got so much house-building going on that we are becoming a bit of a concrete jungle - what will happen to the wildlife if it gets pushed out?”
Guy Banister, a 38-year-old IT worker, said: “The way that this has been done shows great disdain for the residents of the area. You wouldn’t fit that many houses into this area but property developers want to make money and that’s all they care about.”
Sittingbourne Labour MP Kevin McKenna said KCC should not be selling off the town’s assets when the council is in the process of abolishing itself under local government reorganisation (LGR).
He said his team is putting together “a letter of questions” ahead of the September 24 public consultation deadline.
Mr McKenna said: “I need to know what is going. I would make the argument that KCC should not be selling Sittingbourne assets before the new councils come. KCC has no stake in the future of that site.”
The MP said that seeking village green status for the field is “definitely worth exploring”.
The site lies opposite allotments which are adjacent to the Ufton Court Farm housing development where nearly 300 homes are currently being built.
The KCC notice online states that the council “intends to make a disposal of open space land at Riddles Road, Borden…this land is referred to in this notice as the Open Space Land".
Village green status is a legal designation in the UK protecting open land but local campaigners will have to prove the site has been used for lawful sports and pastimes for at least 20 years.
A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesman said: "We are presently inviting comments on the proposed disposal of open space land at Riddles Road in Borden.
"The land was declared surplus in July 2026, meaning KCC has no operational use for the land but no decision has yet been made to dispose of the site, pending the outcome to the notice.
"People have until midday on 24 September 2026 to register their comments through the Open Space Notice via https://letstalk.kent.gov.uk/disposal-of-land-at-riddles-road."
Cash-strapped KCC has been selling off assets, including buildings, land and artworks to raise cash for the authority’s coffers.
The council, along with the other 13 local authorities in Kent, will cease to exist after 2028 when they effectively abolish themselves to make way for four new, large unitary bodies.
Swale council falls into the mid-Kent area which also takes in Ashford, Folkestone and Hythe.
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