Adisham - and the land that would be destroyed by the R1 New Town - is adjacent to the Kent Downs AONB, and is mentioned in the Kent Downs AONB management plan.

It has 12 areas of nationally–registered ancient woodland (dating from 1,600CE or earlier); five of them SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest).

The North Downs Way National Trail, one of sixteen National Trails showcasing Britain’s most beautiful landscapes, passes along the southern edge of the parish with a view over Cooting Downs and the dry river valley towards Wingham, right where the development is proposed.

It also features a specially commissioned bench, the Sedile Francigena.

‘Sedile Francigena is a bench that aspires to extend the perspective for those that use the bench. A bench on a walk is a place to stop and rest and to consider the beautiful setting, but potentially also more. This bench uses its form, scale and a carefully chosen quantity of surface mapping to introduce a sense of scale, an appreciation of the bigger picture’. (Christopher Daniel, Polysemic)

The land also contains unexplored archaeological remains.

CCC’s own ‘Landscape Character Assessment & Biodiversity Appraisal’ shows that R1 and R20 are directly contrary to the conclusions and recommendations – ‘the key sensitivities & values’; also with ‘Landscape Guidelines and Key Habitat Opportunities’ – ‘Landscape Management & Development Management’.

The section ‘Adisham Arable Downland’ emphasises the importance of the land at Cooting (and at Womenswold) as sharing similar character to the adjacent AONB, nationally-designated on the basis that the landscape is equivalent in quality to that of a national park).