Green Belt sites saved

Inspector’s Initial Findings reveal impact made by CPRE Kent and other local action groups

The Inspector’s Initial Findings on the Tunbridge Wells Local Plan reveal the impact made by CPRE Kent and other local action groups.

Margaret Borland, who chaired our district committee until after the hearings were completed, worked tirelessly on our written submissions, ably supported throughout by our planner, Julie Davies, who was our spokesperson at the hearings, and assisted by other members of the district committee and planning team.

We were the only organisation to look at the Plan as a whole, rather than focusing on individual, local issues, and to be represented at all the hearing sessions.

By far the most significant aspect of the Plan that the inspector has called into question is the proposed Tudeley Village, a new town of up to 2,500 homes on greenfield land in Capel parish, between Tonbridge and Paddock Wood, beside the railway but with no station serving it and all in the Green Belt.

Consistent with arguments that we and the Save Capel group advanced, the inspector found that the exceptional circumstances that would permit the site to be removed from the Green Belt had not been established by the council.

His principal reasons were that a comprehensive review of alternatives had not been conducted, that it would increase road traffic and congestion and that the deliverability of the development within the Plan period was doubtful.

The inspector’s suggestion that the council should consider proceeding with the Plan without Tudeley Village and without necessarily allocating additional sites for housing implies a more efficient use of land allocated for development through higher densities, something that we had consistently advocated.

The inspector also raised questions about the major expansion proposed for Paddock Wood, both in the Green Belt and on the floodplain of the Medway, issues we had raised in our submissions.

We were also successful in protecting the Green Belt at two sites, Colebrooke House in Tunbridge Wells and Mabledon House in Southborough.

The Plan proposed that Colbrooke House be excluded from the Green Belt to safeguard it for future employment but for no specific use. The inspector found this to be unjustified.

The Plan allocates Mabledon House for a luxury hotel, with substantial new buildings, but without removing it from the Green Belt. The inspector made clear that such new buildings could well be inappropriate development in the Green Belt and the council is now proposing some amendments to this policy, consistent with our suggestions.

Inevitably, we have not, at this stage, achieved all that we would have wished for in relation to the Plan, which still contains allocations of greenfield land for development in the Green Belt and the AONB that we consider to be inappropriate, but we can draw satisfaction from the considerable impact our submissions have made on the future development of Tunbridge Wells borough.

Thursday, November 24, 2022