Take action on this listed building now, CPRE urges council

It cuts a sorry sight now, but the Blue Boys Inn at Kippings Cross, Matfield, has a rich and much-loved history. Its name reportedly refers to the occasion George IV called by to have two of his horses shod, his coach drivers being clothed in a royal blue livery, while the building has had incarnations over the years as a pub, a restaurant and a café.
And in 2014 another appeared to be on the cards when McDonald’s applied for planning permission to develop a drive-through eatery on the site.
The burgers and fries never arrived, which pleased some local people, but the subsequent demolition of the oldest part of the Grade II-listed building was certainly no cause for celebration.
Now the Blue Boys stands in a desperately tatty – and worsening – state, something that the Tunbridge Wells CPRE committee is determined to reverse.
In a joint letter to the chief executive of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Lady Akenhead, chairman of the Tunbridge Wells CPRE committee, and John Wotton, chairman of CPRE Kent’s historic buildings committee, ask the local authority to take steps to reverse the listed building’s decline.
“More than three years have passed since the owners of the Blue Boys demolished the oldest part of this building during English Heritage’s consultation period (this would not have happened if Tunbridge Wells Borough Council had used its powers to issue a temporary stop notice, as CPRE Kent had requested),” they write.
“Since that time the remaining parts of the building have been open to the elements, protected to some degree by a corrugated iron roof and by tarpaulins, but these are sagging and in tatters.
“CPRE Kent members have previously complained to the council about the poor state of the tarpaulins.
“Following the demolition, the owner applied for planning permission to ‘reconstruct’ and enlarge the building, which was granted in February 2016.
“Seven submissions of details have been made by the applicant to TWBC between early December 2016 and early May 2017, yet only one of these appears to have been decided.
“We write to ask you, as a matter of urgency,
a) To ensure that the council acts to secure the proper preservation of the fabric and prevent further deterioration, by issuing an Urgent Works Notice;
b) To ensure that the submissions of details are decided promptly so that any further delay in the reconstruction of the building is not due to council inaction.”
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
- A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
- There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
- There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.
The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:
- There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
- A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
- Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
- Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.
Concerns about the rush to submit the plan
The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.
As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.
Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.
Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.
The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.
Further information