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BIG REVEAL: Thousands of people flocked to Tunbridge Wells at the weekend for the annual Christmas lights switch on. For the full story see our eight-page Christmas guide. Pages 19-26
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Council’s garden village plan under threat as inspector voices ‘concerns’ By Richard Williams THE Council’s plans to build more than 2,500 homes in Tudeley are under threat after a government inspector raised concerns over how the housing project will affect traffic in Tonbridge and the amount of Green Belt that will be swallowed up. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) proposed the building of a garden village in the parish of Capel in its Local Plan to help it meet government housebuilding quotas of more than 13,000 new homes in the borough by 2038.
The Plan outlines where houses are to be built over the next 15 years and also proposes a large expansion of Paddock Wood, as well as some new homes in wards such as Pembury and Broadwater.
Controversial But the most controversial aspect of the Plan since it was first drafted in 2019 is the proposed Tudeley garden village, which has given rise to protest group ‘Save Capel’ that was formed to try to block the development. Following an extensive period of public consultation and examination that began
IN P S 8-TMA S RI CH
Wednesday November 23 | 2022
in March 2022, TWBC’s Local Plan, which was backed by all parties at the Town Hall, was sent to the government’s Planning Inspectorate in November 2021. Now, Planning Inspector Matthew Birkinshaw has written back to TWBC voicing his ‘concerns’ over particular aspects of the Local Plan that ‘go to the heart of whether the site and strategy for Tudeley Village is justified and effective’. In particular, he expressed concern about the impact that the garden village would have on traffic in and around
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ALSO INSIDE: Cinema site plans get the go-ahead. Full story page 6-7
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