Proposed development near Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club

All the housing development set out in Esquire Development’s proposal is on land in Wealden district.

Like all councils, Wealden District Council must have a Local Plan which allocates land for different purposes, such as housing. Wealden District Council, like Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has housing targets to meet and is restricted in where they can propose housing development. Wealden District Council is in the process of developing their Local Plan which is currently at Regulation 18 stage – meaning it is still draft.

As part of this process, they currently propose to allocate a number of parcels of land (sites) for development which lie directly on the border with Tunbridge Wells borough and the county of Kent (see Wealden District Council map above).

Esquire Developments is proposing developments in sites FR2 and FR6 of the above map. Additionally, their proposal is to develop the southern portion of the rugby club land (between FR2 and Frant Road). The land between FR6 and Bunny Lane is shown as an ecology area currently within the developer’s proposals. The proposals also include new sports facilities for TWRFC, south of Bunny Lane in Chase Farm.

The area of the existing rugby club land that is in Tunbridge Wells district (the northern part) does not have housing development proposed for it.

Esquire Development’s proposals can be seen on their consultation website.

The current proposals from Esquire Developments (shown in the EIA Screening request) do not cover the allocations FR5, FR7 or FR3. They are currently draft allocations for development by Wealden District Council.

Wealden District Council’s draft Local Plan says:

You can find out more about Wealden District Council’s Local Plan at:

Wealden (Regulation 18) Local Plan Consultation - Wealden District Council - Wealden District Council

The proposed development is in Wealden district and therefore not under the control of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has its own Local Plan (and a new Local Plan which is currently being examined) which allocates a large number of brownfield sites in addition to greenfield sites across the town and borough for housing, and we anticipate that these sites will be developed in the near future.

The allocations that Wealden District Council has provisionally made for the land on Frant Road are part of their work to meet their district's housing targets and not linked to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s Local Plan.

No planning applications have been submitted.

However, an Environmental Screening opinion has been requested by the Esquire Developments from both Councils to inform the process should a planning application come forward. This is essentially asking Wealden District Council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council to decide whether, under the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, the proposals are likely to have a significant effect on the environment, and whether an Environmental Statement (ES) is therefore needed for the development. The Councils can only decide on the necessity for an ES for the elements of the development proposed in their district. Wealden District Council has already decided an ES is not necessary. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is currently considering the details of the screening request relative to the regulations.

The planning applications are expected to be submitted in spring 2025. When the applications are made, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council will decide upon any proposals in its area, and Wealden District Council will decide upon proposals in its area.

Both Councils will be consulted on the application in the other district/borough but will only decide matters in their own area.

Government legislation expects new developments to be sustainable. Among other things, sustainability means that the people living in a development must have access to services (like healthcare, education), transport, employment and leisure facilities. Legislation states that payments need to be made to the planning authority where housing is built, essentially to pay for the extra use that new residents will make of local infrastructure, or to create new appropriate infrastructure. This is organised through Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) or what are known as Section 106 payments.

For these proposed developments, this will be made more complicated by the fact that the housing is in Wealden district however some of the infrastructure demands may be in Tunbridge Wells borough. This is something that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is already considering and discussions are ongoing with staff at Wealden District Council and Kent County Council. Additionally, because the housing proposals for the different parcels of land are likely to come forward separately, there needs to be proper thought given to the requirements of all the potential new residents, short and longer term. This is part of the discussions between the two Councils.

If the developments provisionally allocated in the Wealden Local Plan go ahead and the housing is built, there may be additional demand on existing infrastructure in Tunbridge Wells. Funding will need to be made available through CIL/S106 payments to increase and improve infrastructure provision.

Kent County Council and East Sussex County Council, as the local highways authorities, will need to undertake work to establish how road use will increase and what measures should be put in place to mitigate that and make existing roads better and safer, including Frant Road into Tunbridge Wells.

These are all things which will have to be examined, calculated and negotiated by the relevant authorities. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Kent County Council and the NHS will have to work with Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council to ensure that facilities are provided for new residents, if the developments are built.

Water supply for the higher areas of south Tunbridge Wells has been an issue for some time. South East Water (SEW) which supplies water will be consulted as part of the planning process and may have to make changes to their network to provide water to the new developments. It will be very important that the provision of any new supply does not worsen the supply for current residents. This is something that officers in Tunbridge Wells Borough Council will be scrutinising and working on with Wealden District Council staff and SEW.

There are still sites that have been allocated by Wealden District Council in their Local Plan for development for which there are as yet no formal housing proposals (see Wealden draft site allocations). It is therefore critical that there is an appropriately detailed plan for how this piece of fundamental infrastructure is delivered.

Like all councils, Wealden District Council must have a Local Plan in which they allocate land for different purposes, such as housing. Wealden District Council is in the process of developing their Local Plan. As part of this process, they allocated a number of sites for development (see Wealden District Council map above) which are in Wealden district, but which lie directly on the border with Tunbridge Wells borough.

Esquire Developments has proposed development in FR2 and FR6.

The areas labelled FR5, FR7 andFR3 are also current draft allocations for development in the draft Wealden District Council Local Plan.

No proposals have been made for these areas of land to date.

The proposals put forward by Esquire Developments are for housing development on land in Wealden district. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is only able to decideapplications for the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council area but will be consulted on any proposals in Wealden by Wealden District Council.

As part of the statutory process involved in creating a Local Plan, Wealden District Council consulted Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (as a neighbouring council) on their proposed allocation of land. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s response was a clear and robust objection to the allocations. The detail of the response can be found in the TWBC Representation to the Wealden District Council Consultation on its Regulation 18 Draft Local Plan of our Decision details webpage.

In summary, the objections were that the proposals created an effective expansion of Tunbridge Wells town and that there was a lack of planning for the provision of infrastructure, in the areas of education, health, leisure, retail, transportation, fresh water and sewage services.

These concerns remain valid and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council will continue to raise these issues. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council staff are already working with staff from Wealden District Council to ensure that the process of agreeing infrastructure requirements should work effectively between the Councils and with other agencies.

Currently there are no planning applications in process either in Tunbridge Wells or Wealden for residents to comment on. When applications are submitted, details will be provided here. In the meantime, Wealden District Council planning department can be contacted by email planning@wealden.gov.uk.

Esquire Developments can be contacted at stw@esquiredevelopments.com.