Local Plan Consultations

Public consultation on Tunbridge Wells Local Plan Main Modifications

Consultation dates: 17 March 2025 to 30 April 2025

What is the Main Modifications consultation about?

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council submitted its emerging Local Plan for Examination in November 2021, since when an independent Planning Inspector has been examining the Plan on behalf of the Secretary of State.

Stage 1 and 2 Hearing Sessions took place in 2022, and Stage 3 Hearing Sessions were held in June and July 2024, followed by a Public Consultation in September – October on a suite of new evidence base documents. A final Hearing Session was held in November 2024.

The council is now consulting on proposed ‘Main Modifications’ to the Local Plan, these being needed to make the Plan ‘Sound’ and allowing Tunbridge Wells Borough Council to proceed to adopt the new Local Plan in due course. The proposed ‘Main Modifications’ are accompanied by a Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulations Assessment and other supporting consultation documents (click on Consultation Documents box below).

For more information about the Local Plan examination, please head to the council’s Examination of the Local Plan and latest news webpage.

When is the consultation taking place?

The consultation period runs from Monday 17 March until midnight on Wednesday 30 April 2025, during which time representations may be made. Representations must be made in writing as set out below (under heading ‘How can I respond?’) and received within the consultation period,

What is being consulted on?

The consultation invites comments on the following documents:

These supporting documents are available for background information only and are not open for comment:

How can I respond?

Please refer to the council’s Making Representations Guidance Note for further information on how to complete the representation form.

Representations can be made:

Online

The preferred method for submitting comments is online using our planning portal. Please note that you do not need an account to comment through the portal, and if you leave the planning portal page before finalising your comments, it will save what you have written so far.

Go to consultation

By email

A representation form can be downloaded and submitted by email to localplan@tunbridgewells.gov.uk.

By Post

You can print and complete a representation form and send it to us at:

Planning Policy
Planning Services
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN1 1RS

If you have any queries or need help, please email localplan@tunbridgewells.gov.uk or telephone 01892 554056.

Where can I view the consultation documents?

Online

The consultation documents can be viewed using the links above (What is being Consulted on?) or on the consultation portal.

Paper copies can be made available upon request, for those unable to view documents online or unable to attend a library or parish council office.

Paper Copies

The consultation documents (paper copies) are available for public inspection during the consultation period (Monday 17 March until midnight on Wednesday 30 April 2025) at:

• The Amelia Scott, Mount Pleasant Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1AW, which is open from 9am-6pm (Monday to Wednesday and on Friday), 9am to 8pm on Thursday, 9am to 5pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on a Sunday (Telephone 01892 526121).
• All Parish and Town Council Offices - please find locations and contacts on our Parish and Town Councils webpage.
• All libraries across Tunbridge Wells borough - please find locations and opening times on our libraries webpage.

What is the scope of this public consultation?

The public consultation is a statutory consultation being undertaken as part of the examination process.

The scope of the consultation is focussed on the council’s proposed Main Modifications, the accompanying Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulations Assessment and Schedule of proposed Map Changes.

Any representations should address whether the proposed Main Modifications make the Local Plan legally compliant and sound.

To assist the Inspector, representations made can suggest alternative or additional modifications to the council’s proposed Main Modifications to make the emerging Local Plan sound and legally compliant.

Can I comment on other parts of the Plan that are not Main Modification?

No. Representations can only be made on the proposed Main Modifications to the Local Plan, not the full draft Plan as submitted for Examination in November 2021. The consultation is therefore not an opportunity to repeat or raise further representations about other aspects of the Local Plan or to seek further changes to it.

For clarity, the documents on which people are able to comment are:

Consultation Documents

• Schedule of proposed ‘Main Modifications’
• Schedule of proposed Map Changes (relating to changes to the Policies Map/Inset Maps)
• Sustainability Appraisal (Part 2)
• Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) (Part 2)

Supporting Documents

• Pre-Submission Local Plan
• Updated Trajectory (following publication of December 2024 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF))
• Updated Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP)
• Schedule of proposed ‘Additional Modifications’
• Local Plan Policies Map
• Local Plan Inset Maps

Comments on the ‘supporting’ documents (above) cannot be made as part of the Main Modifications consultation. This includes the updated Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) which reflects the infrastructure set out in the Main Modifications Schedule, which is the focus of this consultation. Any proposed changes to infrastructure to support the revised development strategy (discussed at the Stage 3 Hearing Sessions in 2024) are included in the Main Modifications Schedule on which comments are invited.

The Pre-Submission Local Plan is provided to aide consideration of the proposed Main Modifications, along with an updated Policies Map and associated Inset Maps, which reflect the proposed changes set out in the consultation document ‘Schedule of Proposed Map Changes’. Comments on changes to the Policies Map/Inset Maps are invited via the ‘Schedule of Proposed Map Changes’.

An updated housing trajectory has been published as a supporting document, prepared following the publication of the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in December last year. Finally, the consultation is supported by a ‘Schedule of Additional Modifications’ which lists other minor changes (such as typos and minor points of clarification or update), the Council proposes to make to the Local Plan.

These supporting documents do not relate to matters of legal compliance or soundness which are the key tests against which the ‘Schedule of Main Modifications’ should be considered.

Guidance

Please refer to the council’s Statement of Representation Procedure and Making Representations Guidance Note for further information and guidance.

Privacy Notice

• Public consultation on Tunbridge Wells Local Plan Main Modifications - Privacy Notice

Consultation Documents