6 August 2000

Dear Ms Chambers,

Re: Planning Applications: TWB/00/01474 and TWB/00/01480 – Telephone House, Church Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

I received notification that a new application has been made to replace Telephone House in Church Road. Whilst I agree that the existing building is ugly and not in keeping with the surroundings in the conservation area and should be demolished I do not believe that the proposal which has been made will greatly benefit the areas of York Road and Church Road.

In addition to this I am very concerned with the demolition process itself if it is to involve lots of lorries travelling down York Road. I live in the first building on the right hand side as you drive along York Road. We suffer from problems with the traffic as it is, lorries make the building shake and cars who take a long time parking make the windows rattle. I believe that extra lorries will only worsen the situation. We are in the process of renovating the building and are spending a great deal of money on doing so. I do not wish to find we have problems with the structure, once it has been repaired, caused by additional traffic.

One of the main delights of York Road in the summertime is walking along and admiring the trees that run along the boundary of Telephone House. These have taken several years to reach maturity and are now virtually the only trees in York Road. The plan proposes to remove the trees and ‘replacement roadside planting’ will be made. This is shown as trees in the elevation drawings. To ensure that the replacement trees do not alter the existing vistas large trees should be planted. My point is that any trees planted there will need to be several metres away from any building to ensure they do not damage any foundations or brickwork. The plans do not allow for this. Blocks B and D would need to be moved back by at least 3 metres from the trees.

The actual design that has been submitted does not seem to be that different from the original application which was refused. I believe that Crest Homes who state they are ‘award winning developers’ are missing out on an opportunity to design a development which will be looked upon as both sympathetic to the surroundings and innovative in design.

Have any provisions been made to upgrade services (water, gas and electricity) so that surrounding homes are not adversely affected by the new flats?

A lot of mention is made of ‘significant environmental benefits’ in the application. Apart from removing the old building I cannot see any benefits to the residents of York Road.

There will be extra traffic created. The proposal mentions a 70 space car park which is already in existence. This has not been used to its full capacity for many years, one resident who actually used to work in Telephone House about 5 years ago stated that there were only about 20 people at that time and the site has actually been closed and no traffic using it for at least the past year.

The developer is proposing to remove the trees. This will adversely affect the neighbourhood. Any replacement planting is likely to be on a smaller ‘shrub like’ scale as if they have to replace the trees as mentioned above they will have to move the buildings further back.

The developers also place great emphasis on the location of the site, point 5.10 PPG3 (Housing) ‘particularly where public transport can be promoted and where less dependence upon the car can be encouraged’ also 5.33 Local Plan ‘The site’s proximity to the town centre will enable residents to maximise use of the town’s facilities without the need to use their cars. The proposal’s ability to reduce dependence upon the car helping to reduce pollution and improve air quality in the area’ . Why are they then providing 42 car parking spaces? The pollution and air quality in York Road will be worsened by the addition of 42 extra cars as the site is currently empty as mentioned above.

I am also concerned that the new residents will have automatic entitlement to residents parking permits so they will then be adding to the parking problems that already exist. What happens to all of their visitors’ cars? There are only 4 spaces provided from Church Road. What happens if there is more than one car per household? The council has no way of enforcing parking other than by issuing parking tickets. All I see here is an addition to the already overburdened parking in York Road. There are already far more parking permits issued than there are spaces available. I would like to see a proposal to withhold the right to residents parking permits on York Road for the occupants of the new development and if necessary a change to their leases that they may not have more than one car per property where the property is actually entitled to a parking space.

It seems like the developer is putting most of the effort into sorting out Church Road and leaving York Road and its residents to pick up the pieces.

I hope you will take the above points into consideration and reject the application in its current form.

Yours sincerely