Crest Homes / BT's decision to go into appeal

Council officers, having recommended the development, will defend the Councillors' decision (to reject officers' recommendation).

Re: Redevelopment of Telephone House, Church Road, Tunbridge Wells.

Crest Homes and BT did not accept the decision of the elected councillors to go back to the drawing board and create something more acceptable than the unsophisticated clutter they have presented us twice already.
They appealed against the refusal of their planning application.

The decision-making inspector will be confronted with the following facts:

• In December 99, the Architects Flanagan and Briscoe, TW, filed a planning application on behalf of the developers, convinced that letters and preconsultations with Planning Officers confirmed that the proposal would be acceptable.

• The Manager of the Planning Department turned the application down. The residents were content with the grounds for refusal he had given.
  They hoped that the developers would come up now with a really different idea.

• The second application was not an improvement. It was turned down unanimously by the members of the Western Area Planning Committee against the advice of their officers, who never made a secret of their sympathy towards the new plans.

• Now, the defence for the appeal is left to the officers of TWBC. This means that the officers should convince the inspector that they now think differently, and will have to present a case they supported fullheartedly, as unacceptable.

We, the residents, have to sit once more on the sidelines and hope that we can convince the Planning Inspectorate that local people know best the area they live in.
Planning decisions of such an impact should not be without their input.

Barbara Clarke
York Road, Tunbridge Wells