The features of this historic road and also of the parallel Church Road were ruined by the building of a large office block, Syncordia House, completed in 1965. The residents of this office were British Telecom.

No one would disagree that this office building has been an eye sore on the historic nature of this conservation area and dominated the skyline of Tunbridge Wells in a detrimental way since it was built. The opportunity therefore to replace Syncordia House with a development in keeping with the traditions, culture and very fabric of Royal Tunbridge Wells is an exciting one.

Residents in York Road were irritated when the planning application from Crest Homes/Southgate Developments was refused by TWBC and then replaced with a very similar second application.
To present the second set of plans in this format - what a waste of time! The plans proposed by Crest Homes are quite simply putting commercial factors ahead of environmental and historical issues.

The site is critical to the heart of Tunbridge Wells. A mistake now, would cost the town for hundreds of years because it would badly impact on the architectural make up of the town. Residents of York Road feel strongly that the development must be "right". "Right" in terms of understanding the historical perspective of the town and "right" in terms of appreciating the environmental issues that effect a town in the 21st Century. Current plans ignore these factors.

The development is a significant one and will have considerable impact upon the day to day lives of York Road residents. The whole planning process lacks consultation with local residents. Their suggestions and comments have simply been ignored by developers, architects and Council Officers alike.

For example parking and traffic problems must be addressed. Surveys to confirm that utility companies can cope with extra demand have to be done before an application is filed.

Residents are determined that the density of the development should not exceed current Government guidelines in the proposed excessive way. In the preparation of the Urban White Paper Lord Rogers came up with the notion of increasing building density in urban areas - BUT he was talking about city centres which need regenerating.
Unfortunately, developers have interpreted this theory on a much wider basis. It never seems to occur to them that this might be unfair to people who have bought their way into an area because of a particular ambience.
York Road in the town centre of Tunbridge Wells cannot take more and does not need regeneration. The surrounding density due to the many flat conversions in the 80s has caused already many problems.
A development with lower density, say around 25 units in total, would allow for an inspired design with proper amenities. A development with 43 flats including a 20% social housing content on 3/4 acre is just town cramming and example of bad planning. as it would provide affordable housing on the most expensive building plot in town .