The Borough of Tunbridge Wells Entry Signs — proposal
23 December 2008
On 6 January 2009 (6.15pm) - at the next meeting of the Environment, Safer and Stronger Communities Select Committee (in Committee Room A at the Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells) the Borough Entry Signs will be discussed.
Overview & Scrutiny Meetings are open to the public.
Royal Tunbridge Wells Town Forum's chairman invited to a small informal gathering to catch up with some of the people who helped during the year to influence the direction the town Royal Tunbridge Wells will be moving.
Daniel Bech gave a short humorous presentation on what was important to the RTW TF during the various months in 2008:
'the battle over the commons', Cinema grot spot, empty supermarket at the station, LDF planning, empty houses, Lithuanian Ambassador's visit, art, aims & objectives of the RTW TF, intl. women's day, grot spot Medway Depot, recycling, dog mess in town, urban parishing, front gardens, streetscape, powerful people in TW, 'love where we live' campaign, 'green issues', tourist info kiosk, Castle Ward Community Forum Hastings, Camden Road, Twinning town Wiesbaden visit, bus gate, cultural event 'Mela' in Calverley Park, South East Water & infrastructure, cycle lanes proposals, Google in RTW, KCC Highways incompetence, planned Dudley Road improvements, satellite dishes clutter in Conservation Areas, consultations re: 'planning for town centres' and 'planning applications' , renewal of town entry signs, public toilets, pigeon pest in town, credit crunch impact, possible attempts to develop on the Common, empty town centre car parks, cars overspilling on town centre residential roads, lantern parade.
Members' representatives and ward Councillors were joined by several leading officers and the Director of Development; Cabinet members and the Leader of the Council, Roy Bullock, came along to recognise the Town Forum's work in 2008.
Urban Parishing
The Role of the RTW Town Forum
12 December 2008
TWBC's Corporate Services Select Committee conducted a review into urban parishing. Members considered the legal process for establishing a parish council, the advantages and
disadvantages of parish councils, special expenses, and the role of the Town Forum as the current representatives for the urban communities of Tunbridge Wells. The Committee’s report was presented to the TWBC Cabinet on 2 December.
The Chief Executive was asked to bring forward a report on how
(a) new forms of local Councils might be publicised
(b) support for community groups/individuals be identified who wish to create parish councils
(c) the role of the RTW Town Forum - as representatives of the urban area - be reviewed,
in liasion with the Town Forum, to see if this is effective and make improvements as appropriate;
such improvements might include greater involvement of young people and ensuring that communication happened downwards.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has set up a regeneration partnership with John Laing.
The council will use the joint venture to regenerate Royal Tunbridge Wells, Cranbrook, Paddock Wood and Southborough and John Laing will also provide masterplanning services for the four towns. The 50/50 partnership, the Tunbridge Wells Regeneration Company Limited, will last for (an initial) 10 years and will see the council and John Laing working together to bring forward a variety of schemes by redeveloping or regenerating assets currently within the council's portfolio.
Upon completion each development will either be sold, or retained within the partnership to provide an income. All profits will be shared 50/50 between the council and John Laing.
The Directors representing the Council are: Cllrs Peter Davies, Glenn Hall, David Jukes together with Robert Cottrill (Director of Development and Planning).
Tunbridge Wells Tourist Information Centre (TIC)
Locations in Royal Tunbridge Wells
2 December 2008
A report from the Local Economy and Housing Select Committeee was considered at the TWBC Cabinet Meeting 2 December 2008, but it was felt that more information was needed before any decisions could be made; this included more details on:
"kiosks", standards needed for the "i" logo, more work on how the Gateway might function for tourist information, the amount of tourism revenue generated by the TIC, an updated business plan, how the TIC might break even in 2 years, how the service might become a franchise or externalised.
Royal Tunbridge Wells Town Entry Signs — Replacements
2 December 2008
Since 2005 the town entry signs have been listed in the Grot Spot Register. At the Town Forum meeting on 30 October the replacement town entry signs for Royal Tunbridge Wells (for 2009: - Royal prefix Centenary - 20th Anniversary of the Twinning with Wiesbaden, Germany) were agreed by all members.
The design of the replacement Town Entry Signs was approved at the TWBC Cabinet Meeting 2 December 2008. The estimated cost, including installation is £12,000 and the timing of implementation is to be agreed with Finance Officers.
Changing UK
Community Life in Britain has weakened substantially over the past 30 years
1 December 2008
Analysis of census data reveals how neighbourhoods in every part of the UK have become more socially fragmented. The study assesses the health of a community by looking at
how rooted people are in their neighbourhood.
The causes of social fragmentation are linked to mobility. Increased wealth and improved access to transport has made it easier for people to move for work, for retirement, for schools, for a new life. The decline in marriage, increasing divorce, immigration and a growing student population are also said to be contributory factors. — BBC News Changing Community Life in Britain
Infrastructure - Water mains renewal for Tunbridge Wells
Update - from 25 June and 2 Nov 2008
1 December 2008
South East Water has been laying a new 1 km long section of water main on the A26, London Road, Southborough, to replace a 40-year-old plastic main. Contractor Morgan Est has now finished installing this section of water main which forms a strategic part of the underground pipe network and helps supply some 15,000 customers in the Tunbridge Wells area.
Plan for a cycle network in Royal Tunbridge Wells
27 November 2008
A plan to enable children to cycle safely to school and to ease A26 queues has been drawn up by Royal Tunbridge Wells residents. As cycle lanes are shared with buses, schools say, they cannot encourage pupils to cycle; around 8,000 pupils travel daily to schools on the congested St John's Road. Running parallel to Reynolds Lane, a cycle network would by-pass the A26 and would cut across the back of school playing fields, the meadow land at St John's Recreation Ground and behind St John's Sports Centre.
The proposal has been submitted to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council as a response to the Air Quality Management Consultation (Aug - 31 Oct 2008); Cllr Tracy Moore (St John's) will meet with Kent County Council, which would fund the network .
Credit Crunch - Potential Impact on Kent Agreement 2 Targets
13 November 2008
In Royal Tunbridge Wells the Local Area Agreement (LAA) is a document known as "The Kent Agreement 2" (KA2). It includes key targets agreed jointly between the Kent Partners (including Tunbridge Wells Borough Council) and the government. Partners are addressing a range of issues which aim to have economic development and sustainable communities.
Credit Crunch - short/medium term impact
Cinema Site - "Building on the Ritz"
12 November 2008
Royal Tunbridge Wells' top grot spot will finally be redeveloped after Councillors of the Western Area Planning Committee approved plans and drawings by applicant Rydell Properties TODAY.
The derelict former ABC cinema in Mount Pleasant Road and neighbouring shops will be demolished and will make way for a multi-million pound retail, office and hotel complex.
Roy Bullock, Leader of the Council, said: "At long last this major grot spot will over the next few years disappear from the horizon and the town centre will be vastly improved."
Building work, replacements and repairs to your home
10 November 2008
Certain types of building work that will need to be notified to your Local Authority Building Control unless the work is carried out by an Competent Persons Scheme (CPS) installer who is registered with the right Competent Persons Scheme.
Communities & Local Government Leaflet: Building Control
Building for Life
'Delivering great places to live': 20 questions you need to answer
7 November 2008
This new fully updated edition explains the 20 criteria used for the Building for Life standard;
it provides a valuable tool to assess design quality in new housing schemes.
Developers can use the 20 questions that go with them as a basis for writing development briefs, helping them to speed up planning approvals and win local community support.
Local authorities can use them to demand high standards of design.
QUESTIONS relating to:
Environment&Community - Character - Streets, Parking, Pedestrianisation - Design&Construction
CABE Guide: Building for Life
Overview & Scrutiny e-bulletin
November 2008
TWBC Scrutiny Team presents the e-bulletin's fourth edition of the year 2008/2009 with updates on the upcoming November meetings for the three Select Committees.
"We would like to encourage people to be active in Scrutiny and welcome Officers, Members (Councillors) and the public to give us your views on topics to be discussed, the major reviews or any other issues that people would like raised." - Angela Woodhouse, Kat Hicks, Laurence Doig
TWBC Overview & Scrutiny e-bulletin - Nov. 2008
Infrastructure - Water mains renewal for Tunbridge Wells
Update - from 25 June 2008
2 November 2008
South East Water is currently laying a new 1 km long section of water main in London Road, Southborough (A26), to secure water supplies to 15,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells.
"We have now virtually completed laying the entire 1km section of water main and so are in the final stages of this part of the project. - As of Sunday 2 November 2008 we will be carrying out some Sunday working (limited from 09:00 to 17:00) to ensure the pipe testing and chlorination of the new main and additional connection works can be completed by 28 November 2008."
Royal Tunbridge Wells Town Entry Signs — Replacements
30 October 2008
Since 2005 the town entry signs have been listed in the Grot Spot Register. At the Town Forum meeting on 30 October the replacement town entry signs for Royal Tunbridge Wells (for 2009: - Royal prefix Centenary - 20th Anniversary of the Twinning with Wiesbaden, Germany) were agreed by all members.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council - Customer Services Access (CSA)
28 October 2008
The new Tunbridge Wells Gateway at 8 Grosvenor Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells
(RVP / Royal Victoria Place) will open on 3 November 2008.
The Town Hall will be closed to the public from Monday 3 November when all Council services will be delivered from the new Tunbridge Wells Gateway.
Initially open from Monday to Saturday:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 6.30pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
get residents parking permits and visitors parking permits
get parking dispensation notices for contractors (e.g. builders, plumbers etc)
report issues with food hygiene or noise nuisances
report grot spots in the street scene
get access to many other Council and Partner Services (including Kent County Council)
Announcement of Insolvency of John Jarvis Ltd, Builders (Goods Station Road / Albert Street)
13 October 2008
John Jarvis Ltd (founded in 1883) and Tonbridge sister company, plasterers Cartwrights Ltd, have gone into insolvency and made 35 people redundant.
The site has been on the Town Forum's Grot Spot Register since 2005 and was part of the submission to the Strategic Housing Land Availabilty Assessment (SHLAA) in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
SHLAA submission
The Council's handling of former Cinema site development
The "Private Accredited Letting Scheme"
Report: "Borough wide survey" in spring 2008
A new online access guide for the Borough
Tunbridge Wells Gateway to be opened on Monday 3 November 2008
Report: "International Day of Older Persons" on Wednesday 1 October 2008
Update: "Tunbridge Wells Together" - the Local Strategic Partnership;
Update: Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)
(Self-assessment and case studies "I made a difference!" submitted to the Audit Commission)
TWBC submitted the CPA Self-assessment to the Audit Commission on 26 September 2008.
This self-assessment illustrates TWBC's journey since it was found to be a ‘weak’ Council in 2004.
TWBC Scrutiny Team presents the e-bulletin's third edition of the year 2008/2009 with updates on the upcoming October meetings for the three Select Committees.
"We would like to encourage people to be active in Scrutiny and welcome Officers, Members (Councillors) and the public to give us your views on topics to be discussed, the major reviews or any other issues that people would like raised." - Angela Woodhouse, Kat Hicks, Laurence Doig
TWBC Overview & Scrutiny e-bulletin - Oct. 2008
Rejuvenation Strategy for the Pantiles
Future improvements and developments
2 October 2008
A Rejuvenation Strategy for the Pantiles has been prepared by the new owners of the Commons and the Pantiles, Targetfollow, to establish a vision and future plan for the Pantiles area. The heritage asset will be preserved or enhanced in accordance with PPG15 (Planning and the Historic Environment), Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and the draft Heritage Protection Bill.
It is envisaged that consultation on the strategy will comprise a public exhibition and stakeholder meetings (e.g RTW Town Forum, Commons Conservators).
Different approaches to constructing a driveway or other paved area
1 October 2008
The permitted development rights that allow householders to pave their front garden for hardstanding without planning permission have changed.
Planning permission is now required to lay traditional impermeable driveways that allow uncontrolled runoff of rainwater from front gardens onto roads, because this can contribute to flooding and pollution of watercourses.
No planning permission is required if a new driveway or parking area is constructed using permeable surfaces such as permeable concrete block paving (laid with gaps between blocks), porous asphalt or gravel, or if the water is otherwise able to soak into the ground.
The new rules will also apply where existing hardstandings are being replaced and hard surfaces exceed 5 square metres in area.
Panter Hudspith Architects' presentation materials for the former Cinema Site / Ritz Building (Mount Pleasant Road / Church Road) in the town centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells
- at the RTW Town Forum presentation on Thursday 25 September 2008 :
New Hotel/Office and Retail Development (Views, Model)
Detailed designs (hotel, offices, shops) for the site Mount Pleasant / Church Road
were shown during the Exhibition 10-13 September 2008 -
Model "Building on the Ritz".
In February 2008 Panter Hudspith Architects, the winner of the design competition for the "Cinema GROT SPOT", presented their Concept Design.
Dudley Road Improvement Project
29 September 2008
One of the most densely populated roads in the town centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells is the subject of a special improvements project that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is leading. Dudley Road, that links the Opera House to the Common, has 175 separate homes.
The Council's Housing Renewal Team and the Environment and Street Scene Team aim to improve housing conditions in the private rented properties as well as improve the appearance of the area.
The Council's Conservation Officer is involved in looking at improvements to the exterior of the properties to enhance the appearance and protect the historical value of some of the features.
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) of the Borough Council
undertaken by the Audit Commission
26 September 2008
The corporate assessment will look at the way in which the council conducts its business, its ambition for the community, the way in which it works with partners, its capacity to improve, its leadership, how accessible it is, its effectiveness and its community leadership role.
The Audit Commission will use the council's own self-assessment as a starting point.
(TWBC's self-assessment was submitted on 26 September 2008).
From 4 September 2008 to 1 October 2008 the Audit Commission gathered views of a wider range of stakeholders via the "corporate assessment survey".
On 20 October 2008 the Audit Commission will during the inspection be talking to a number of partners, officers and members (initial early impressions meeting and tour of the borough).
Further steps relating to the inspection will be:
- On-site inspection 10-14 November 2008
- Draft report received within 10 days to comment 16 January 2009
- Pre-publication report 13 February 2009
- Report and CPA category publication 17 March 2009
Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) commissioned ENCAMS (Environmental Campaigns), who run the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign, to undertake an independent survey of local environmental issues during 2006 to 2008.
In Tunbridge Wells the Local Environment Survey was carried out in 2006/2007.
. . . for the benefit of motorists and pedestrians alike
7 September 2008
For most people, the term ‘shared space’ probably relates to someone standing too close, but for Kent Highway Services, it is an innovative new street design approach for town centres. It has been tried and tested elsewhere, especially in continental Europe, and KCC just installed a shared space area in Ashford as part of the town’s transformation.
So what is a ‘shared space’? — It is all about getting a fairer balance between motorists and other street users. It works by changing the whole character of a street or area and reducing traffic speeds down to 20mph. — www.kentnews.co.uk
Annual Monitoring Report Guidance for Planning Authorities
Housing Audit
3 September 2008
Local authorities are being urged to assess the design quality of all new housing schemes against "Building for Life" standards after they were endorsed by government; each housing scheme will be assessed against the 20 criteria. - CABE's housing audit revealed that the design quality of 82% of new homes was not good enough.
To improve the design of new housing, quality has to be measured alongside density, tenure mix and housing completions in the annual monitoring returns that all authorities make to central government. The new government guidance means there will in effect be a rolling housing audit.
An improved public realm can play a significant role in curbing climate change impacts by reducing urban temperatures and improving connections between green infrastructure.
"Urban green space in its many forms - private back gardens, woodlands, allotments, verges, public parks and gardens together with rivers and other bodies of water - represents a significant percentage of the total urban area. It reacts very differently to environmental conditions compared with hard and impermeable man-made structures and surfaces. . . . . .
The gradual erosion of green infrastructure, from concreting over front gardens to create parking spaces through to the sale of school playing fields and public spaces, needs to stop - and quickly."
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council - Customer Services Access (CSA)
21 August 2008
In 2007 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council purchased 8 Grosvenor Road in the town centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells (Five Ways); the building will be used to provide Council, Kent County Council and Community Services under one roof.
Gateway UPDATE
Designing streets for people - not traffic
Civilised streets
August 2008
Most streets in this country are failing pedestrians, and need to become destinations again, and not simply ways of getting traffic from A to B.
Radical new thinking in urban street design may point the way forward.
Civilised streets, a report from CABE, sets out the opportunities and challenges of new design approaches; it argues that the car still dominates and our streets will only become more civilised places if the needs of pedestrians are prioritised over cars.
Why should Third Sector organisations (TSO) - the Royal Tunbridge Wells Town Forum - and Individuals get involved in LAAs?
Local area agreements (LAAs) are three-year agreements, based on the local sustainable community strategy, setting out the priorities for a local area, as agreed between central government and the local area. LAAs are about "place-shaping", - "the creative use of powers and influence to promote the general well-being of a community and its citizens".
