A Conservative councillor has warned that a plan for 3,000 new homes near Capel, which was dropped last year, could be considered again by the council.
Thomas Mobbs, who represents Tunbridge Wells Rural on the Borough Council, told West Kent Radio that the big increase in housebuilding targets imposed recently by the Labour government was a "monumental change".
The government's housebuilding target for Tunbridge Wells Borough has been increased by 62% from July 2026. The yearly target goes up from 678 to 1,098 homes.
Thomas Mobbs explained: "At present the local plan....does not have a 5 year land supply of housing - which will result in a call for sites."
He continued: "At that point anyone with land can put their land forward for housebuilding. That's going to change the dynamic entirely on Tunbridge Wells housebuilding."
You can listen to Thomas Mobbs here being interviewed on the Friday drivetime programme on West Kent Radio presented by the station's News Editor Martin Webber - the housebuilding comments are after 9 mins:
A plan to build a big new town to the east of Tonbridge was abandoned in 2024. It was due to be built on farmland and provide nearly 3,000 new homes (current picture of Capel area shown below).
The so-called Tudeley Garden Village had been fiercely opposed by local residents, who’d formed the Save Capel campaign.
The residents won a breakthrough when a national planning inspector said there wasn’t enough evidence to show that the Tudeley Garden Village scheme was sustainable.
The thousands of new Capel residents would have had to drive along already congested narrow country roads to get to Tonbridge for work or school or to travel to jobs in London.
No new railway station would have been funded by the scheme even though the development would have been adjacent to the main Tonbridge to Paddock Wood railway line.
The Capel scheme would have created a town covering an area of about half the size of Tonbridge (see map above)
On the potential for the Capel housing scheme to be revived to meet compulsory housebuilding targets, he said: "We (the council) are at a point where we could be backed into a corner. It's going to be back on the agenda. Whether it happens or not, I'm not sure."
"What I would be promoting is smaller sustainable development over time, rather than mass development of 4,000 houses. Do it in 200 to 300 house plots over time. That means the infrastructure will cope".
Nationally both Conservative and Labour parties have suggested there should be an increase in the housing stock in West Kent of 20-30 per cent over the next two decades.
Even after the abandonment of the Tudeley Garden Village Plan, the revised Tunbridge Wells Local plan means 1,250 houses are still set to be built in the parish of Capel on land that’s in the green belt.
Also in his interview with West Kent Radio, Thomas Mobbs (below) said that he welcomed the decision to go ahead with Kent County Council elections in May.
And he broadly welcomed the changes to local government. He said the abolition of the Borough Councils was a "good thing" and good councillors could make a West Kent authority covering Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks and Maidstone work well. He thought efficiencies could reduce costs for council tax payers.
He also thought Tunbridge Wells should have a Town council although he thought it shouldn't run major buildings like the Amelia, which would pass to the West Kent Authority.
The next Friday interview live at 6pm on West Kent Radio will be with Jayne Sharratt of Tunbridge Wells Labour Party on Friday 7 March, 2025.
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