Two years ago, almost to the day, the residents of Capel Parish were given the devastating news by the Head of Planning Services at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, that 4,300 houses were being planned to be built in Capel as part of their Draft Local Plan. As a result, SaveCapel was formed as an action group to fight these grotesque plans and our efforts, generated an unprecedented response to the Reg18 process which took place in late 2019. We take this opportunity to thank those who helped and supported us at Reg18 which produced such fantastic results and responses.
Fast forward to March this year when the Reg19 Pre-Submission Local Plan was published which effectively ignored all comments made by the community at Reg18. Furthermore, Capel Parish was further “punished” by having an additional 700 houses added in the current iteration of the Local Plan.
The SaveCapel Executive, supported by teams of enthusiastic volunteers, have been working tirelessly, trawling through planning documents and policies to make a robust case against the disproportionate number of houses proposed for Capel. This has culminated in the production of detailed reports which form the basis of our Reg19 response which has been submitted by our Barrister.
The SaveCapel Executive wishes to publicly thank the many team members who have sacrificed enormous amounts of their spare time to help bring us to “base camp”, submission of our Reg19 response, on our climb to the summit of our mountain. The next stage of our climb is going to be very tough, but SaveCapel is committed to reaching the summit and with continued help and support we believe our goal can be reached.
Base camp is secured but there is still a mountain to climb
In-depth investigations and research have enabled SaveCapel to make a robust response with team generated reports supported by those made by experts funded by your generous donations. View these reports online.
On behalf of you all, the Save Capel Executive would like to give a special vote of thanks to some of our Team Members:
Charlie Keeling (Exec Link/Lead), Jeff Fenton, Robert Assirati, Don Foreman, Will Forster
Heritage:
Maggie Fenton (Exec Link/Lead), Katie Lee-Amies, Lorna Veale, Rebecca Richmond, Andy Palmer, Lynne Assirati, Kaye Palmer, Zoe Burnett, (and with grateful thanks to Don Foreman of the Capel History Society)
Jan Mueller (Exec Link/Lead), Mark Colyer, Sarah Jones, Andy Rankine, Konrad Legg, Nick Gandon, Andrew Stanley, Nigel Lambert, Petrina Lambert, Nigel Tansley.
Environment/Biodiversity:
Maggie Fenton (Exec Link) Jose Twynam, (Lead), Dave Lovell, John & Margaret Nimmo, Lee Prebble, Sharon Hunt, Will Malpas, David Carey, David Evans, Alaric Smith, (with many thanks to Bernice Catt)
We would also like to thank those Tonbridge & Malling Borough Councillors who spoke up to support our cause at the recent extraordinary meeting of their Transport & Planning Cabinet Advisory Board meeting. Also, Tom Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbridge & Malling, for putting in a robust Reg19 response to TWBC. A number of TMBC Councillors also drafted strong responses supporting our campaign in the Reg19 process.
Last but not least a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us by buying merchandise, tea, attending functions and making donations both large and small, it has enabled us to engage the best professional expertise to underpin our case.
TWBC will now be reviewing all responses to the Consultation and making a final decision on whether to submit to the Secretary of State. We will be publishing details of the next steps in the process, in our next newsletter. We look forward to meeting up with everyone at some fundraising events when the Covid restrictions ease to allow a more relaxed personal contact and mixing environment.
