Free news coverage of Southborough and Tunbridge Wells in Kent in England – 100,000 page views since 2016!
The current Southborough Hub plans are set to be approved at a Tunbridge Wells planning committee meeting on Wednesday 9th November amid a new warning that such a decision would signal the end of high quality theatre in town. The project team at Kent County Council and Southborough Town Council have pushed ahead with their …
Continue reading Key Planning Decision Next Week as Hub Project Team Ignore Petition
The electronic petition that was started a week ago under the title "Southborough Deserves Better" calling for the current Hub designs to be scrapped reached 1,000 supporters on Sunday, only a week after its launch. The evidence of continuing dissatisfaction with the Southborough Town Council project prompted the Priest in Charge at St Thomas's Church …
Tunbridge Wells Planning officials have agreed that the heritage value of the Royal Victoria Hall should be taken into account in the forthcoming decision on whether to demolish it - a decision likely to welcomed by groups hoping to save the building. Previously the Borough Council did not have the ability to give any weight to the …
Continue reading “Heritage Asset” Status awarded to Royal Victoria Hall – But Only Just
The Secretary of the football club that uses Southborough's Ridgewaye fields has said that the latest hub development plans for the area are "very very disappointing." Club Secretary Colin Niccolls said that trust between the soccer club and the Hub project team "has evaporated" and he has been "very frustrated" by the way the facilities …
Continue reading Soccer Club on Ridgewaye says Trust in Hub Project Team “Has Evaporated”
The long awaited verdict from the planners at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council on whether to approve the demolition of the 116 year old Royal Victoria Hall and its replacement with the new Southborough Hub appears to have been delayed again. The agenda for this month's Planning Committee (next Wednesday 19th October) doesn't include a vote …
As of Sunday 9th October, I have calculated that there were 29 supporters and 158 opponents of the Hub planning application from named individuals or organisations visible on the Tunbridge Wells planning website. There was one neutral comment. This means 84 per cent of comments were opposed. The people of Southborough now wait to see …
Continue reading 84% of Planning Comments Still Oppose Hub Plans
In an intervention that has angered members of the Southborough theatre community, the Executive Director of Tunbridge Wells Trinity Theatre, Alex Green, has said the Royal Victoria Hall should be demolished. The Trinity Theatre has received hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money in recent decades to convert a church into a theatre. It employs full …
Continue reading Tunbridge Wells Theatre Boss Calls For Old Southborough Theatre to be Demolished
The Conservative councillors who've battled to develop the multi-million pound project to demolish the Royal Victoria Hall and build a "new heart" for Southborough say they are determined to push ahead with their plans despite continuing opposition. Earlier this week, a key statutory consultee, Sport England, said it was making an "outright objection" due to …
Continue reading Hub Project on Track says Southborough Council
A veteran performer on the stage of the Royal Victoria Hall has made a new appeal for it to be saved - rather than demolished - and has listed six "special attributes" the theatre possesses. Derek Holland told Southborough News "The acoustics of the Royal Victoria Hall are better than any theatre I have played …
Continue reading Six Reasons to Save the “Superb” Royal Victoria Hall
In a significant setback to existing proposals for the Southborough Hub development, Sport England have told planners they are making an "outright objection" to the application due to the loss of playing fields used by the local soccer teams. The report by Sport England appeared on Monday morning on the Tunbridge Wells Planning website. (NB This …
Continue reading Sport England says “No” to Hub building plans
