Since February 2019 there has been a bitter war going on in Tunbridge Wells between the residents of Tunbridge Wells and the majority held Conservative TWBC. 

After a three week extensive CPO Inquiry with solid evidence from the objectors unsurprisingly with revelations weeks before of a conflict of interest and also due to the fact that vital evidence by Cllr Ben Chapelard was withheld from the Inquiry,  Inspector Graham Dudley found in favour of the council.

The decision however came out the day of the count of the local elections where 18 Conservatives seats of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council were up for election including pro-opponents of the scheme David Jukes, Tracey Moore and Lawrence Heaseman.  In this total the conservatives lost 13 of their seats to in coming councillors opposed to the scheme who were voted in by residents to stop the project. 

Protests and protest march attended by hundreds of people took place and an Extra Ordinary Council Meeting was called in June 2019 to terminate the project. The council voted at this meeting to suspend further spending and bring it back to full council to vote on (rather than just cabinet) whether to proceed or stop the project all together. 

However spending still continued. So at another full council meeting in July 2019 again to halt the project fully and no further spending until the RIBA stage 4 reports came in where it would be referred back to full council for them to vote whether or not to continue with the project to construction stage or to halt it permanently. An independent panel was also agreed upon made up of the town forum and stakeholders to look into alternative options. 

At the end of August/ beginning of September  2019 the final costings and RIBA 4 came in. The cost had risen to £108 million plus interest that totals £173 million. 

The contractor is Mace which is extremely worrisome.

well known contracts of mace that have gone over budget and been delayed include: the shard - £85 million over budget, The Tate Modern £45 million over budget, Birmingham New Street £225 million over budget and there are many more examples. So with a project that in 2017 started at £72 million and then has steadily rose to what is now £108 million before even a spade is gone into the ground in an 18 month period, it is highly likely this project will continue to rise and rise. 

Mace have even released a report about going over budget https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/infrastructure-projects-cost-taxpayers/54665/

This project will end up bankrupting the town and quite simply the residents don’t want it as evidenced by the last local elections. They want to look at the alternatives and want the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council to respect the report of the independent panel of the Town Forum 

http://www.townforum.org.uk/consultation/civicdevelopment-panelreport2twbccllrs-11092019.pdf

And to look at its combined summary of recommendations 

http://www.townforum.org.uk/consultation/civicdevelopment-represenations-summary17092019.pdf

However, it is now a time of definite decision to be made. 

There is overwhelming evidence that there is no support for this project from Tunbridge Wells residents. It is the wrong plan in the wrong location and it certainly is the wrong price.

it is time to stop this scheme once and for all and look at the alternatives.