Nearly ninety homes were built by demolishing an abandoned Kent hospital. After a deal was reached to see more money in the proceeds of demoliting Peter Wordsworth and another with to be identified were killed given to local services, plans to transform the dilapidated site were finally approved.
A planning officer for the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) stated that the 87 new residences that will be built on the site of the former Benenden Hospital are “in keeping with housing in this part of Benenden.” According to Esquire Developments, the plan will result in “significant visual enhancement through the demolition of the former hospital buildings and the creation of a lively and appealing residential area.”
Thirteen of the twenty-six homes in the new development would be marketed as affordable social rent homes, five as shared ownership properties, and six as starter homes. The planning committee postponed asking the developers for additional funding for waste management, transportation, healthcare, education, and children’s services, so in June the decision was placed on hold.
Officers from the council met with the developer and Kent County Council (KCC) to try and get additional funding after learning that Esquire had only intended to donate £300,000 to local public services. “Officers negotiated with the developer to get an increase that was offered by them of a further £265,000 of financial contributions towards that infrastructure,” the planning chief informed the committee at the end of July.
Although the total is still less than the KCC had hoped to spend on schools, there is a “clawback clause” in place that will force the developers to pay the council extra for education if the development turns a higher profit than anticipated.
“We listened carefully to the debate and heard loud and clear the committee’s desire for us to try and improve the contributions being offered,” David Braddon, director and co-owner of Esquire, stated to the gathering. Our first priority has been to find innovative ways to maintain the policy-compliant level of affordable housing proposed, so we set out right away to find ways to make the offer better.
This is a long-standing, intricate brownfield site with many difficulties. The parish council has worked very hard to successfully allocate this abandoned brownfield site, and we have collaborated with them and the local community to present the best possible plan.
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