TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT
‘They’re taking away a slice of countryside’
A ROW has broken out over a council’s £90 million project to build new town hall offices, a theatre and an underground car park on a much-loved green space in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Protesters say the council’s plans will change Calverley Grounds for the worse by ‘replacing trees with concrete and grass’.
Nicholas Pope, chairman of the Friends of Calverley Grounds, said: ‘This is nothing more than an expensive vanity project that will take away a slice of the countryside in the centre of our town and replace it with a drab city park. We will spend years paying for this via our council tax.’
Nearly 5,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org opposing the council’s plan.
Protesters claim that renovating the council’s existing offices just half a mile away would cost a fraction of the proposed scheme – and would preserve Calverley Grounds, which date from the 1830s and also have free tennis courts, croquet lawns and a cafe.
Council leader David Jukes hit back last night, accusing Mr Pope – who became a councillor to oppose the plan – and other campaigners of waging a ‘Donald Trump fake news job’.
He said: ‘They are Nimbys who don’t care about the park, they just care about the view from their houses.’