Foodbank founder is named in Queen’s Birthday Honours
Olga Johnson, founder of Nourish Community Foodbank, was awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for her charity work as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours announced last week. She set up Nourish in 2012 after recognising a need in the area to support households with a regular source of […]
Hard up families face four-year wait on Council’s housing list
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC], which does not have any of its own council house stock, relies on private housing companies to provide low-cost accommodation. But according to a Freedom of Information [FOI] request by a local resident, there are 860 people currently waiting for housing on Tunbridge Wells’ housing register. Last year, the Council […]
Vaccine roll out soldiers on as site opens at army barracks
Phoenix House in Tunbridge Wells is usually home to the 579 Field Squadron of the Royal Engineers, but it has now also become one of a number of vaccine sites that has been rolled out by an online pharmacist. Pharmacy2U has 20 other centres across England in venues such as cinemas and hotel chains and […]
Tories accused of ‘jobs for the boys’ after failing to appoint women chairs
The party lost overall control of the authority in the May elections. They managed to wrestle back minority control earlier this month. Currently 24 councillors at the Town Hall are Tory members and 24 come from opposition parties. New Council Leader Tom Dawlings has appointed a new Cabinet as well as new chairs and deputy […]
Stage is set for major revamp after theatre receives £500,000 windfall
The charity-run arts venue, based in the former Decimus Burton church in the town centre, has secured funding of £506,700 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund [NLHF]. The money comes in addition to a £300,000 grant by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council as well as a previous £26,200 NLHF grant, both awarded to the theatre in 2019. The […]
RVP owner sees a third wiped off the value of its shopping centres
The future of the town’s flagship shopping centre has been cast into doubt after owners British Land admitted last week that more than £1billion has been wiped off its portfolio in the past year, with a lack of rents from its shopping centres to blame. The commercial landlord warned last year that the pandemic had […]
New fringe festival to bring summer fun to town once restrictions lifted
Plans have this week been unveiled for an upbeat festival modelled on the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe that will see hundreds of events take place across Tunbridge Wells this summer. It is expected to attract thousands of visitors. The two-week extravaganza is set to run from July 5 to July 18 – beginning a fortnight after […]
Police chief calls for a halt to e-scooter trials
E-scooter pilot schemes are currently being rolled out in many towns and cities, including Canterbury and London, but PCC Matthew Scott says they should be halted and reviewed before more people are hurt. The use of the scooters has been ruled out by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC] following a councillor’s ‘fact-finding mission’ to an […]
Tories break Town Hall deadlock and elect a new Council leader
Cllr Tom Dawlings was voted as Leader of TWBC during the first full council meeting to be held in the Town Hall since the coronavirus pandemic began. In a new look chamber at the no overall control Council, the 24 Conservative and 24 opposition councillors were separated by plexiglass to adhere to Covid safety regulations. […]
Council to elect new leader following resignation
Cllr Alan McDermott resigned as leader of the Conservative group last week [Wednesday] and on Sunday [May 23] formerly stood down as Council leader. It will mean councillors will have to elect a new leader at the first Full Council meeting scheduled since the May 6 elections, due to take place this morning [Wednesday, May […]
