PADDOCK Wood Town Council (PWTC) is asking residents for a name for the new Community Centre being built in Memorial Field.
The £3million mixed-use facility will include a 40-place nursery, hall, car parking, and a 300-seat theatre and community hall.
Designed with eco-friendly features such as electric car charging points, solar panels, an air-source heat pump and a ventilation system to reduce air conditioning use, the centre is being built by local firm Baxall Construction.
Outside the building itself, the grounds will include two new Lawn Tennis Association-compliant tennis courts, a new cricket wicket and improvements to the pavilion.
Construction is being partly funded by over £1million from developers and three housing developments being built in Paddock Wood.
And on August 24, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) approved £361,435.46 of Section 106 planning obligation funding.
The facility has not been without local controversy, with petitions, a local non-binding referendum and even an application to Kent County Council to designate the Memorial Field a village green was lodged to get the development blocked.
But the project was eventually approved in October 2021 after planners at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council referred the application to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities after an objection to the project was lodged by Sport England
Construction work on the new centre is due to finish in late autumn.
The deadline for name suggestions is October 14, after which a shortlist will be drawn up and put to a residents’ vote.
There is a box for paper responses at PWTC’s offices in St Andrews Road, or residents can use the online form at: PaddockWood-tc.gov.uk/Community-Centre-Name
