Winter 2007 The Historical Atlas This extract from John Ogilby’s Itinerary of 1675 is taken from the Local History Group’s Historical Atlas of Tunbridge Wells which should now be available for purchase - please see the enclosed leaflet. The atlas has been nearly two years in the preparation, and is largely the work of John Cunningham, though with a number of other contributors. Please note that the quality of reproduction in the atlas is considerably higher than what we can achieve here. 2 Front Cover - Spa Valley Railway - see page 12 www.thecivicsociety.org Contents Introduction ... 4 From the Planning Scrutineers ... 5 Notes from Gill Twells. Chairman’s Letter by John Cunningham ... 6 The ‘Local List’ of Heritage Assets ... 8 Philip Whitbourn explains a recent initiative by the Society and the Town Forum, to identify unlisted buildings that are worthy of note. Looking Both Ways ... 12 Paul McKinnell of the Spa Valley Railway considers its past and its future. Green Room Music ... 16 Dennis Smith explains the activities of the Green Room Music group. Tanks for the Memory ... 18 Some history of Tunbridge Wells and a picture from Ashford AGM and Accounts 2007 ... 19 Kenneth Miller 1919-2007 ... 21 Philip Whitbourn remembers one of the founders of the Society. Conservation Awards 2007 ... 22 Forthcoming Events ... 24 Editor: Chris Jones. 52 St James Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2LB Tel 01892 522025 (evenings and weekends) Email [email protected] Secretary: Mrs Pauline Everett. Chenhalls, Glenmore Park, Tunbridge Wells TN2 5NZ. email [email protected] Newsletter Winter 2007 3 An Introduction by Chris Jones The Historical Atlas After many delays and set-backs, the Historical Atlas should now be available. It is an impressive achievement, and is mainly due to the vision and hard work of John Cunningham. Looking through the proofs, at the detailed Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th century, I was struck by an interesting historical parallel. The OS maps, which revolutionised cartography 200 years ago, were initially produced for the military. We are undergoing a similar revolution today with the widespread use of satellite navigation systems. These, too were produced for the military. One slight difference, though, is that the military could switch off the satellites. Earlier in the year I received an email from the Civic Trust. I assume all Newsletter editors did. They were encouraging us to publish an article about fighting global warming. I’m afraid I thought it was a bit patron- ising. But I’m not antagonistic to the cause, and would like to encour- age you all to do one thing - stop buying bottled water. It’s hard to think of a more pointless and wasteful activity. Just consider the fuel that is used, and the carbon that is generated, in just moving all that water around, let alone the production of the bottles. It is no better for you than the stuff that comes out of the tap, and if you drink the fizzy stuff it will rot your teeth. So stop buying it (and don’t eat in restaurants that won’t give you tap water). A couple of events coming up which may be of interest to members: - on Saturday 26th January Dr John Fuller will be giving the Annual King Charles Lecture. The subject this year is ‘Samuel Pepys at the Rhenish Wine Shop - The Earth, Religion, Science and What Went Wrong’. The lecture is at 2:30 in King Charles the Martyr. - on February 5th, 6th and 7th the Opera House will be putting on Cosi fan Tutte, produced by Opera by Definition. Three evening perform- ances and one matinee. Tickets from the Assembly Hall box-office. 4 www.thecivicsociety.org From the Planning Scrutineers by Gill Twells The proposal for a fabric canopy in Little Mount Sion. We think that over Ely Court was reported in the this will damage the simple shape last Newsletter. We were surprised of this important building. It is not to discover later that large areas nationally Listed, but we have in- of the central open space in the up- cluded it in our proposed “Local per mall of the RVP were being List” - see page 8. floored over. We were disap- There seems to have been a pointed to hear that the planners rash of proposals for creating new had been told of the changes but flats in the pitched roofs of the that they did not need permission, houses in Queens Road and Up- being internal alterations. The work per Grosvenor Road. We usually is now complete. What do you only object to these when such al- think of the results? terations result in very large “dor- We were pleased to see an ap- mer” extensions in the roof slopes plication for permission to turn 3 which will, in our view, be too domi- houses in Belvedere Terrace, nating. which had been converted to of- We have had discussions with fices, back into single dwellings. Fairview Homes about new hous- We have objected to a pro- ing on both sides of Grosvenor posed 3-storey rear extension to Bridge – which were designated in offices in Edwardian houses in the recent Local Plan Review as Lonsdale Gardens because of its new housing sites. The north area size and design – a crescent shape overlooks the lake in Grosvenor with plain floor to ceiling glazing on Park and the housing here will re- all floors, set back between project- place the former TWBC Medway ing concrete floor slabs Depot. There is to be a public ex- We have also objected to a pro- hibition in the Camden Centre soon posed 2-storeyextension, with – so look out for it, and give them lean-to roof, to The Meeting House your comments. Newsletter Winter 2007 5 Chairman’s Letter Rusthall Manor Sale. Last Thursday, 29th. November, the outcome of this sale was announced – the Pantiles, and Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons, are being sold to a single purchaser for the combined ‘asking price’ of £11 million (which asking price was at least £10 million for the Pantiles and at least £850,000 for the two Commons) and so TWBC has been unsuccessful in its bid for the two Commons. While the con- tracts will take another month -six weeks to complete¸ it seems almost 99% certain that they will go through. So the opportunity - not just of a lifetime, but of at least 350 years – has been lost to the residents of Tunbridge Wells and may never come again. Was it a situation where ‘For want of a horse-shoe, the Kingdom was lost?’ What can be put on record is that there was a considerable volume of opinion in the Town which wished to take the opportunity of putting the Commons into public owner- ship. What is also clear is that TWBC had no option but to put in a bid for the Commons – not to have done so, would have left them discredited for ‘not having even tried’. So they had no option. But how serious was their intention? What has not been declared is how much TWBC actually offered and they are not prepared to reveal this, as it is in their view ‘commercially sensitive’. (Is it still so commercially ‘sensitive’ after your offer has been rejected? Or it is just too embarrass- ing to admit what it was?) The Trustees, who apparently were very concerned about potential ‘asset-stripper’ bidders and wanted the Commons to be ‘put in a safe pair of hands’ (which they regarded TWBC to be) are said to have asked TWBC to make a further bid, which apparently TWBC said they would make, but no offer was received. So there is now a new owner of the Pantiles and the Commons, who could have a considerable influence on the future of our Town. Surprisingly, TWBC still maintains that they do not know (morning of Wednesday 5th December) who that new owner is. We have known who they are, since Friday 30th November, through a simple cross-examina- tion of Companies House, Google, other specific websites and The Courier. They are a company called Targetfollow, which already has an interest in the Corn Exchange in the Pantiles since about 2003; which is one of 63 Targetfollow companies with a parent company in the Channel Islands; and which are owned by Ardeshir Naghshineh, an Iranian, who came to the UK in 1979 as a refugee, following the overthrow of the Shah, and is now listed in the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List as the 151st. richest person in the UK with personal assets of £500 million. TWBC’s search for a Development Partner is still continuing and is down to a short-list of three –John Laing, ING and St. Modwyn, the largest of which has a capital value of over £1.2 billion and even the smallest has a value of over £350 million. All three have made a preliminary presentation to TWBC with a strong emphasis on more retail development in the Town Centre and at least two of them have radical ideas, such as the complete and/or partial demolition of the Civic Centre (Town Hall) and the driving of a new road from the Town Hall cross-road through the Town Hall site to Monson Road! While accepting that TWBC with its annual turnover of under £15 million, needs an imaginative development partner for its £90 million of properties, 6 www.thecivicsociety.org our concern is that a very large sophisticated developer could ‘eat TWBC for breakfast’ and will concentrate on retail as they did in their presentations on the Town Centre, overlooking the very deserving (and not necessarily retail) needs of High Brooms, Sher- wood and Ramslye; and Paddock Wood and Cranbrook.