Benenden is fortunate in having had recreation grounds and allotments in Benenden and Iden Green settled on the village by Viscount Rothermere and the St George’s Building and the village green by the Earl of Cranbrook.  At last Kent County Council are providing Benenden with a new primary school so the school will no longerRead more about Ways and means: infrastructure improvements[…]

It was great to see so many people at the village update at the Iden Green Pavilion on 29 September.  For all the groups involved in the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) it was encouraging that so many people attended and wanted to know about the work that had been done since the last consultation inRead more about Sites and sounds from the NDP update[…]

On 29 September 2018 the Neighbourhood Planning Team updated the parish through a second exhibition, held at Iden Green Pavilion and attended by 97 people, including residents, landowners and a senior member of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s planning team. One question raised there covered a rather important issue concerning future housing developments: why are theRead more about Autumn, and a update for the Village[…]

Having spent the best part of 4 months away from Benenden on business I resumed my duties as Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee on 11 September.  At our meeting we reviewed progress of each Working Group, agreed how best to present an update on progress to residents of the Parish, confirmed outstanding workRead more about Getting Back in the Swing – October Update[…]

Our next event is on Saturday, 29th September, in the Iden Green Pavilion. It’s a drop-in exhibition, so pop along between 10 and 12 am to see the latest update from each of the Working Groups.  Each Group is starting to pull together the work they’ve done over the summer into draft Policies that willRead more about 29th September – Village Update[…]

All the attention has so far been on the planning aspects of the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP). However, it has other important sides to it, not the least of which is the impact of any development on the environment. The residents of Benenden have clearly stated, several times, that one of their top priorities is to preserve theRead more about Thinking of View …[…]

At the first public workshop for the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP), I decided that as I had been in construction all my working life, I could perhaps contribute most to the Housing Design Group and so this is where I have been concentrating my efforts over the last few months. Our first task was toRead more about Design and the Built Environment[…]

As part of the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP), the Business and Local Economy Group have been looking at the way local businesses are evolving in our parish.  In recent times there has been a large decline in the number of local jobs, especially in the farming sector and we have been looking at what opportunitiesRead more about Growing local businesses for local people[…]

The late Peter Davies warned me that the path of the NDP would not be smooth. So many vested interests and competing pressures would become apparent. Well it seems he was right. TWBC have a target of 14,000 additional homes to be built across the Borough over the next 15 years. If they fail toRead more about Challenging Times for Benenden’s Neighbourhood Plan[…]

The NDP team staged their first Village Exhibition on Saturday 7th April.  It was well attended; 129 people signed in at the door (we may need to show that we’re engaging residents), but we know others didn’t manage to sign-in.  The Exhibition gave us an opportunity to share progress so far, and most of theRead more about Two Steps Forward – One Step Back | May Update[…]