Finches Farm

There's strong local resistance to plans for 120 new homes on farmland next to Capel Primary School.

Nearby properties in the village of Five Oak Green are vulnerable to flooding, but the developer says the flood issues have been taken into account.

The housing estate would be on the narrow and winding B2017 road which leads to Tonbridge 4 miles away.

The developer B.Yond (also known as Rydon Homes) said the new dwellings were needed to meet the council's house building targets set by central government. It plans to provide a new 3 metre wide off road cycle route from Capel Primary School to the village. 

Additionally there would be a new car park with 30 spaces for teachers at Capel Primary School (pictured below). The the farmland at Finches Farm to be developed is on the top right of the picture below.

A new contribution from Tunbridge Wells Housing team on April 16th praised the plans for offering more "affordable" homes than the developer is obliged to build.  The government defines affordable homes as those which are 20% below the local market price.

Reaction from local residents as posted on the Tunbridge Wells Planning Portal has been a mix of fear and anger.

Five Oak Green resident Simon Payne argued: "This is a heart breaking and deeply concerning development. During the flood of 2020, all the flood water was pumped onto this area of land to save the properties and residents. It is where the flood waters naturally go to". 

Simon Payne continued: "Building 130 properties on here will almost certainly mean that all waters will flood Sychem Place and the main road regularly. Combined with the loss of the environment, our homes will lose all salable value and ruin our lives. This cannot be permitted".

The proposed housing estate is contained in the red hatched area below to the west of Five Oak Green village.

Meanwhile local resident Penny Scrimgeour objected by stating: "Yet again no infrastructure. No mention of additional schools or medical services. Along with the additional planning applications for 770 houses on the A228, 120 at Horsmonden and 220 at Pembury. The huge estate at Paddock Wood that is still being built. This area cannot take anymore". 

Penny Scrimgeour continued: "With no access to a GP people will just go to A/E causing further waiting times... This area is known to flood, the small pond shown on the drawing is not sufficient. The loss of walks in the countryside. There are herd of deer that roam in the area along with other wildlife including slow worms, snakes, toads, hedgehogs and a diverse array of birds. To try and squeeze another housing estate that will not be affordable for local people is just pure greed".

An illustration of the planned estate is shown below inside the red lines:

Danielle Wright wrote on the planning portal: "I've a child who attends Capel primary school. For those who haven't experienced it, I recommend you observing the drop off and pick up for the primary school as it currently stands, a through road for heavy traffic, you'd understand why this proposal is madness! The village will be ruined". 

Danielle Wright concluded: "There's no infrastructure for the additional homes, no nurseries, school places etc. this site is also known to flood. You will simply be increasing traffic and logistical difficulties on a road that already struggles to cope".

Local resident Victoria Everest stated: "More unaffordable housing! More Green land gone, not enough infrastructure as it is, a small village school that won't be able to take all the children of the village, local NHS services under more pressure when they can barely cope already! And the cars that park along the road at school time will no doubt be parking in residential roads at drop off and pick up because the junctions will take that away too!"

How the farmland currently looks is shown below:

A spokesperson for the Save Capel campaign that successfully thwarted a much bigger development nearby stated that it continued to have "serious concerns" about the plans for Finches Farm, which relate to building on Green Belt land and highway congestion.

Save Capel also points out the fields partly include land at high flood risk (level 3), saying it had written the following to the developer on flood risk issues: "Given the National Planning Inspector's consideration of the Tunbridge Wells Local Plan has already determined that housing development in zone 2, let alone zone 3, is not acceptable, we struggle to see how you could justify your development proposed. In addition, Five Oak Green has a frequent history of major disruption resulting from its antiquated foul drainage system. It is unclear from your proposal how you would connect another 140 houses to the sewer main without adding to the problems".

The developer B.Yond Homes said: "Most of the site lies outside of the active floodplain and is suitable for accomodating residential development". It stated its new drainage schemes would provide "substantial betterment to the existing residents, as well as removing the developable area proposed from the floodplain entirely."