pl
i ed
e an br
em M
ite
im sL
d.
Page
Ap
COPY
Page
d
COPY
Page
ui
COPY
Liq
FREE
OF TONBRIDGE
r EEape FRwsp
The BIGGEST local paper and it’s still
Local, National and International
S s ur L A S I N G tail Yo E G O F r de B R R O fo F I AT e 6 F L pag
Times
All the news that matters
Nseee
Wednesday April 24 | 2019
COPY Page
Tears as fruit and veg stall moves off High Street
PICK OF THE BUNCH: Robert Smith packs up with his helpers Beth Lester, Nancy Smith, Megan Cobb, daughter Lizzie and Jo Parkin
Council defends investment tactics after CAB building sold for housing By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk A DEVELOPER has exchanged contracts on the former Citizens Advice Bureau building and is intending to convert it into residential housing. The premises at 1-4 River Walk is owned by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council [TMBC]. The sale will be completed when the planning application is approved. It is the latest example of the council selling off publicly owned assets to private developers, following the sale of the Teen and Twenty Club to Assura, who are building a new medical centre on the site on River Lawn Road. The council’s Cabinet also voted to sell
River Lawn to developers in October 2017. Mark Hood, chair of the Keep River Lawn Green campaign group, attempted to have the old CAB building designated as an asset of community value but his application was turned down in 2017.
‘We believe no publicly owned building is safe in the hands of this council’ Mark Raymond, TMBC’s chief corporate policy officer, cited Section 88(2) of the Localism Act 2011 ‘which states that, as land that has furthered the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community in the recent past, the test is
whether it is realistic to consider it will do so again during the next five years’. He said: “I conclude the above test has not been met given the decision to dispose of the property on the open market.” Four months after the council decided to sell it in February 2017, a petition signed by 3,218 residents demanded that River Lawn and the CAB building should not be sold until ‘a proper consultation has been held’. Mr Hood, who is standing as a candidate for the Greens in Judd ward, said: “The Green Party fear this is just the start. Every single council-owned building including the Angel Centre has been assessed by [independent property con-
Continued on page 2
THE greengrocer’s stall on the High Street pavement will be packed away for the last time this week after a quarter of a century. Robert Smith’s Pavilion Flowers has run the open-air shop for 25 years but, as reported in the Times, he has been told by the arcade’s owners, American bank JP Morgan, that it must close because of insurance issues. Mr Smith and his staff dismantled the flower stall sited in the middle of the Pavilion walk-through on Saturday [April 20] before moving into an adjacent retail unit. And this week the fruit and vegetable stall will be taken off the pavement and positioned where the flowers were.
Optimistic However, he has been told by the bank’s asset management company Columbia Threadneedle that it could be moved at any time. “We had tears this morning on our last day,” Mr Smith said. “It’s the end of 25 years. “This afternoon there were more tears – but we’re optimistic as some of our loyal customers have said ‘good luck’ and told us they would still support us.” He added: “This is the last week of fruit and veg in the current location, then we move to the old flower stall site. “Hopefully, with the help of our customers, we can keep going. There’s nothing we can do about it, we just hope for the best.” JP Morgan have provided the unit rent-free for the first six months and then on a reduced rent which will climb to full market value over five years.