The Tonbridge town centre development project aims to transform council-owned land and buildings, focussing on the area east of the town’s high street, surrounding Sainsbury’s supermarket. The land is currently home to surface car parks and the Angel leisure centre.
We will post updates on this page as the project progresses.
January 2025
The brief for the Tonbridge Town Centre East of High Street masterplan was sent to six prospective companies at the end of September 2024, with a return date set for the end of October. Five companies submitted proposals, which were evaluated for both cost and quality. After interviews with two selected companies in mid-November, a recommendation was put forward to the Tonbridge Town Centre Programme, and Mace was recommended and approved to lead the masterplan work through a Cabinet Member decision.
In early December, TMBC officers met with Mace and their chosen urban architects, Periscope, to kick off the project. Since then, Mace has been developing the project programme, identifying stakeholders, and planning engagement activities.
The project team will be engaging with Tonbridge residents and key stakeholder groups early in 2025 to better understand the needs of the community.
August 2024
Tonbridge town centre development update
A Tonbridge town centre Programme Board made up of councillors and officers has been created to oversee the various areas of work associated with the town centre programme. A masterplan brief is being developed for the area east of Tonbridge High Street. This brief will be presented to the board for consideration and approval before we go out to tender for the masterplan work. The masterplan will build on the ideas put forward earlier in 2024 to develop a preferred option for the area's future development.
Angel Centre
Alliance Leisure has been appointed to conduct a feasibility study for the replacement of the Angel Centre. It is in the process of finalising a draft report, which will be submitted to the council. As part of this process, we are actively engaging with clubs that currently use the Angel Centre to gather their feedback.
Community input will be vital to shaping these plans as they develop. Once we have ideas to share, there will be a public consultation to gather thoughts and feedback.
March 2024
A range of ideas were published for how to transform the area east of the town’s high street. The land is currently home to surface car parks and the Angel leisure centre, which councillors have already agreed in principle to replace with a modern, carbon neutral facility.
The ideas being put forward follow 18 months’ work supported by specialist consultants to explore how the area could be revitalised with the creation of a town square (pictured), more shops, low-rise housing, a hotel and a new medical centre. The scheme also includes ideas on ways to better connect different parts of the town via improved walking and cycling routes.
This would be a long-term project spanning a number of years. In March 2024, councillors took a set of decisions to enable further work on feasibility and costs.
Read the reports to the March 2024 Finance Regeneration and Property Scrutiny Select Committee