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OF TONBRIDGE
Have your say on how to improve the area around railway station...
GO WITH THE FLOW Tim Bond and his wife Catherine had their first house on the river
THE public has a final chance to give its opinions on how to improve the area around Tonbridge railway station. It is the busiest station in Kent, with around 4.4million passengers using it every year. Commuters and schoolchildren throng the site every weekday. However, Kent County Council (KCC) has decided that the immediate vicinity is no longer ‘fit for purpose’ because of the sheer volume of usage, which sees pedestrians, buses, replacement bus services, taxis and drop-off car users bustling around a very small area.
Drop-in County Hall has £500,000 budgeted to be spent on the project during 2018-19 from the West Kent Local Growth Fund allocated by the South-East Enterprise Partnership. Two drop-in events have been organised, in the Council Chamber at Tonbridge Castle, on Saturday 27 January from 11am2pm and Thursday 8 February from 3-7pm, where councillors will be on hand to answer questions. There is also an online questionnaire at https:// consultations.kent.gov.uk/ consult.ti/TonbridgeStation RevisedDesign. This will be open until February 12, though you will have to register. Following the improvements made to the High Street, KCC carried out its first consultation on proposals to improve the area around the station late in 2016.
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PHOTO: Craig Matthews
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Return of the river community as Barden boatyard reopens By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk THE Rendezvous Boatyard on Barden Road is set to reopen after it was taken over by an enthusiast who once lived on the river himself. The majority of the narrow boat community known as the ‘Venice of Tonbridge’ were evicted from the site last year after falling out with the owners. But now boats are set to return to the stretch of river they adorned for a quarter of a century when the yard opens its gates again in April. Fourteen people were living in 10 narrow boats when they were told in October 2016 that there would be changes made to their tenancy agreement and they had two weeks to sign up. This meant that they no longer had
access to electricity, drinking water, toilet and washing facilities, shed storage and garden areas, which had been included under their previous agreement. In what became an increasingly bitter
‘We are boaters, so we are sympathetic with the need to keep the yard going’ saga, the owner Brian Mockford secured their eviction in Hastings County Court on March 13 last year. More than 2,000 people signed a petition to stop their enforced removal. But the judge ordered them to vacate the site by June 30, and they were left with £23,000 in legal bills. Residents bemoaned the loss of a his-
toric feature of the town, which also provided affordable housing and permitted an alternative lifestyle. Now Tim Bond of Edenbridge has secured a long-term lease on the Rendezvous and is inviting prospective tenants to apply for a mooring with Tonbridge Boatyard Ltd. “I used to hire boats on the river as a kid with my dad and two brothers in the 1970s,” he told the Times. “I’ve had a soft spot for it for a long time.” “I lived at the boatyard in 2000 with my wife Catherine for about two years. We had a Springer 40 called Steadfast of Tonbridge which we did up. It was our first house. “We are boaters, so we are sympathetic with the need to keep the yard going. It’s
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