Wednesday November 29 | 2017
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YOUR
FREE
OF TONBRIDGE
All Fidelity staff have ‘chance to follow their roles’
Fireworks prove a damp squib
ALL 650 employees of Fidelity in Hildenborough will be entitled to keep their jobs when it moves the branch to Surrey in 2020, the Times has been told. The investment and pensions company revealed on November 21 that it will move its Tonbridge office 25 miles round the M25. The company’s press release stated: “It plans to relocate the majority of employees and roles to its existing Kingswood site.” A consultation process with staff will begin in January and there are fears that many will not be able to make the move.
PHOTO: David Hodgkinson
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Inflammatory A spokesperson told the Times last week: “We have said all employees will be able to follow their roles to Kingswood.” She said that the Times’ report that ‘there are likely to be significant job losses’ was ‘factually incorrect’ and ‘might be construed as inflammatory’ and asked for it to be removed. Fidelity later clarified: “This is a relocation plan, employees will be given the chance to follow their roles and relocate to the Kingswood office. “We fully anticipate that most roles and people will move from Tonbridge to Kingswood.” Nicolas Heslop, Leader of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, called the move ‘a huge shock and clearly an enormous worry for those affected’. He added: “Clearly staff will be feeling worried and vulnerable. “We will of course work with them to minimise the impact.”
Fireworks lit up the sky over the Big Bridge as almost 10,000 people watched the climax of the Tonbridge Christmas Festival – but the display was cut short due to safety fears. See page 4
Council rejects bid to transform old CAB building into a cultural centre By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk A PROPOSAL to buy the old Citizens Advice Bureau building on River Walk as an Asset of Community Value [ACV] in order to stop it being sold to private developers has been turned down by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council. The campaign group Keep River Lawn Green [KRLG] submitted an application last month to purchase the site at 1-4 River Walk and convert it into a cultural centre with an art gallery, museum, bar and café.
It is understood that national pub chain JD Wetherspoon, who run The Humphrey Bean on the High Street, is also interested in putting in a bid for the site.
‘The riverside is one of Tonbridge’s most unrealised assets – we can change that’ Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council’s Cabinet voted on October 11 to allow the sale of the public land to go ahead so that housing could be built on the site. But before the decision, which was taken
by five councillors, KRLG succeeded in having the area nominated as an Asset of Community Value. This allows any interested party to put in a bid to buy the site. They have six weeks to do so, and then a further six months to raise the required finances. Now the council has turned down the initial bid. It has said there is no prospect of the building being in a position to ‘further social well-being or social interests’ within the next five years because the process has already been started to put it up for sale.
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ANGELIC HOSTS
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