breaking point

  The "Garden of England" is being paved over, and the people of Tunbridge Wells are being left to pick up the tab. For years, we’ve watched a toxic tag-team of political failure destroy our local character. Nationally, the Conservatives spent over a decade talking about "localism" while secretly handing developers the keys to our Green Belt. Locally, the Liberal Democrats have seized control of the Borough Council (TWBC), promising a "fairer, greener" future—only to preside over a concrete jungle of their own making.

  While the Lib Dems and Tories argue over who gets to sign off on the next housing estate, our basic services are collapsing. In the massive outage of December 2025, 24,000 homes across Tunbridge Wells were left without water for days, and without drinkable water for weeks. This wasn't just an inconvenience; it cost our local businesses millions of pounds during the busiest Christmas trading period of the year.

Where was the leadership? Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey popped up for his inevitable photo-op, handing out bottled water for the cameras. The classic Lib Dem playbook: turn up with a smile and a hobby horse once the crisis hits, rather than fixing the systemic failures they’ve helped create. 

Blame must be attributed to TWBC and our MP, Mike Martin. These privately owned utilities consistently choose massive dividends over the people they serve. It is the absolute duty of our MP and the Council to keep a tight leash on these companies, monitoring performance before the pipes burst—not after. Mike Martin knows our infrastructure is at its limit, yet he allows development to outpace utility management. Raising "concerns" in a subcommittee isn't enough when the taps don't work, yet the planning permissions never stop.

  The assault on Paddock Wood is the perfect example of this "build now, worry later" insanity. Under the current Local Plan, 4,000 new houses are slated for the area—effectively doubling the existing size of the town.

In the last ten years of breakneck growth, guess how many new GP surgeries or schools have been built in Paddock Wood? Zero. Our surgeries are over capacity, and the local hospital is at its limit. To make matters worse, the Lib Dems rely on Section 106 "staggered" payments. This means infrastructure money is only released in tiny drips (no pun intended) as sections of a development are built and sold. It can take years for a new school or clinic to even enter the planning phase. By the time the money arrives, the damage is already permanent.

The Lib Dems’ gimmicky pledge to "plant a tree for every person" is a cynical distraction. While they pat themselves on the back for planting saplings, they clear the Green Belt where locals walked their dogs and watched their kids grow up playing.

  The biggest insult is the "affordable housing" myth. Most "affordable" units are priced well above the first-time buyer cap. Even worse, London Local Authorities are now using their massive budgets to buy up these properties for "temporary accommodation," shunting their social responsibilities into Kent and outbidding our own local housing authority.

The Uniparty thinks the masses do not understand the game being played, but it is plain to see. Reform UK stands with the residents of Tunbridge Wells: No more development without infrastructure. No more gimmicks. It’s time to put locals first.

OLIVER KINKADE