FRIENDS OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS
AND RUSTHALL COMMONS
We are a registered charity (No. 1013975) helping to look after the Commons for the benefit of the community and wildlife.
Welcome
The Friends of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons bring together local people who care deeply about our shared green spaces. Founded in 1991 after the Great Storm, we are a registered charity working alongside the Commons Conservators to protect, maintain and enhance the Commons for everyone — people, wildlife and future generations.
Through fundraising and volunteer projects, we’ve supported vital work such as path restoration, habitat clearance and the purchase of tools and equipment. Many of our members also help with newsletters, social events and hands-on conservation. Together, we help preserve this unique landscape at the heart of our town.
You may have heard that The Commons are for sale. This is a rare chance to secure long term certainty for a place we all love. Read our Sale FAQs.
Join us
The Friends of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons Charity brings together residents who have a love of the Commons.
Membership includes regular newsletters, full of updates and interesting reports from the Ranger and our Natural History specialist. Periodically we arrange nature-based events for children and, for adults, members receive priority booking to our social events. You will receive a New Members pack, which includes FREE copies of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons trail maps!
Please consider joining us and help support the work we do.
Periodically we arrange nature events for children, and for adults a variety of social events. Members receive priority booking plus a discount. In addition, our New Members pack, includes FREE copies of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons trail maps!
Join us and help protect the
Commons for the future
Make a Difference
Help preserve our Commons for future generations
While membership subscriptions enable us to undertake a rolling programme of projects to help improve the Commons, donations allow us to finance more of the vital works needed to help maintain the Commons.
Every contribution you make, large or small, is important
and helps make a real difference.
News & Events
News Update
For sale – The Commons: Opportunity knocks!
The Commons have been put up for sale, and we want to buy them! We see this as a unique and really exciting opportunity to acquire the Commons and have them managed entirely for the benefit of the community.
This is the information that Targetfollow (the existing owners) have published regarding the sale. You can download the sales brochure located at the foot of the page.
We need you to help us with the financing of our offer for them by pledging your support now so that we can put forward a credible, funded bid.
Since 2014 The Friends of Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons (the Friends, a registered charity number 1013975) have had the Commons listed as assets of community value (ACV). The listing was given by TWBC because the Commons “further the total well-being of the local community”. ACV listing is important because it has given the Friends the right to bid for the Commons within a 6 month period expiring on 26th March 2026 and it precludes an earlier sale to any other party before then.
It may surprise you to know that the Commons have never been owned by the Community. The current owners, who have now put the Commons up for sale, are a privately owned commercial property company based in Norwich, the Targetfollow Group. They own the Commons (and parts of the Pantiles) through a subsidiary Targetfollow (Pantiles) Limited. The Commons include two Cricket Clubs (Rusthall and Linden Park) and two car parks (Major Yorks and Fir Tree).
We will only know how much our offer for the Commons can be when we have seen and carefully reviewed the income figures that the Commons generate. The income information is expected in November. That income comes largely from the Major Yorks’ Car Park charges and a much smaller figure from payments from utility companies and some residents’ payments for access rights over the Commons.
The ACV regulations only give us the right to bid – the owner is not obliged to accept our offer, however much the community may want us to own the Commons. You will readily appreciate that this means we have to look at our funding on a contingent basis: only once we have had an offer accepted can we go ahead, but we need to have funding pledged to be in place to substantiate our bid.
This is where we need your help. We feel sure that those of you who can afford to do so will want to show that you can help us if, and hopefully when, we need it. If you can help please contact me, Joy Podbury, Acting Chairman of the Commons, or John Barber, a long-term Friends’ member who is helping with the fund raising. Emails to either of us will be handled confidentially. We will welcome all offers of support whether large (and clearly, we will likely need a number of those) or small. Also we will be happy to try and answer any questions that you have.
Joy – chairman@fotcs.org.uk
John – johnspbarber@gmail.com
Thank you very much.
Upcoming Events
LITTER PICKING AND CLEARANCE WORK PARTIES
The next session is scheduled for Saturday 7th Feb ( Location Fir Tree Car Park TW Common 10am).
Extraordinary General Meeting and Public Meeting – 24th January
The Friends will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for members, followed by a public meeting, on Saturday 24th January at The Camden Centre, Tunbridge Wells.
The meetings follow the recent news that the Commons have been put up for sale.
At the EGM at 2.30pm, members will be updated on the sale of the Commons, the Friends’ intention to explore a possible bid to purchase them, and the work currently under way to support this. Members will also have the opportunity to ask questions and share their views.
The public meeting at 4.00pm is open to everyone and will explain what the sale means, what options are being explored, and how local people can find out more and get involved.
You can register for the public meeting here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-commons-are-for-sale-what-happens-next-tickets-197987731635