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.