A PUBLIC inquiry into Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's refusal of planning applications by Kilmartin Property Group to build a new district hospital at Knights Park started today at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Pembury.

Planning inspector Martin Pike will hear evidence from the council, Kilmartin Property Group, local organisations and members of the public to ascertain whether Kilmartin's appeal against two applications to build a new district general hospital, mental health unit, and key worker housing should be allowed.

The council's key arguments are based on Knights Park lying within the town's protected Rural Fringe, the detrimental effects the development would have on local wildlife and the visual appeal of the area, as well as the fact that Kilmartin's proposed access roads would be sited within the Green Belt.

TWBC argue that it is not necessary to look at building the hospital on previously undeveloped land since the need for a hospital has been met by planning permission granted for the project on a brownfield site (Pembury) which, although in the Green Belt itself, has previously been designated a Major Development Site in the current and emerging Local Plans.

Kilmartin argues that because the Knights Park hospital site itself is not in the Green Belt, its suitability as a site for the new hospital should have been considered by the council before breaching Green Belt policy to allow the development at Pembury. The company claims to be able to build a hospital cheaper and quicker, offering better access for drivers and public transport, and sufficient scope for future expansion on site.

To add to the melting pot, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust appears to have done a u-turn with its stance on the subject. While under the chairmanship of Stephen Collinson, the Trust openly favoured the Pembury site.

But in a letter to Kilmartin director David Peck last week, the Trust's new chairman, James Lee, states that that it is in the Trust's best interest to have two options to consider, and pledged to discuss the possibility of getting planning permission at Knights Park with the borough council

Mr Pike will then make a report to the Deputy Prime Minister and a decision is not expected until later this year.

The inquiry is expected to last between eight and ten days.