Plans for a new 3G pitch to be used by a rugby team and cricket club have divided opinion among locals.

Tunbridge Wells rugby club is hoping to upgrade St Mark’s Recreation Ground, part of which they rent out to Tunbridge Wells Borderers Cricket Club during the summer months.

The plans include a 3G Artificial Grass Pitch lit by eight floodlights, a cricket pavilion, and a new cricket field on disused agricultural land.

If approved, there will also be 76 parking spaces, in addition to the existing 55, and a storage building to replace two shipping containers.

Documents submitted to the borough council suggest the new facilities will help the rugby club “to facilitate this expected growth and will also support the continued use of the site by TWBCC during the summer.”

In documents submitted on behalf of the club they say TWRFC has “aspirations to grow and improve its facilities.

It is hoped the new 3G pitch will be available for “wider community use,supporting youth and adult sports teams, schools and organisations across the area and throughout the year.”

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s planning department are recommending approval desipte some oppostion from some neighbours.

Of 162 letters submitted to the council, 60 have been in favour and 62 against.

Tanya Ballantyne wrote: “I find this application un-neighbourly and unsympathetic to an AONB.

“I have seen one of these pitches in Tonbridge and it is imposing and invasive to the landscape.”

Nick Holmes wrote: “This application is only going to exacerbate the parking problems caused whenever an event is held at the site.”

He also worried about “congestion, noise and light pollution.”

Peter Alexander, former coach and youth section chairman, wrote: “The improved facilities are urgently needed due to the success of the Tunbridge Wells Rugby Football Club.”

Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark (Con), who is a vice president of TWRFC, wrote to the local authority: “The facilities at the club need to be improved to accommodate this growth and to ensure that the club can continue to provide sport in a safe and well-maintained environment which does not impact on neighbouring residents.

“The ground conditions currently can mean that the club experiences periods of time where the pitches are waterlogged and not playable, despite thousands of pounds being spent on drainage works.”

The planning committee is set to decide on the scheme at a meeting on May 17.