A field that campaigners had hoped might provide the space for a much-needed secondary school has been lost to housing.

Tunbridge Wells council has granted Heyworth Properties Ltd permission to build 34 homes on the Long Field off Angley Road in Cranbrook.

The scheme will see 20 “executive homes” built and 14 affordable properties.

The project includes replacing two junctions from Quaker Lane onto Angley Road with one new access through the centre of the grass island. The new homes will have their own access onto Angley Road.

The land is designated as a Local Green Space in the Cranbrook Neighbourhood Plan and was previously owned by Kent County Council and used as a recreation area.

The site lies between the two conservation areas of Cranbrook and Wilsley and is in the High Weald National Landscape (formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

It was not in the borough’s adopted Local Plan and would usually be refused planning permission.

A previous application for 35 homes on the 2.3-hectare plot was refused permission and refused again by a government inspector on appeal.

However, Tunbridge Wells council cannot demonstrate it has the five years’ worth of housing land supply that the government requires - it has only 3.9 years - and therefore there is a “tilted balance” in favour of sustainable development that will bring forward housing.

There was considerable opposition to the scheme including from the neighbouring parish councils of Frittenden, Brenchley and Matfield, Goudhurst and Staplehurst, who all cited the compelling need for a new non-selective secondary school to serve the area.

There were also 44 individual letters of objection with many arguing the need for a school should trump the need for more housing - which would only add to the schooling problem.

However, planning officers said that as KCC, the education authority, had not supported that claim, and had raised no objections, councillors were not able to take into account the need for a school and had to determine the application solely on the merits of the proposal before them.

The plan includes the provision of a public open space and improved public footpaths. The affordable housing was described by the applicant’s agent John Collins as offering “a good mix” of tenures and sizes.

Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council objected to the scheme. Apart from the missed opportunity for a school, the council believes the size of the proposed homes was wrong.

It said there was already an abundance of large executive homes in Cranbrook that were not selling, but that less well-off people could not afford a home in the town. What was needed was more smaller, cheaper homes.

Cranbrook also requested the developer make a Section 106 contribution of £5,000 per home towards the provision of a new community hub in the town - an idea first mooted in 2009. The council is in the process of drawing up plans for a new community centre, which could cost up to £2.5 million, in the Crane Valley.

But planning officers would not entertain the idea. They said the parish council had not submitted a business plan for the hub or any justification to show how the £5,000 contribution had been arrived at.

The developer will, however, be making various other Section 106 payments.

KCC will get £157,000 towards primary school provision, £16,235 for special education needs and disabilities provision, £1,163 for community learning and skills, £2,369 towards integrated children’s services, £2,129 towards library, registrations and archives; £6,149 towards adult social care; and £4,832 towards waste disposal.

KCC highways will get £40,800 towards sustainable transport provision and the NHS will get £37,116 towards GP provision.

The Woodpecker Pre-School, which sits within the development site and is run by a community interest company, will receive £50,275 towards a refurbishment.

Cranbrook will receive £55,760 towards new play equipment at the Ball Field Play Park.

At the committee hearing, Cllr Hugo Pound (Lab) observed: “There is enormous support for a new secondary school in Cranbrook.”

But officers told him: “That is not relevant.”

Cllr David Osborne (Lib Dem) noted the provision of a community centre in Cranbrook was part of the borough council’s own strategic plan and so should be supported.

He asked whether a condition could be applied requiring the developer to make the £5,000 per house contribution requested by the parish if a satisfactory business plan could be provided at a later date.

He said he could only support the scheme, if there were a retrospective condition requiring the community hub payment.

But his suggestion was not taken up and the scheme was approved by five votes in favour, with one abstention and one against.

Kim Fletcher, chairman of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council, said after the meeting that the developer had got it wrong.

He said: “There are already 19 five-bedroom executive homes for sale in the parish - one of them at an asking price of £1.5m. They are not selling.

“Part of the reason for that is the lack of schooling.

“Cranbrook is a lovely place to live, but would you move here knowing your child would have to take a bus to a school 11 miles away?”

Cllr Fletcher acknowledged the town did have Cranbrook School - a grammar.

But he said: “The demand for places there is so high, your child has to be super-bright to get in.

“That demand can only increase. We have seven private schools in the area but with those parents now required to pay VAT on their school fees, many are looking to switch their children to Cranbrook.

“There are plenty of parents whose child passes the Kent Test (and so qualifying for a place at a grammar school) but who still can’t get into Cranbrook School and then they must face this horrendous bus journey.”

Children from Cranbrook routinely have to travel to schools in Paddock Wood, Tenterden, Maidstone and Wadhurst, which are 11.4 miles, 10 miles, 10.9 miles and 12 miles away respectively.

Cllr Fletcher said the bus journey to such schools as Mascalls at Paddock Wood or Homewood in Tenterden was a huge problem.

He said: “Besides the time it takes, all the year groups travel together on the bus and that results in a huge amount of bullying, such that many children don’t want to go to school.”

He cited a recent nationwide study of school absenteeism carried out by the Sunday Times newspaper.

He said: “It recorded the percentage of pupils who were absent for more than 10% of the time. For Mascalls that was 35.3% and for Homewood 41%!”

Cllr Fletcher is part of the Support Weald Schooling campaign, agitating for a new non-selective secondary school in Cranbrook.

He said: “The campaign is seeking evidence of the need for a local school.

“On Thursday, we emailed supporters asking how many had children that would go to a Cranbrook school.

“Within 24 hours there had been 400 replies, with parents who between them had 860 children needing a local Cranbrook school.”

However, there is hope.

Cllr Fletcher said: “The Leigh Academies Trust runs the Snowfields Special School in Cranbrook, as well as Mascalls in Paddock Wood.

“The trust says there is room for a four-form entry school on their site off Angley Road.

There have been 500 new houses in Cranbrook and Sissinghust - not one has made a single contribution

“It could be run as a satellite school for Mascalls, which would then free up room for them at Paddock Wood, where their ability to expand is severely limited.

“We are leaning on our MPs to support this idea. Sadly KCC do nothing, even though they have £82m in their fund for new schools.”

Cllr Fletcher said he was bitterly disappointed the borough council’s planning committee had not agreed to require Heyworth Properties to make a Section 106 contribution towards the new community hub.

He said: “There have been roughly 500 new houses granted permission in Cranbrook and Sissinghust over the past four years - not one has made a single contribution towards the community centre.

“We have the land. We have engaged an architect. But almost every potential building site that might have contributed has already gone and soon there will be no chance of contributions in the future.”

The town and its surrounding villages used to be served by the non-selective High Weald Academy. It closed in 2022 after a series of bad Ofsteds had resulted in declining pupil numbers.