Angel Centre Approved: Building Now Starts 25 January

The new Angel Centre in Tonbridge will be built. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s Full Council voted unanimously for the £20.6 million project on Tuesday evening, 20 October. (Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council)

Building will start later than planned. A supplementary report, published on the day of the meeting, moves the start on site from 19 November to Monday 25 January 2027. Completion moves from 6 July to 29 August 2028. (Supplementary report to Council, 20 October 2026)

The new centre goes on the Sovereign Way Mid car park. The council says the existing Angel Centre stays open, with its programme uninterrupted, until the new one is ready.

Why the start has slipped

When planning permission was granted on 24 July, it came with 24 conditions. Six of them have to be signed off before any construction can begin.

The supplementary report says a number will not be cleared by the original start date. At a meeting on 15 October, the council told its development partner, Alliance Leisure, that every pre-commencement condition must be discharged before the construction contract is signed.

The last one expected to clear is the archaeology condition. The programme assumes it is approved on 25 January, which is why that is now the start date. Alliance says two boreholes are being driven to check for archaeology. The first found none. The results go to the council’s planners on 30 November. (RIBA Stage 4 revised programme addendum, Annex 1)

The council has also asked to loosen a separate condition. Application 26/01873/DR3, validated on 19 October, would turn condition 7, which fixes the building’s slab level, into a general compliance condition. The council’s register gives 9 November as its consultation expiry date. (Planning application 26/01873/DR3)

Does the delay cost more?

The report says no. The builder, Etec, has agreed to hold its tender price until 31 December 2026. The contract is now due to be signed on 18 December, before that deadline and before the Christmas break.

The report repeats the earlier warning: if signing slips into 2027, construction costs would rise every quarter with material prices.

The old and new dates

The supplementary report gives 2 January for the contractor to start mobilising. Its attached programme gives three weeks from 4 January.

How it is paid for

The council’s announcement says the project is fully funded with no borrowing. The money comes from council reserves and existing budgets, plus £1 million from tmactive, the not-for-profit trust that runs the Angel Centre. The trust also runs Larkfield Leisure Centre, Tonbridge Swimming Pool, Poult Wood Golf Course and Leybourne Lakes Country Park.

The detail of the funding, including the £14.4 million town centre reserve, is in our report of 16 October.

What the building will have

The council lists:

• children’s soft play and party rooms
• a public café
• a spin studio
• a bigger gym with new equipment
• three multi-purpose studios, which can be used together for community meetings and events of up to 332 people
• step-free access throughout
• inclusive equipment and an active wellbeing suite

Cllr Adem Mehmet, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Tonbridge Regeneration, said it was “the first civic building of this scale to be built in Tonbridge for over 40-years”. He said it “will transform this part of the High Street”.

The council says it will be the first building delivered under the Tonbridge Town Centre Masterplan, which covers the land east of the High Street.

What it means for you

• If you use the Angel Centre: carry on as normal. The council says the current building stays open throughout, and the new one is now due in late summer 2028.
• If you park at Sovereign Way Mid: nothing changes in November after all. The council has not yet said when the car park closes; with the contractor due on site in early January, expect it around then. Other car parks are on our parking page.
• If you want to comment on the slab level change: application 26/01873/DR3 is on the council’s planning register. Other live schemes are on our planning news page.
• If you belong to a group that hires rooms: the council says management stays with tmactive. Our 16 October report sets out the proposed wording on community meeting rooms.

What planning permission covered in July, including the loss of 112 parking spaces, is in our planning decision report.