Fiveways, Royal Tunbridge Wells

Once Fiveways was a busy traffic intersection.  Then one road was turned into a pedestrianised area.  Later a major road scheme resulted in two other roads being joined up avoiding the Fiveways junction.  The remaining two roads became a restricted traffic zone: all vehicles except buses and taxis being banned from 10.00am to 4.00pm Mondays to Saturdays.  In reality many drivers ignore the restriction and little has been done to deter them.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has taken delivery of CCTV car which will be used to photograph drivers using Fiveways illegally.  Postal fines will be issued on the basis of the photographic evidence.  The Council took delivery of the car last September and latest estimates are that it will be patrolling the area from this August.  Administrative bungling of the first order.

Fiveways is the home of the Millenium Clock, a work of art which has not met with universal approbation by the local populace.  At one time there were underground toilets reached by very narrow staircases.  They were swept away as part of the road scheme.  A letter writer in the local press suggested that a railway station should be built at Fiveways with escalator connections to platforms in the tunnel of the  line which runs beneath the site!

Now a new dispute has surfaced:

http://www.kentandsussexcourier.co.uk/8220-8217-ll-report-nick-8221-Tunbridge-Wells/story-19342318-detail/story.html