Residents could soon have a new dentist’s surgery and pharmacy in the town centre
Small Kent town set for new dentist surgery and pharmacy(Image: Google Street View)
A small and tight-knit Kent town which is seeing huge numbers of new housing putting pressure on infrastructure, could see a new dentist surgery and pharmacy.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has had a lawful development certificate application for land at the rear of Station Road in Paddock Wood.
The letter asks the council if using the ground floor, which already has approval for commercial accommodation, as a dental practice and pharmacy would be classed as lawful use.
Paddock Wood, a market town some 7.5 miles from Tunbridge Wells, and under seven miles from Tonbridge, has seen high numbers of homes built, with more on the way. Residents often raise the impact of too few resources against this backdrop, with queues seen outside the pharmacy in the town centre, and the scramble for doctors and dentists’ appointments.
The wider approved mixed scheme, including 14 flats, has been built. The applicant Icefox Developments said the ground floor office units in Block A, along with an office/community unit set around a shared public realm area, had drawn “limited” interest from the market despite it being actively marketed.
Small Kent town set for new dentist surgery and pharmacy(Image: Crown Copyright and database rights 2026 OS)
It now proposes a 63.6sqm pharmacy and a 130sqm dentists at the site, near Paddock Wood Railway Station. Plans show the two facilities would have front doors almost side by side.
No alterations to the outside are proposed, said the application, which seeks confirmation this new use falls within the scope of the approved flexible uses already granted previously.
“The proposed uses are appointment and service-based in nature and are intended to provide local healthcare and community-serving facilities within the town centre environment,” says planning papers from Freeman Ankerman Partnership.
“The proposed pharmacy and dental practice maintain active commercial and community-serving uses at ground floor level and are considered compatible with the approved mixed-use character planning objectives of the development,” it says.
It does not name a dental or pharmaceutical company, and does not state if the dentist would take NHS patients.