wyeweb.org

Several correspondents have remarked that a peremptory disposal of the Withersdane Hall site for a non-HE use would possible deter or, at least, make less attractive Wye as new or revived college campus. We have seen a document that lays out this argument to ABC.

The document restates that the Withersdane complex provides about half of the student accommodation at the Wye College campus as well as a relatively new conference facility, a well-appointed hall with stage as well as housing for essential staff.  As such it is an integral part of Wye College and the loss of these facilities will frustrate the re-establishment of the rest of the campus as a centre of Higher Education, or indeed any other purpose for which residential users are an integral part.  If the Withersdane Hall complex were lost to the campus any new educational use would require its students to commute in from the area around Wye.  As public transport services are not ideal the only alternative would be for students to commute to Wye by car.  On environmental grounds alone this is not acceptable nowadays.

We know that PhoenixWyeCollege is in delicate negotiations with the University of Buckingham and it is reasonable to suppose that if the Withersdane Hall complex, as it is, is not available to them then it would severely hinder the educational, organisational and financial viability of their project. Wyeweb understands that it is most likely that they would not embark on such a project unless they received irrevocable guarantees from Ashford Borough Council that the lost facilities at Withersdane Hall could be replaced by new buildings somewhere within Wye village within walking distance of the main campus.

Not unreasonably we also understand that PhoenixWyeCollege insists that the Withersdane Hall Care Village Planning application be rejected and that, presuming the final wording of the Tenterden & Rural Sites Development Plan Document is accepted, no further applications for an alternative use for the Withersdane Hall site should be considered until 2014.

This position is quite understandable given that it is the stated policy of local statutory bodies that every opportunity should be given for the Wye College campus to be used in the future for Higher Education.  Indeed this is stated in the draft Tenterden & Rural Sites Development Plan Document under section Wye03.  We have seen also that recent correspondence with Simon Cole and PhoenixWyeCollege indicated that it was an oversight not to include Withersdane Hall within that policy item and this will be corrected in the final plan.  This is a reasonable policy and should attract wide unequivocal support.