Consultation on moving Family Hub services to The Amelia Scott closed Monday. KCC promised an autumn decision; the committee work programme omits it.

The consultation on moving Tunbridge Wells Family Hub services out of Grove Hill Road closed on Monday 15 September. Kent County Council told everyone who responded that the report would go to a committee “in Autumn 2026”.

That committee met on the same day the consultation closed. The Family Hub was not on its agenda, and it is not on the forward work programme the committee published with that agenda either.

What is being proposed

Kent County Council wants to move Family Hub services from 39a Grove Hill Road, TN1 1SD to The Amelia Scott on Mount Pleasant Road. Both are in central Tunbridge Wells. The council puts the distance at 0.4 miles, about a ten minute walk.

The services involved are:

  • parenting courses
  • baby massage
  • support groups
  • wellbeing services
  • information and advice
  • access to partner organisations

The council says the move “would not remove or reduce the service offer”, and that services would still be delivered by its own staff. (Let’s Talk Kent, Relocating Tunbridge Wells Family Hub Services at Grove Hill Road)

Its case for the move is partly about the building. Grove Hill Road is a converted Victorian property with limited space and, in the council’s own words, “accessibility challenges, including no lift access to the first floor”. It says the building restricts what can be offered and may have costly future maintenance requirements. The Amelia Scott has step-free access and lifts to all floors.

The council also lists its own finances among the four things it considered: “KCC’s financial situation and ways to reduce costs across our estate.”

Paul Webb, the county council’s Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services, said when the consultation opened: “We want to make sure that services in Tunbridge Wells continue to meet local needs and remain accessible for the people who rely on them.” (Kent County Council news release, 3 August 2026)

What the council said would happen next

The consultation page sets out the process in plain terms. After it closes, the council reviews the responses, updates the Equality Impact Assessment if needed, and prepares a consultation report.

Then this: “The consultation report, updated EqIA and committee papers are expected to be considered by the Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) Cabinet Committee in Autumn 2026.”

What the committee papers actually show

We checked the committee’s own record on 18 September.

The CYPE Cabinet Committee met on Tuesday 15 September, the day the consultation closed, at Sessions House in Maidstone. Its agenda ran to eleven items: performance monitoring, three school funding proposals, a school estate condition survey and the standing items. There was no Family Hub item, which is what you would expect on the day responses were still coming in. (CYPE Cabinet Committee agenda, 15 September 2026)

The forward look is the part that matters. Item 11 on that agenda was the committee’s Work Programme, the published list of what it expects to take next. It contains six items, all for one meeting:

  • Verbal Update by Cabinet Members
  • Draft Capital Programme, Revenue Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan
  • Performance Monitoring
  • Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Education Safeguarding Service
  • Commissioning Plan
  • Work Programme

The Tunbridge Wells Family Hub is not among them. (CYPE Cabinet Committee work programme, published with the 15 September agenda)

There is a second wrinkle. That work programme dates all six items to Tuesday 17 November 2026. The committee’s own published calendar lists its next meeting as Thursday 26 November 2026 at 10am, then 19 January 2027. Both are Kent County Council’s own publications and we could not reconcile them from the record. (CYPE Cabinet Committee meetings)

Nor has a decision been registered. Kent County Council publishes a list of decisions still to be taken. On 18 September it held 16 items, from waste transfer contracts to school expansions. None of them is the Tunbridge Wells Family Hub. (Kent County Council, forthcoming decisions)

The Tunbridge Wells Family Hub consultation and the committee dates A timeline. 3 August 2026, consultation opens. 15 September 2026, consultation closes and the Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee meets on the same day without the item on its agenda. 17 November 2026 is the date on the committee's published work programme, which lists six items and does not include the Family Hub. 26 November 2026 is the next meeting on the committee's published calendar. 19 January 2027 is the meeting after that. "Autumn 2026" has two possible dates and no listed item All dates from Kent County Council's own consultation page and committee papers, checked 18 September 2026. 3 August 2026 Consultation opens on moving the Family Hub to The Amelia Scott 15 September 2026 Consultation closes. The CYPE Cabinet Committee meets the same day, without the item 17 November 2026 Date on the published work programme: six items, none of them the Family Hub 26 November 2026 Next meeting on the committee's published calendar. The one after is 19 January 2027 Sources: letstalk.kent.gov.uk; news.kent.gov.uk; democracy.kent.gov.uk. Graphic by T Wells Today
January is not autumn. If the report misses November, the timetable the council gave consultees slips.

None of this means the move has been abandoned or that the council has broken anything. Work programmes are updated between meetings, and items are added to agendas until roughly a week before they are held. It does mean that, three days after the consultation closed, there is no published date on which the decision will be taken.

What it means for you

  • Nothing has changed on the ground. Family Hub services are still running from 39a Grove Hill Road. No move can happen until the decision is taken.
  • The realistic window is late November. That is the only autumn meeting of the committee on the published calendar. If it is not on that agenda, the next scheduled meeting is 19 January 2027, which is not autumn.
  • Watch for the agenda, not the press release. Committee agendas are published about a week before the meeting at democracy.kent.gov.uk. The consultation report and the Equality Impact Assessment will be attached to the item, and those are the documents that show what respondents actually said.
  • If the proposal is approved, you should be contacted. The council says the Family Hubs team would contact families, young people, carers, staff and partner organisations affected, with information in advance about when the move would happen and any temporary arrangements.
  • The council’s contact for this is published. TWFamilyhub@kent.gov.uk or 03000 418059.

The Amelia Scott is also the building where the borough council puts its car club bay consultation plans on display, and it sits inside the Mount Pleasant Road bus gate, which is worth knowing if you are driving to it between 9am and 6pm.

Sources: Let’s Talk Kent, “Relocating Tunbridge Wells Family Hub Services at Grove Hill Road”, read 18 September 2026; Kent County Council news release, “Consultation opens on proposed move for Tunbridge Wells Family Hub services”, 3 August 2026; Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee, agenda for 15 September 2026 and its Work Programme; Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee, list of meetings; Kent County Council, decisions still to be taken, counted 18 September 2026.