The £100million Inspired Village development – the later-living arm of insurers Legal & General – is located on a 9.5-acre site at Little Mount Farm, in Benhall Mill Road, Frant on the Wealden/Tunbridge Wells border.
The project will comprise 146 retirement homes as well as facilities such as a restaurant, café, library, wellness centre and cinema room.
The development is expected to create 88 jobs during construction and up to 65 operational jobs once complete.
Work is expected to begin in the middle of next year.
Neal Dale, Development Director at Inspired Villages, said: “This site in Tunbridge Wells is an important addition to our portfolio due to the significantly growing demand for age appropriate housing in the local area.
“To win another approval is such quick succession during these unprecedented times is a testament to the outstanding need in our society for more retirement communities that support the physical and mental wellbeing of older people. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this process and supported us.”
Phil Bayliss, CEO of Later Living at Legal & General, added: “Prior to the pandemic, loneliness and isolation was a debilitating and unexpected reality affecting around 1.4m older people in the UK.
“As the UK marks Loneliness Awareness Week and comes to the end of the third month since lockdown began, never has independent community living focused on extending health span and leading to less reliance on the national healthcare system had a greater role to play in our society.
“This latest planning permission and those achieved throughout lockdown are a pivotal step forward in our ability to accelerate the growth of a new generation of purpose-built stock, bringing them to communities across the UK.”
