THE town's largest private employer is threatening to pull the plug on major expansion plans in Tunbridge Wells because the borough council snapped up the only suitable site.

AXA PPP Healthcare is now looking elsewhere for office space and warned there would be a "gradual migration" of staff away from the town.

Speaking exclusively to the Courier, operations director David Clarke said: "We are committed to Tunbridge Wells but we absolutely are looking to grow outside of Tunbridge Wells, which is a pity for the town.

"We have previously looked at Ashford as a centre and are revisiting that and other areas but will maintain something in Tunbridge Wells – but a lesser presence over the years."

The company employs 1,900 people across the town and its local workforce was expected to increase by 800 staff during the next ten years.

The company hoped this growth could largely be accommodated at the Land Registry building in Hawkenbury, and offered £10 million for it in June.

Mr Clarke told the Courier it was a "terrific opportunity for us, very rare and it looked like it was coming on the market".

But the Forest Road site never did come on the market – instead the council had an offer accepted, reputed to be £9 million.

AXA has now formally challenged the deal through the Shareholder Executive, a monitoring body for the Government.

This week AXA told the Courier there were no other 60,000 sq ft sites in Tunbridge Wells and it would grow its business "somewhere else where we believe it will be more business-friendly".

Mr Clarke said for the next 18 months the company would look for accommodation locally but the following five to ten years would be "away from Tunbridge Wells".

Speaking of the Land Registry sale, he said: "Our view is this is a Government building and should have been placed on the open market to get best value for the taxpayer.

"We wanted to compete for this in an open scenario to make growth in the town."

AXA bosses have since met with borough council leader Roy Bullock and chief executive William Benson.

Mr Clarke said: "They have expressed the fact they want us to be in Tunbridge Wells and looked at whether they could be helpful to us through the regeneration scheme."

He dubbed the council's efforts "a positive" but said these options could not help the company's short or medium-term plans.

"We want certainty in business," Mr Clarke said. "We don't want pipe dreams in Tunbridge Wells.

"The borough council have not really organised themselves in a way historically or now to ensure that we continue that growth in Tunbridge Wells."

Staff across the six town sites were told this week their jobs were safe and Mr Clarke insisted Tunbridge Wells would remain as a "major centre".

He added: "We are not looking at redundancies, what we are looking at is a gradual migration so we have two centres in which we operate and the second one obviously being somewhere where we believe it will be more business-friendly."

Mr Clarke said the cost of houses in Tunbridge Wells – which impacted on recruitment – was also an "issue" for future growth.

But he spoke about the value staff brought to Tunbridge Wells. The company leads the way locally in its community work through its Hearts in Action scheme, which sees thousands of pounds raised annually for charity and staff voluntarily giving hours to community projects.

And this month, to celebrate its 70th birthday, it is holding a charity fête for the staff and the public.

Asked if he could envisage the company ever quitting Tunbridge Wells, he said: "It would be a terrible day and I don't foresee that circumstance."

Mr Bullock said he remained hopeful a solution could be found for AXA in Tunbridge Wells and the council was working closely with the company to identify sites.

He said the Land Registry not going on the open market was a "decision of central Government" and said he understood AXA felt disappointed but it was "not our decision".