the old cinema site, Royal Tunbridge Wells.

IT’S taken nearly 12 years and been subject of a host of false dawns, but finally a date has been propsed to pull down Tunbridge Wells’ most infamous grot spot - but don’t get too excited just yet.

The former ABC Cinema on Mount Pleasant has stood abandoned since 2000 when it was closed. But having been snapped up by developers last year in a £10million deal, two applications have been submitted to the council to pull the eye-sore down.

The first, which seeks permission to work in a designated conservation area, has been given the green light by the council.

But the second, which outlines details of the demolition process, has been held-up by a glitch on behalf of those submitting the request.

It is currently ‘pending’ and due for an imminent decision.

Developers had proposed work begin on February 13 - with work concluding some three months later, on May 11.

As a result of the hold-up, however, those dates may be pushed back.

However, it is the closest yet to the town finally getting rid of a blot on the landscape which has dogged it for more than a decade.

A spokesperson for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council said: “Quite what the impact will be on the developers’ plans, we’re not sure, but residents can rest assured we are doing everything possible to ensure this reaches a satisfactory conclusion as soon as possible.”

In addition to the redundant cinema, the site includes the retail sites formerly occupied by Pizza Hut, Gamleys and the Gourmet Burger Bar. Clanricarde House and Hill House are located at the rear of the site.

The demolition documents submitted to the council say: “The proposal involves the demolition of relatively small scale buildings by the way of a carefully staged reduction, reducing the buildings storey-by-storey by mechanical munchers and pulverisers.”

But workmen will find a few challenges in their path. The documents warn of “pigeon and rat infestation” being “well advanced” and a full “invasive asbestos survey” to be undertaken.

It adds: “Full controls to prevent the risk of disease of contagion during the demolition process will be undertaken.”

The cinema has stood empty since it was closed by Odeon in 2000.

It shut up shop to focus on its out-of-town multiplex - leaving a covenant on the site preventing it from being used as a cinema.

Since then it has been the subject of enormous debate and three different owners.

One major scheme was scuppered by the economic slump, which resulted in it going back on the market in May 2010.

Among the bidders was the borough council - but it failed to make a short-list which was finally decided up last August. Successive leaders have been desperate to see the town lose the eye-sore which overlooks the Town Hall.

The site was bought by a Luxembourg subsidiary of private equity firm the Carlyle Group, acting through a joint venture with London-based developer Bellhouse Joseph.

The developer vowed to have the site demolished within 12 months of it taking over the site when it concluded the sale last summer.

What will go in its place has not yet been confirmed, but the developer said it had been in talks with Premier Inn over building a budget hotel on the site.