Petition "Hits target"

Tonbridge is to get its own Town Council if most voters in the Tonbridge town area want one.

Since 1974, Tonbridge has been the only part of the Tonbridge and Malling Borough council area without a more local Town or Parish Council. 

The Conservative leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, Matt Boughton, said on Monday that - up to now - he has had mixed feelings over whether a Tonbridge Town Council should be set up, as he was concerned about the cost. 

But now Matt Boughton has said that the Labour government decision's to reorganise local government had created - what he called - a "democratic deficit" and he wanted the electorate of the town to decide the Town Council issue.

The new Tonbridge Town Council would cover the area shown within the black border on the map below.

Matt Boughton's statement came as supporters of a petition to start the formal process of setting up a Town or Parish Council said they believed they had reached the 2,075 signatures they needed.

The 2,075 figure is the trigger point as it represents 7 1/2% of the voting population of Tonbridge.

The Green Party Borough Councillor for Judd Ward, Mark Hood, told West Kent Radio: "It's all good news. It is great to see the Conservative group have finally come on board. It is nice they support a Town Council now, but we were in the process of triggering it anyway."

On Sunday 9th February, supporters of the Tonbridge Town Council campaign gathered more signatures at the Farmers' Market (pictured below).

Listen here to Guy Forster-Pearce's report on the Sunday petition event, airing on Monday 17th February, 2025.

Matt Boughton's statement argued: "I have always been ambivalent about a Town Council for Tonbridge. There are advantages and disadvantages of creating one.

"For me, the main advantage is an additional body that can be the voice of the town. The main disadvantage is that it would almost certainly cost taxpayers more money to have another Council.

"If residents in the town want one, that is fine and we will make it happen. It would, in civic terms but not in power or structure, be a continuation of Tonbridge Urban District Council which was disbanded in the early 1970s.

"What has changed though is the Devolution White Paper i.e. the Labour Government's plan to abolish TMBC, Kent County Council and replace them with larger Unitary authorities. 

"The Labour Government plan leaves a democratic deficit across every community and also results in significant cost, disruption and uncertainty for all residents everywhere.

"Tonbridge Conservative Councillors Dennis King and Adem Mehmet have put a Motion to TMBC Full Council meeting on Tuesday 18 February 2025 which would start a process called a 'Community Governance Review', with the intention of creating a Town Council in Tonbridge in light of the Devolution White Paper and re-organisation of local government".

Matt Boughton (pictured below) told West Kent Radio that the Borough would "crack on" with the Community Governance Review process, which would allow people in the town to respond if they do want a Town Council - or don't want one. 

He said: "If the consultation shows that people want one, then we'll make one happen".  

The residents would have to respond to a TMBC consultation (by post or via the website) and provide their address to prove they lived in the town and so were entitled to participate in the process. Then a full TMBC council meeting would take a decision based on the consultation results.

Matt Boughton also stated that TMBC or its larger "unitary" successor would still deal with street cleaning and running the town's leisure facilities.

And he also made it clear: "In the meantime TMBC will continue with its regeneration plan for Tonbridge Town Centre, as it could do regardless of whether we had a Town Council or not".

The Conservative motion likely to be approved at a meeting of the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council on Tuesday 18th February states that the council will: "Start the process of a Community Governance Review, with the intention of creating a Town Council in Tonbridge, by establishing a politically proportionate Member working group to oversee the development of an initial Terms of Reference and timetable for this review".

Shown below is a picture of a wooden shield bearing the Tonbridge Urban District Council (TUDC) coat of arms, painted by Mr R. A. Hunt.

Tonbridge Urban District Council was granted these arms by Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy Kings of Arms on 30th September 1935.

According to the Tonbridge Historical Society Website:
"The two towers at the top represent Tonbridge Castle. The left tower is allowed to carry a ‘Lion Passant Guardant’ because the Great Seal of England was kept for some time in Tonbridge Castle during one of the visits to France of Edward I. The three chevrons on the right tower are from the arms of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester (and ancient Lord of Tonbridge). 

The shield shows a bridge of five arches representing the five waterways that once crossed the High Street, three of which have now been culverted. 

The ship implies the importance to Tonbridge of the River Medway, particularly before the coming of the railway. 

The Latin motto translates as ‘The good of the people is the supreme law’ (Cicero).

Although the 1935 arms were to be ‘borne and used for ever hereafter by The Urban District Council of Tonbridge and by its successors’, they were in fact replaced in 1976 after the new Tonbridge and Malling District had come into being.

TUDC was abolished in 1974 when the Tonbridge and Malling Borough was formed.

Here is some more research and context on the Cicero quote that was the Tonbridge Urban District Council motto, kindly provided by Dr Jason Webber:

From Laws 3.8:
rēgiō imperiō duō suntō, iīque praeeundō, iūdicandō, cōnsulendō praetōrēs iūdicēs cōnsulēs appellāminō; mīlitiae summum iūs habentō, nēminī parentō; ollīs salūs populī suprēma lēx estō.
'Let there be two magistrates with the royal power, and from their function as leading, judging, and deliberating, let them be called leaders, judges, and consuls; may they have the highest authority in war, and be bound by obedience to no others; and for them may the welfare of the people be the highest law.'