Should Tonbridge Have A Town Council

The results of a public consultation about a future council in Tonbridge have been published.

The latest consultation run by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council on the proposal was held during November and December 2025 and attracted 897 responses.

It followed an earlier consultation in which nearly three quarters of respondents supported the town council’s creation. The follow-up exercise sought further views on questions over warding arrangements, the number of councillors that should be elected and whether Tonbridge should have its own mayor.

The responses to the second consultation were as follows:

• Should the town council area be divided into wards? 69% of people that responded stated that they would like the area to be divided up into wards.
• How many councillors should a town council have?

• 41% favoured 13 councillors
• 37% favoured 18 councillors
• 10% favoured 30 councillors
• 12% favoured a different number

• Should the town council have a mayor? Yes – 62%; No – 38%

The results of the consultation and final recommendations will be presented to a full meeting of borough councillors on February 24th. The meeting will be invited to vote on a set of final recommendations proposed by a cross-party group of councillors who have overseen the community governance review process.

The recommendations include a proposal that a Tonbridge Town Council is formed, that there are 18 town councillors and that a new town council ward name of Oast is applied to the unparished parts of Hildenborough. The working group recommendations also invite councillors to note the support for a mayor among consultation responses.

The recommendation for 18 councillors was put forward to offer flexibility in terms of meeting attendance, better representation across the six wards and to provide proportional numbers compared to other larger parish or town councils. 

If it’s agreed to proceed, the creation of a town council would require the borough council to draw up an order as the first stage in officially establishing the town council, setting boundaries, councillor numbers and election cycles. The order would need to be ratified by parliament with the first elections expected to take place in May 2027.

Damian Roberts, Electoral Registration Officer at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, said: “Our key objective for this review into whether Tonbridge should have a town council has been to give residents the facts and allow everyone to have their say. “I’d like to thank members of the working group and all those who have taken part in the consultations and contributed to the review process.”

Further information is available by visiting https://www.tmbc.gov.uk/voting-elections/tonbridge-town-council-review