For the first time in more than twenty years, the Conservative Party has no overall majority on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, as counting today revealed opposition parties gained 5 seats in Thursday’s local elections.

Years of drama over the abandoned theatre project and controversy over a massive housebuilding plan for Capel has worn down the Conservative’s normally rock solid majority in the Borough.

The Conservatives now have exactly half of the council seats, which is 24 of the 48 members elected.

The Liberal Democrats won the seat of Capel, defeating the leading Conservative, Carol Mackonochie.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) has put forward plans for thousands of houses in the Capel area, filling in much farmland between Tonbridge and Paddock Wood in order to meet central government housing targets.

The victorious Liberal Democrat in the Capel seat, Hugh Patterson (pictured below) won 75% of the votes and said on twitter that it was an “overwhelming victory on a huge turnout. TWBC – this a rejection of the Local Plan by the community most affected!”

The turnout in Capel was 53%, which is the highest in the Borough emphasising the strength of feeling on the housing issue. The full result for Capel is below:

Hugh Patterson	LibDem	717	75%
Carol Mackonochie	Con	187	20%
Christine Spicer	Green	17	2%
Wendy Day	Lab	16	2%
Christopher Hoare	UKIP	16	2%

Below is some of the farmland near Five Oak Green that opponents in the Save Capel campaign are trying to preserve. 

There were 3 Liberal Democrat gains in all (Capel, Broadwater and Pantiles/St Mark’s), while Labour gained Rusthall and the local group, Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party, also gained one seat.

The Alliance defeated the Conservative councillor Barry Noakes, who had represented the Goudhurst & Lamberhurst seat for the past 13 years.  The victory was by just 28 votes.

But the Alliance candidate in the Speldhurst & Bidborough seat, the well-known restaurant owner Matthew Sankey, lost to the Conservatives, amid an even spread of votes to rival opposition parties. The full Speldhurst & Bidborough result (with two seats up for grabs) is below:

Harry Allen	Con	912	22%
David Stanyer	Con	860	21%
Matthew Sankey	Alliance	626	15%
Anne Backshell	Alliance	486	12%
Clare  Himmer	Green	311	8%
Jeremy  Stirling	LibDem	290	7%
Martin  Brice	LibDem	246	6%
Millie Gray	Labour	176	4%
Anne Musker	Labour	174	4%

The Borough Council opposition now consists of 13 Liberal Democrats, 5 Labour, 5 Alliance and one Independent Councillor.

Meanwhile in Southborough, there was no Borough Council voting in the north and west of the town but in the seat of Southborough and High Brooms, the incumbent Labour candidate Dianne Hill (below) triumphed with 52 % of the vote – the same share as the last election five years ago.

Dianne Hill told Southborough News: “I love this community and I live here. I am really overwhelmed and so pleased and proud to be representing Southborough and High Brooms.”

SOUTHBOROUGH AND HIGH BROOMS MAY 2021
Dianne Hill	Lab	1033	52%
Nasir Jamil	Con	576	29%
Aqab Mehmood Malik	LibDem	162	8%
Anthony Hoskin	Green	150	8%
Christine Marshall	UKIP	48	2%

After some confusion on PA news service about the totals, here is confirmation of the current councillors and their names:

48	RESULTS 2021	24	13	5	5	1
		CON	LIBDEM	LAB	ALLIANCE	INDEP
3	Benenden & Cranbrook	Dawlings			Warne
		Holden*
2	Brenchley & Horsmonden	March*
		McDermott
2	Broadwater	Cobbold LOST	Hall WON
		Woodward
1	Capel	Mackonochie LOST	Patterson WON
3	Culverden	Scott	Rands
			Rutland*
1	Frittenden & Sissinghurst	Fairweather
2	Goudhurst & Lamberhurst	Hall
		Noakes LOST			Knight WON
3	Hawkhurst & Sandhurst	Bland
		Palmer*
		Thomson
2	Paddock Wood East	Hamilton				Atkins
2	Paddock Wood West	Bailey
		Thomas (retd)
		Hills NEW
3	Pantiles & St Marks	Scholes	Hickey
		Horwood (died)	Fitzsimmons WON
3	Park	Atwood			Pope
		Bruneau
		White NEW
3	Pembury	Barrington-King			Hayward
		Reilly
		Roberts NEW
2	Rusthall	Podbury (retd)	Funnell	Britcher WON
3	Sherwood	Backhouse		Pound
		Williams
		Goodship NEW
3	Southborough +HB			Everitt
				Hill*
				Lewis
2	Southborough North	Simmons	Poile
3	Speldhurst & Bidborough	Stanyer*			Willis
		Soyke (resigned)
		Allen NEW
2	St James’		Chapelard*
			Wormington WON			Neave-LEFT
3	St John’s		Ellis
			Lidstone*
			Morton
48	Total Seats	CON	LIBDEM	LAB	ALLIANCE	INDEP
	*INDICATES RE-ELECTED IN EXISTING SEAT	24	13	5	5	1

The Kent County Council seat of Tunbridge Wells North – which includes Southborough – has been won by the Conservatives, with Peter Oakford narrowly holding his seat by just 80 votes, after many voters switched from the Liberal Democrats to Labour.

The Conservative lead over Labour was 35% to 34%, with an increased turnout from four years ago.

The Green party candidate, Anthony Hoskin, added to his tally from the last election, taking 11% or 611 votes.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have held their position in control of Kent County Council as a whole, with all 6 of the Tunbridge Wells area seats staying Conservative.

Cllr Oakford (below) was voted off the Borough Council two years ago but is still a powerful figure in the County Council as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services.

The full results for Tunbridge Wells North (including Southborough) which had a 42 % turnout were:

MAY 2021
Peter Oakford	Con	2,048	35%
Mike Tapp	Lab	1,968	34%
Aqab Mehmood Malik	LibDem	1,057	18%
Anthony Hoskin	Green	611	11%
Christine Marshall	UKIP	127	2%
Total votes		5,811

The results in 2017 were:

MAY 2017
Peter Oakford	Con	2,017	42%
Martin Betts	Lab	1,248	26%
Marguerita Morton	LibDem	1,172	25%
William O’Shea	UKIP	215	4%
Anthony Hoskin	Green	128	3%
Total votes		4,780

The Borough Council results will be announced tomorrow with the Conservative overall majority in Tunbridge Wells in the balance.

The planned new West Kent Community Radio is today celebrating after being awarded almost £9,000 in National Lottery funding to buy the FM radio transmitters it needs to be able to launch its service later this year.

West Kent Community Radio evolved from Hospital Radio Tunbridge Wells, an established hospital radio service which has been broadcasting radio programmes to local hospitals for the past 60 years.

The charity, which is staffed by more than 55 volunteers ranging in age from 22 to 77, was awarded an FM licence by OFCOM in March 2020 to provide a community radio service for Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Southborough and surrounding areas.

At present, West Kent Radio provides a 24/7 service which can be heard in our local hospitals, online and via Smart speaker and has continued to provide programmes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with many presenters operating from their homes to keep the station on air.

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will enable the service to be expanded and broadcast on FM across West Kent.

Broadcasting as West Kent Radio, the station’s output will include a variety of music from across the decades, regular local news bulletins and information on local sporting and social events.

It will host discussion programmes on topics of local interest to allow local people to engage with members of the County Council, town councils and residents and will provide a platform for local charities and support organisations to promote their services and enable local musicians to showcase their talents in live shows.

The charitable aims of West Kent Community Radio include the prevention or relief of sickness and the promotion of good personal mental and physical health, and broadcasting health education messages and advice in its programmes and hosting discussion programmes with health experts will help it to achieve these aims.

The station will continue to broadcast request programmes for patients in local hospitals as it has done for the past 60 years and aims to expand the requests service into care homes and other healthcare locations.

Chris Manser, Trustee of West Kent Community Radio said: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to press on with our plans to launch our service on FM and by providing music, news, entertainment, sport and good advice we hope to enrich the lives of our listeners in West Kent.”