Five Liberal Democrats defied their party leaders at a full council council meeting on Wednesday tonight and failed to back the leadership’s decision to halt work on setting up a Town Council for Tunbridge Wells.
But the Lib Dem leadership still won the vote 18-15.
Leader Ben Chapelard (pictured below) had surprised the town by proposing his motion to stop work on Town Council preparations, blaming the pause in Labour’s Local government reorganisation.
Liberal Democrat David Osborne voted against his leader, arguing that the Liberal Democrat-run Sevenoaks Town Council has been a great success. Sevenoaks has always retained its own Town Council despite being the centre of a District Council.
Maidstone and Tonbridge are both pushing ahead with new Town Councils, with the first elections next May.
The Tunbridge Wells Town Forum has condemned a lack of consultation by the Liberal Democrat leadership over the u-turn. The Town Forum, which is made up of ward councillors and local representatives, has called this a “retrograde step.”
At the meeting Ben Chapelard said: “We are merely asking for a pause, we are not cancelling, just waiting to know what the timeline is (of Labour’s Local Government Reorganisation.)”
Liberal Democrats focussed on the potential increased costs for town residents.
The Tunbridge Wells Town Council would have covered voters in the “unparished” areas of the town (shown below) who – unlike Southborough, Rusthall, Paddock Wood and the Borough’s villages – don’t have any local parish or town council to look after parks, cemeteries and other community buildings.
Liberal Democrats who followed the leadership line said the Town Council could cost an extra £ 100,000 a year employing a clerk. Cllr Ukonu Obasi said: “It makes no sense to have additional costs in a time of uncertainty.”
Meanwhile, the next full council meeting will almost certainly approve the first part of the council’s loan costing an estimated £ 4 million a year to upgrade the RVP shopping centre. The full scheme is for more leisure, more restaurants and a boutique cinema to replace the snooker hall.
At the full council meeting on Wednesday 14th October, all the opposition parties united to oppose the Liberal Democrats. Dianne Hill (pictured below), who has served as mayor of Southborough, leading Southborough’s Town Council said that the Tunbridge Wells Town Council “should have happened years ago.”
David Hayward from the Independents for Tunbridge Wells Party said having a Town Council was an “imperative” for effective scrutiny of planning applications as Town Councils are statutory consultees who’s views have to be given weight in planning decisions.
Tom Dawlings, who leads the Conservative group, said the motion by the council leader was an “proceedurally inappropriate” way to reverse the council decision to form a Town Council, which had been taken after public consultation. He pointed out a cross-party group had not been consulted on the u-turn.
Lib Dems voting against leadership = 3 councillors
Gavin Barrass, St James’;
Simon Davidson, St John’s;
David Osborne, Culverden
Lib Dems abstaining = 2 councillors
Richard Brown, Park;
Astra Birch, Pembury & Capel
The other 12 votes against were Conservatives 6 , Labour 3, TW Alliance 2, David Hayward 1.
The Liberal Democrats supporting the motion to halt the Town Council = 18
Ben Chapelard, Mark Ellis, Pamela Wilkinson, Chris Hall, Rob Wormington, Corinna Keefe, Matt Lowe (all cabinet members), plus Martin Brice, Kimberley Johnson, Jamie Johnson, Don Kent, Mark Munday, Ukonu Obasi, Hugh Patterson, Ash Shukla, Ian Standing, Andrew Wallace, Harry Wormington.
After the meeting Adrian Berendt of the Town Forum said: “While I was disappointed on behalf of the Town Forum, there was clearly a lot of support for the Town Council in the room. Now is the time for the Borough Council to engage properly with residents to decide on what shape and size of Town Council we want, so that we are ready to go whenever Local Government Reorganisation happens.”
