Tag: labour-party

Cinema Plan is Top Election Issue

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The Liberal Democrat plan to take on a council debt of £68 million to finance town centre development work appears to have turned into the major local election issue for voters who make their choice tomorrow (Thursday 7th).

The Conservative candidate in Sherwood, Christian Atwood, told Southborough News today: “A lot of people are against the proposed cinema ‘Vanity Project 2.0’ – as I’m calling it.”

Sherwood is being targeted by both Reform UK and the Greens as both parties attempt to win their first seats on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

Christian Atwood of the Conservatives continued: “Honestly I can’t wrap my head around it. You’ve got a council that only has one year left in its existence before we move into a unitary authority. The new cinema is going to be in competition with Trinity and the Knight’s Park cinema. Financially, my mind boggles as to why they thought it up.”

Christian Atwood said on Wednesday that he believed his chances of being re-elected in Sherwood were “tentatively good” and he is “quietly hopeful”. He said: “I’ve not found much support for the Green Party on the doorstep…our feeling is that it is between Conservatives and Reform at the moment.”

Christian Atwood is a sitting councillor and works as a full time chef and so was unavailable for a round of video interviews conducted by Southborough News over the weekend. You can see the arguments of the Green, Reform and Labour candidates in Sherwood here:

During the interview, Oliver Kinkade of Reform said he was definitely against the cinema project. He called it a “huge risk” and asked: “When do these projects ever go well?”

Oliver Kinkade said: “The momentum we’ve got now is massive. I think it will be close for us (in Sherwood).”

Kate Sergeant (pictured below), who’s one of of the Green Party candidates, explained that the Green Party was targeting Sherwood to try to gain its first foothold on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Greens already have strong representation in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.

Kate Sergeant argued that: “It does look like it could be between Green and Reform.” She said she was “pretty sceptical” about the Lib Dem plans for the cinema and that providing “social housing” might be a better way of investing any council borrowings.

The Labour candidate in Sherwood, Tina Kesterton, was more neutral on the £68 million debt, arguing: “I would want to see the plans, the budget and then make an informed decision.”

Tina Kesterton said she was the best person to serve the people of Sherwood, as she was “a local person with great local knowledge.”

The Liberal Democrats have declined to be interviewed in recent weeks, but the deputy leader of the council, Justine Rutland, set out her case for the redevelopment plans for the Royal Victoria Place shopping centre in this interview recorded at the start of April, which you can watch on this link:
https://youtu.be/C-jPzKdYzzI

The Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells, Mike Martin, said recently: “The Liberal Democrats and I were elected with a mandate to revitalise the Tunbridge Wells town centre, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Mike Martin continued: “I’m delighted with the Borough Council’s plans to deliver brand new purpose-built retail, hospitality and leisure units, while also maintaining the town centre’s heritage and historic facade on Camden Road.”

The council have now issued an order to try to prevent the historic Friendly Societies’ Hall (pictured below) from being listed.

The Tunbridge Wells Civic Society has applied for an emergency listing to try to save the Hall from demolition. The Liberal Democrat council scheme involves keeping just the facade of the building, arguing the Hall needs to make way for the new cinema.

Southborough News published a piece on 10th April as opposition to the scheme was voiced from several directions.

David Hayward (pictured below) from the Independents for Tunbridge Wells Party in Pembury called the Lib Dem plans “a ridiculous construct which will place the council in debt and destroy heritage assets.”

David Hayward said: “This proposal is ignoring the whole borough’s needs without proper scrutiny as to whether these plans are value for money.”

And Nick Pope, who is a candidate for the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party in Park ward, stated his opposition to the cinema plan. He said: “The architects should be given a lower cost brief that keeps the existing buildings, bringing them back into use, and makes Ely Court a much more welcoming space for customers and small businesses.”

In Pantiles ward, the only candidate available for interview was the Conservative Daniel Dzenkowski (pictured below), who stated his opposition to the Cinema scheme and demanded more scrutiny of house building schemes in the south of Tunbridge Wells.

Daniel Dzenkowski said: “I think rather than focus on new big projects, maybe we should focus on the basics and what we have here and what makes the town special.” Watch his interview here: https://youtube.com/shorts/fc2In4uYWb8

In the Southborough and Bidborough ward, there are two seats available but the Labour Party failed to find any party member to stand. So the front runners are the Liberal Democrats who currently hold all 3 seats, with an expected challenge from the Conservatives who came second in 2024 in an area where they’ve traditionally polled strongly.

There is no voting in High Brooms ward, which elects just one councillor, who was voted in two years ago.

The Southborough and Bidborough candidates chasing two seats are:
2 Liberal Democrats (Kimberley Johnson & Ash Shukla),
2 Conservatives (Richard Long & Jack Bradley),
2 Reform UK (Stephen Humphreys & Robert Mayall),
2 Green (Maria Gavin & Iqbal Sidhu),
1 English Democrats (Aaron Brand)

Aaron Brand explained that he was standing for the right wing English Democrats party to “Push the council to celebrate English heritage” and “to make sure any housing built is in keeping with the local area, aesthetically pleasing and is prioritised towards young people. Any social housing should be for people from the area.”

Aaron continued: “I will push back and stop the housing of migrants in the area, as they pose a constant danger, especially towards women and girls. I will make sure the red brick paving is restored and not botched with tarmac, as it is part of our town’s heritage.”

The Liberal Democrats currently hold a overall majority on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council with 21 seats out of 39. Conservatives have 8, Labour 4, Tunbridge Wells Alliance 3 and Independents for Tunbridge Wells one seat. There are 2 vacancies.

Only 15 seats are being contested tomorrow (Thursday) as the system in Tunbridge Wells is that a third of seats are voted on in each year, plus any vacancies. This means that the Liberal Democrats are bound to remain the biggest party, although their absolute grip on decision making could be loosened.

63 candidates are standing in total in the 7th May local elections, with Conservatives, Lib Dems, Reform and Greens each contributing 13 candidates, Labour 6, Tunbridge Wells Alliance 3, Independents for Tunbridge Wells Party 1, plus one Independent & one English Democrats candidate.

These are the individual wards:
Cranbrook, Sissinghurst & Frittenden: 4 candidates (Reform, Cons, Green, LibDem)
Culverden: 6 candidates (Independent, Cons, Lab, Green, LibDem, Reform)
Hawkhurst, Sandhurst & Benenden: 4 candidates (LibDem, Alliance, Reform, Cons)

Paddock Wood: 4 candidates (Green, LibDem, Reform, Cons)
Pantiles: 5 candidates (Cons, Green, Reform, Lab, LibDem)
Park: 6 candidates (LibDem, Lab, Green, Reform, Alliance, Cons)

Pembury & Capel: 5 candidates (Reform, Independents for Tun Wells, Cons, Green, LibDem)
Rural Tunbridge Wells: 5 candidates (Reform, LibDem, Cons, Lab, Green)
Rusthall & Speldhurst: 6 candidates (Green, Reform, Alliance, Lab, LibDem, Cons)

Sherwood: 9 candidates for 2 seats (Cons 2, Reform 2, Lab, Green 2, LibDem 2)
Southborough & Bidborough: 9 candidates for 2 seats (Cons 2, English Democrats, Green 2, Reform 2, LibDem 2)

For more information on the Cinema issues see:
https://southborough-news.com/2026/04/10/opposition-builds-to-lib-dem-plan-for-68-million-council-debt/

Heritage Group Tries to Save Historic Snooker Hall

Counting of votes will begin at around 10am on Friday morning, with results announced by early afternoon.

Labour’s Hugo Pound Bids to be Tunbridge Wells MP

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The Labour Party has launched its General Election campaign in Tunbridge Wells, arguing that its plans to step up house building should include some development of Green Belt land.

Labour’s Parliamentary candidate, Hugo Pound (pictured below) said: “We stopped the sprawl of joining Tunbridge Wells to Pembury in a recent application…so we protected the Green Belt between those conurbations…but there are going to be opportunities to build within the Green Belt that are wholly appropriate and most people will not be fussed by – I believe.”

Hugo

Hugo Pound has been in charge of housing in the Borough council coalition for the past two years. He has lived in Tunbridge Wells for the past 32 years, works as a chartered psychologist and is a former governor of The Judd School and Skinners Kent Academy.

Labour’s plan to impose 20% VAT on fees paid by parents to private schools is aimed at raising new funds for state schools, but the policy may well be unpopular with some Tunbridge Wells voters.

In his recorded interview, Hugo Pound, said that “penalising parents and grandparents for VAT – for me – doesn’t sit comfortably” and he suggested he thought private schools which offered facilities like swimming pools to the community should retain their charitable status and so not pay VAT.

However, since the interview was first released Hugo Pound has said on social media: “My idea of requiring private schools to make their facilities accessible in order to retain their charitable status is a non-starter, apparently; turning on and off charitable status is legally near-impossible which is why it’s not part of the plan!”

He continued: “So I retreat from that position and fall back to the proposal that the only way forward to ensure a better distribution of resource and funding is to charge VAT on private school fees – my worry being that many schools’ facilities will still be inaccessible to all.”

The launch event last Wednesday was held at the Old Auction House and attended by a mix of invited guests – many of whom were not traditional Labour Party supporters.

You can see Hugo Pound’s full interview with local journalist Martin Webber on YouTube:

Hugo Pound said: “Tunbridge Wells deserves a Labour MP. Greg Clark has been here since 2005 and …has done some good things locally, but he does not represent the values of most people who now live in Tunbridge Wells”.

Asked about the challenge to Greg Clark from the Liberal Democrat candidate, Mike Martin, Hugo Pound pointed to some polling estimates from Electoral Calculus that suggested that Labour might currently be in second place to the Conservatives in Tunbridge Wells, although Hugo accepted that this prediction might not have involved actual polling locally.

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?seat=Tunbridge%20Wells

Hugo 3

At the launch event, Hugo Pound, was introduced by his cousin, Stephen Pound (pictured right above), who was Labour MP for Ealing North for 22 years.  Also speaking was Georgina Stewart (above) who said she had voted Conservative all her life, but was now switching to Labour.

Hugo Pound said: “The national mood is that people want a Labour government… and for Tunbridge Wells to have anyone other than a Labour MP would be a huge disappointment, because if you are the MP of the party in Power you..have levers that you can pull, you are definitely involved in the decision making process.  If you are a Conservative or Lib Dem – this time round -you are not going to be.”

Hear What Local Politicians Really Think!

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Tunbridge Wells Borough Council elections take place on Thursday – and the podcast “West Kent Talking” has just been released containing frank interviews with leaders of the key parties to help voters make their choice.

The Liberal Democrats currently have effective control of most council decisions thanks to a coalition deal with the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party and Labour.

The Lib Dems say their aim at this election is to win an overall majority to govern without the need for a coalition. But the result is highly unpredictable as all the ward boundaries have changed since last year’s vote.

IMG_3316

It remains to be seen if Liberal Democrat support will be affected by the council’s decision to start charging for parking in Dunorlan Park, imposing sharp increases in general parking charges,  and for persisting with imposing fines on tens of thousands of confused motorists in the Town Centre.

If you want to hear the voices of representatives of all the key parties, then you can download the podcast West Kent Talking on the Apple phones podcast app, Spotify and Amazon. Here are the links:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/west-kent-talking/id1653188192?i=1000653139523

Nick Pope of the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party (pictured below) told me that being part of the Liberal Democrat-led coalition for the past two years has enabled the Alliance to “be in the room” when decisions were made.

Nick Pope crop

But Nick Pope says the coalition “has been uncomfortable for us at times” and he couldn’t say whether the party would go into a similar partnership again.

Nick Pope also said he was “very uncomfortable” with the huge number of fines being levied on confused motorists driving past the war memorial by the Town Hall.  He said he thought the council should have acted faster to sort out the issue.

Many people from outside the area have said they won’t return to the town after having drifted into the restricted area and being fined.  Nick Pope agreed that “it’s not good for Tunbridge Wells.”

Town Hall signs

Between 80 and 100 fines a day are still being issued to people who didn’t react fast enough to the blue signs shown above.  A year ago a thousand fines every day were being levied.

The total raised through fines is now £ 1.5 million, which is a huge sum compared to the £ 9 million raised in council tax.  An estimated 50,000 fines have been issued, which is roughly the same number as the total number of drivers in the whole Borough.

Nick Pope from the Alliance hopes to keep his current 20% of seats, telling West Kent Radio: “We are a local party. We’re not influenced by any national parties. We try to work for our local communities.”

Meanwhile, the man who led the Alliance a year ago, David Hayward (pictured below) is now running a new party, “Independents for Tunbridge Wells”.

Cllr Hayward v2

David Hayward said he was telling voters: “We are genuine independents.  You – the residents – are our boss. Nobody else.” The party has 17 candidates and is competing in all but one of the new wards.

David Hayward said his party is the only one still voting against the current Local Plan for housing.

Labour is one of the parties in the current ruling coalition. The leader of the Labour group, Hugo Pound, (pictured below) said successes for the coalition in the past two years include bringing the finances back into balance, taking full control of the RVP shopping centre and delivering a £100,000 annual fund to charities across the Borough.

Hugo Pound

Hugo Pound says the new Local Plan will be in place later this year “to ensure there are the right sorts of houses all over the Borough – many of which we hope to be affordable – and some of which will be for social rent.”

But Hugo Pound admitted that: “The developers at the moment have the upper hand.” And he said the council had no plots of land left available to use to build affordable council housing itself.

Hugo Pound says of the coalition: “It has been a genuine coalition of thought and action. I think the Labour group brings both heart and head to those discussions and decisions.”

Tom Dawlings (below) who’s leader of the Conservative group calls the record of the coalition “quite disappointing”.  He said they should have acted faster to rent out unused space in the Town Hall, which was a project the Conservatives had set up.

Cllr Dawlings 2

Tom Dawlings criticised the coalition’s increases in council parking fees, arguing the charges deterred people from coming to Tunbridge Wells at a time when businesses were struggling after covid.

Tom Dawlings also said the signs for motorists outside the Town Hall were confusing and argued the council should have acted faster.  He said: “It shouldn’t have taken £ 1.5 million in fines to decide the thing needed a review.”

The Chair of the Tunbridge Wells Green Party, Geoff Mason, (below) said the party was hoping to win its first seat on the Borough Council, following its success last year when it increased its vote share to 8%.

Geoff Mason

Geoff Mason said the Greens had been campaigning against the plan to build a new town on Green Belt land in Tudeley and it was “great news” when the council finally dropped the scheme in the past year.

Geoff Mason says other Green councils in control of towns like Norwich had been building new council houses to provide affordable sustainable homes, rather than leaving development to the private sector.

Surprisingly, the Liberal Democrats declined the opportunity to give a fresh interview.  The leader of the Liberal Democrats and the current leader of the council, Ben Chapelard, (below) had previously given several interviews to West Kent Talking.

Ben Chapelard

Speaking last May about the fines for motorists driving past the war memorial, Ben Chapelard said: “We believe it is the right thing to do. We think it (the signage) is clear. We are trying to improve the air quality in that pedestrian part of town.”

In a statement to West Kent Radio and the West Kent Talking podcast, Ben Chapelard said:

“The Lib Dems are campaigning hard in these local elections to win majority control of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. This is a change election. People are tired of the out-of-touch and incompetent Conservatives. They want to see change both nationally and here in Tunbridge Wells.”

The Liberal Democrat manifesto promises to:

  • Freeze car parking charges for 12 months;
  • Rejuvenate the town centre and improve the RVP;
  • Fight for the right infrastructure for development and more affordable homes;
  • Plant a tree for every resident;
  • Create new youth hubs across the borough.

The current make up of the council is
Liberal Democrats 17, Conservatives 11, Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party 9, Labour 7, Independents for Tunbridge Wells 2, Independents 2. (Total = 48)

All the new 39 seats are being contested this time.  Most residents get 3 votes in each ward. The candidate with the most votes gets a longer term before having to face re-election.

In the new Southborough and Bidborough ward there are 12 candidates. Residents have 3 votes.
3 LABOUR (Penny Breedon, John Francis, Alain Lewis)
3 CONSERVATIVE (Sarah Bridges, Peter Oakford, Alexander Puffette)
1 INDEPENDENTS FOR TUNBRIDDGE WELLS (Len Colangelo)
3 LIBERAL DEMOCRAT (Mark Ellis, Brendon Le Page, Joe Opara)
1 TUNBRIDGE WELLS ALLIANCE (Jonathan Farina)
1 GREEN (Mark McBennett)

In the new High Brooms ward, there are 6 candidates. Residents have 1 vote.
GREEN (Paul Froome), LABOUR (Dianne Hill), LIBERAL DEMOCRAT (Steve Humphreys), INDEPENDENTS FOR TUNBRIDGE WELLS (David Kain), CONSERVATIVE (Freddie Mobbs), REFORM UK (Rick Williams)

The reason that High Brooms residents only have one vote is that the area returns one, rather than 3 councillors because its population size is just a third of the other ward areas in the Borough.

All the candidates in each ward are available here:

https://tunbridgewells.gov.uk/council/voting-and-elections/elections/may-2024/statements-of-persons-nominated?root_node_selection=463806&search_page_463734_submit_button=View+statement