Democracy, now open on weekends
A voting experiment in Tunbridge Wells, a Sevenoaks by-election, more water failures and lots more
Tunbridge Wells is set to trial weekend voting in May, allowing residents to cast their ballots on a Saturday or Sunday as part of a national pilot to boost participation. Today’s Kent Current looks at what the experiment means, alongside a by-election in Sevenoaks, more water disruption, planning battles, and the steady churn of local politics across the county...
Democracy, now open on weekends
Tunbridge Wells is set to try something mildly radical for British democracy in May, with residents able to vote on a weekend, like it’s a normal service people might actually want to use.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has successfully applied to join a government pilot aimed at making in-person voting less rigid. Locally, the proposal is early voting on weekends from 8am to 6pm, using three 'voting hubs' across the borough. The hubs will be located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Paddock Wood and Cranbrook, and the idea is that any eligible voter in the borough could use any of them. We do not yet know which actual buildings they will be in.
This is not online voting, and it is not some grand reinvention of elections. It is the same ballot papers and the same poll workers, just in bigger venues, and not only on the one Thursday you have pencilled in between work, school runs and whatever else life decides to throw at you.
William Benson, Chief Executive and Returning Officer for Tunbridge Wells, has pitched it as a straightforward participation nudge. He said it is “important that every eligible elector uses their vote” and that three hubs “in key locations across the borough will make it even easier.” He also went for the reassurance line, saying voters can be assured the arrangements are “just as secure as the polling stations they’re used to,” with “the same helpful staff” there to guide people through it.
This won't be the only unusual thing about this election. First, Tunbridge Wells still elects by thirds, so voters will be choosing one third of the council in May rather than the whole lot. Second, it will also be the final district council election in Kent before local government reorganisation takes effect, which gives the whole thing a faint end of an era feel even before you get into the weekend voting experiment.
The council has told councillors the hub locations would be printed on poll cards, backed by an awareness campaign, and that it expects central government support on communications in the pilot areas. The sell is convenience. Tunbridge Wells turnout at the 2024 local elections was 37%, and the argument is that giving people more than one day to vote, including a weekend, might tempt a few more people to bother.
Behind the scenes, the appeal is as practical as it is democratic. Tunbridge Wells still runs its usual 59 polling stations on polling day, so the hubs sit alongside that rather than replacing anything. But opening three central venues over the weekend gives the elections team a controlled way to add capacity and flexibility without redesigning the entire polling day operation. The application is also clear that this is not a simple switch, because once voters can use any hub, ballot paper logistics become more complicated quickly.
All that’s missing now is knowing whether anyone cares or actually uses it. Tell people exactly where to go, make it idiot proof on the poll card, and you might get a few more of the 63% who didn’t bother last time to wander in while they’re out anyway. We'll find out in May...
Council matters
By-elections:
- Sevenoaks: Hextable ward will have a by-election on Thursday, with the following candidates standing: Lee Allen (Conservative), Jackie Griffiths (Independent), Daniel Kersten (Reform), Ashley Wassell (Lib Dem), and Oliver Young (Green).
Meetings this week:
- Dover: Cabinet leaves its budget decision to the last minute, meeting tonight (Monday) to advance its budget proposals.
- Kent: Scrutiny Committee will debate the future of Folkestone Library on Tuesday after the Lib Dems, Greens, Conservatives, and Labour came together to call in KCC's decision to sell it off.
- Tonbridge & Malling: Cabinet will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to debate the purchase of a residential property.
- Canterbury: Scrutiny Committee will hear presentations from South East Water and Southern Water on Wednesday.
- Maidstone: Planning and Healthier Stronger Communities Policy Advisory Committee will debate issuing an Article 4 Direction to stop Invicta House from being sold by KCC and being used as a HMO.
- Canterbury: Overview Committee will hold a special meeting on Thursday to progress the Local Plan process.
- Dover: Council will set their budget for the coming year on Wednesday, one week after every other council did.
- Swale: Planning Committee will decide on 23 new homes in Teynham and a new care home in Sittingbourne on Thursday.
New planning applications:
- Ashford: Redevelopment of Newtown Railway Works into over 800 homes and commercial floorspace, following the collapse of plans to turn the site into film and television production studios.
- Dover: Application for 48 new business units at White Cliffs Business Park in Whitfield.
- Gravesham: Outline application for 50 homes in Higham.
- Medway: An application has been submitted to convert an empty office building in Gillingham into a 19 bedroom HMO. To try and get around the stigma, the project is being promoted as a 'co-living' scheme and includes, er, a podcasting studio for the residents.
- Tonbridge & Malling: Outline application for 350 homes on the former Coblands Nursery in Tonbridge.
In brief
🚰 In this week's South East Water debacle, 1,700 homes around Lamberhurst and Horsmonden lost their water supply.
⚡ Ten families near Wrotham have had no power network supply since June last year, and have been left dependent on a generator.
🛂 New border controls at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel could be delayed due to technical problems.
🚛 140,000 lorries could be removed from Kent's roads thanks to a £15m investment in a rail cargo hub.
🏗️ Folkestone's £22m regeneration project has reached the halfway point.
🚌 Kent County Council has issued 12,000 fines to drivers entering a bus lane in the first year cameras were in operation.
🚏 Ashford Borough Council has once again issued a fine to a broken down bus parked in a Tenterden bus stop. Perhaps the bigger story here is exactly why do buses keep breaking down in Tenterden?
🏫 Residents are very upset about a proposed SEN school being built in Whitstable.
🚫 Misinformation has been circulating in the worst corners of the internet about violent disorder in Folkestone that never happened, using pictures from unrest in Northern Ireland.
🗯️ Kent's far-right musical chairs is still going.
🗣️ Medway Council passed its latest budget last week in an eventful meeting.
Ed Jennings
🌳 Kent Wildlife Trust has completed a £2m refurbishment of the visitor centre at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.
🏎️ Margate firm Horby has sold the Scalextric brand for £20m.
📜 Canterbury Tales has reopened, now with holograms.
🎨 Chatham and Deal have launched bids to become the first UK Town of Culture, joining the previously announced Folkestone. None has confirmed whether they will be using holograms.
🏖️ Actor Emma Corrin has given House & Country a tour of Margate.
🎞️ Kent County Council is selling off 160 lots of photography from its art collection.
Property of the week
This week’s property is for anyone who has ever looked at a chapel and thought, yes, that would make a perfectly normal place to live. It’s a converted Wesleyan chapel in Ightham, turned into a four-bedroom home with roughly 2,000sqft to play with, and it very much keeps the point of the original architecture. The listing leans into double-height open-plan living, original stained glass, mezzanine gallery space, and a wood-burning stove to stop all that volume from feeling like you live in a very tasteful aircraft hangar. Bedrooms are mostly on the lower ground floor, there’s off-road parking plus a garage, and a landscaped garden wrapping around the building. It’s on at a guide price of £900,000 to £950,000, which feels about right for 'own a chapel' money.
Events this week
🎭 3 - 7 Mar - Prima Facie // Acclaimed one-woman play starring Jodie Comer. Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets from £18.
🎸 Thu 5 Mar - Heavenly + Would-Be-Goods // Recently reformed indiepop legends play Ramsgate. Ramsgate Music Hall. Tickets £21.50.
🎸 Thu 5 Mar - ARXX // Acclaimed queer power-pop duo. Forum, Tunbridge Wells. Tickets £15.
💬 Sun 8 March - TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells // Ten local ideas on the subject of momentum. Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells. Tickets from £25.
Footnotes
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