Kent’s Town of Culture pile-on is well underway

Kent’s Town of Culture pile-on is well underway

At least eight (or nine, depending on how you count) Kent towns have now publicly declared bids to become the UK’s first Town of Culture. Given the deadline is tomorrow, there remains a narrow but real chance that this already crowded Kent contribution to a new government competition could become even more crowded. The places publicly in are Chatham, Folkestone, Deal, Dartford, Margate, Gravesend and Northfleet, Sevenoaks and Tenterden.

On one level, that is faintly ridiculous. On the other hand, it is exactly the sort of thing the government has encouraged. When ministers launched the UK Town of Culture 2028 competition in January, they made clear it was open to towns of all shapes and sizes, with finalists from large, medium, and small towns selected before an overall winner is chosen. There is proper money attached to it too. £3m for the winner, £250,000 for the other two finalists, and £60,000 for the shortlisted places to develop full bids.

The result is less a single Kent standard-bearer than a county-wide cultural scrum. Chatham is in, with Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust leading the bid and making the case that a town with centuries of maritime, military and engineering history is not exactly short of material. Folkestone is in too, with the district council inviting groups and residents to help shape a bid around the town’s wider cultural life. Deal has taken the more methodical route, with the town council acting as the accountable body and proposing a formal cultural partnership to carry things forward.

Dartford, meanwhile, has sensibly decided there is no point in entering a culture contest quietly. Its pitch leans on local heritage, the Orchard Theatre, the Sir Peter Blake Gallery, community events, and the useful fact that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are part of the town’s story too.

Elsewhere, the bids say quite a lot about how different parts of Kent like to frame themselves when a national title comes into view. Sevenoaks is pitching not just for recognition but for what the title might help unlock locally, including better signage to venues, changes at The Stag, more workspace for artists and a stronger events programme. Tenterden has also put itself forward, which means even the more postcard-friendly end of the county has decided it would quite like a piece of the action. 

Then there are the latest additions. Margate is being put forward by Thanet District Council after the Isle of Thanet missed out on the longlist for UK City of Culture 2029. The council’s case is that Margate already has the assets, infrastructure and organisations needed to deliver a strong programme in 2028. There is something impressively brisk about that pivot. One culture title does not work out, so attention turns to the next available one. 

And in Gravesham, even the idea of limiting the thing to one town appears to have been judged a little too restrained. The borough is putting forward Gravesend and Northfleet together, with messaging built around shared identity, shared communities and a shared story. In a county already well represented in this contest, Gravesham has found a way to make that representation even more expansive. 

All of which leaves Kent with a slightly absurd but undeniably substantial presence in a competition that was only launched in January. The government says the Town of Culture is meant to celebrate the contributions towns make to national life and to help build a lasting cultural legacy. In Kent, at least, it has already produced a remarkably long list of places ready to explain why the title ought to be theirs. 

And with the deadline still not passed, there remains time for one or two more. At this point, another entry would feel less like a shock than a fitting final flourish.

Conservatives hold in Sevenoaks by-election as Reform pushes into second

The Conservatives won the Halstead, Knockholt and Badgers Mount by-election last week, keeping the Sevenoaks District Council seat left vacant by the death of long-serving councillor Gary Williamson.

Tony Marshall won with 561 votes, ahead of Reform’s George Pender on 378 and Lib Dem Stephen Maines on 266, with Green candidate Robert Royston on 65. Turnout was 45%, which is again strikingly high for a local by-election and means Sevenoaks has now produced two fairly lively contests in the space of three weeks, both ending with Conservative wins.

At one level, this was a straightforward hold. Halstead, Knockholt and Badgers Mount is old-school Conservative territory. Williamson had represented the ward since 1999, and the Tories won it comfortably at the last full district election in 2023. But the more interesting part of this result is the shape of the opposition vote. Last time, this was essentially a Conservative versus Lib Dem contest. This time, Reform took a clear second place, pushing the Lib Dems into third.

That does not mean the Conservatives were in any immediate danger here. Marshall still won by 183 votes, which is a solid enough margin in a ward like this. But it does suggest that in parts of Sevenoaks, the pressure on the Conservatives is now coming from a different direction. In Hextable earlier this month, Reform also put up a strong showing. Here, in a rural ward where the Lib Dems had previously been the obvious alternative, they were again the ones who emerged as the main challengers.

Marshall, who said he has lived in Halstead for more than 30 years and previously lived in Knockholt, argued the campaign had been shaped by distinctly local concerns rather than just national political noise. He said “the saving of Green Belt is paramount,” while also pointing to “unlawful developments” and road racing around Badgers Mount as issues that had worried residents during the campaign.

He also paid tribute to Williamson after the result, calling him “an absolute champion for the Conservatives for over 25 years” and saying he wanted “to try and emulate what he did in that long service.” Williamson had been a fixture in local politics for decades and was one of those councillors whose name seemed to come attached to the ward by default.

Asked why the Conservatives were continuing to win these contests in Sevenoaks despite the party’s broader difficulties, Marshall offered the standard but still broadly sensible local answer. “People want to see councillors working hard and doing things for the residents,” he said. “We need to listen. We need to know what they want. And then we need to carry out what will solve the problems.”

There was also a small but telling detail in the count room. Conservatives, Reform and the Greens were there for the result. The Lib Dems were not. Nor, for that matter, was anyone else in the press, leaving the Kent Current once again enjoying a level of exclusivity that sounds grander than it really is when it mostly means standing around waiting for declarations.

What does it mean for Sevenoaks District Council overall? Not much in immediate mathematical terms beyond one fewer vacancy and one more Conservative councillor. But politically, it is another useful result for the Tories in a district where they are still the largest group without full control, and another sign that Reform are becoming the more serious nuisance for them in some of these contests than the Lib Dems.

Council matters

Meetings this week:

• Maidstone: Democracy and Governance General Purposes Committee meets tonight (Monday) to debate the creation of a town council for Maidstone.
• Kent: Scrutiny Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss the cost of SEND and flytipping.
• Folkestone & Hythe: Council will discuss a Conservative motion on water testing on Romney Marsh and the East Stour on Wednesday.
• Swale: Council meets on Wednesday to discuss the Local Plan strategy and sites for allocation, new parish arrangements, councillor allowance, and more.
• Sevenoaks: Development Management Committee will decide on the building of 27 new homes in Kemsing on Thursday.
• Swale: Planning Committee will debate 370 new homes, alongside a care home and commercial floorspace in Faversham.

New planning applications:

• Gravesham: Retrospective change of use to convert the former Premier Inn in Gravesend into a 30 bedroom HMO.
• Sevenoaks: Outline planning permission for 135 new homes east of Edenbridge.
• Tonbridge & Malling: Plans for a new leisure centre in Tonbridge to replace the Angel Centre.
• Tunbridge Wells: Screening opinion for the demolition of Torrington Car Park and replacement by 17 and 1o storey built to rent residential blocks.

In brief

💣 The SS Montogomery, a sunken World War 2 ship full of explosives in the Thames Estuary, could be a target for Russian or Iranian drones that would cause a tsunami along the Kent coast, the Telegraph cheerily reports.

🫆 Implementation of new EU border checks at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel have once again been delayed due to technical reasons.

🚰 Tunbridge Wells MP Mike Martin has urged the water regulator to drop South East Water's £22m fine and instead force the company to put the money into upgrading infrastructure.

🧑‍⚖️ Owners of a historic property in Sandwich are suing the Environment Agency for £4.5m over damp issues they claim were caused by flood defence works.

🏥 East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust is to receive additional support after being declared one of the 'worst in the country.'

🚘 Ashford's County Square shopping centre has lost its car park after the operator, NCP, went into administration.

⛴️ Two years after it ceased operating, a further review will be held on the reinstatement of the Gravesend to Tilbury ferry.

🚆 Major engineering works are underway at Folkestone Warren to protect the railway line from landslips.

🧑‍💻 The government is set to create 80 new Youth Hubs across the country, including Folkestone and Hythe, Thanet, Gravesham, Swale, and Medway in Kent.

👴 Age UK Kent Rivers, a charity that provides services for older people across north Kent, has said it is likely to enter insolvency.

🚕 Kent County Council's counter-fraud team has discovered £85,000 of 'irregular' SEND home-to-school taxi invoices.

👮 Two Kent Police officers called in sick to go on a cruise ship course.

🐺 The Wildwood Trust is considering not keeping wolves in the future after euthanising its entire pack after dynamics between the animals broke down.

🎱 Tunbridge Wells Civic Society are trying to save a 150-year-old hall, which is currently used as a thriving snooker club, from demolition.

🗄️ Swale Borough Council has delayed a decision on a 2,500 home development near Bobbing.

📄 A legal challenge has been launched against a 1,600 home development in Birchington for the most ludicrous of reasons.

🏗️ A woman who moved into one of the south east's largest new-build development projects has complained that it's like living on a construction site.

🍹 Club Chemistry, the venue at the centre of the Canterbury meningitis outbreak, is set to reopen this week.

🚌 Meanwhile, Canterbury will temporarily reduce the price of its park and ride to £1 from this Thursday in an effort to bring people back into the city following the outbreak.

🛒 Sainsbury's in Tonbridge has reopened as a larger flagship store.

🚒 The Hengist restaurant in Aylesford has been forced to close following a fire.

🍲 Grace Dent, writing in the Guardian, is very enthusiastic about the Wellington in Margate.

🚲 Canterbury has a bike-sharing scheme like London's, with 100 bikes introduced to the city centre.

🫟 Folkestone's historic viaduct could become a home for graffiti and street art.

Property of the week

This week’s property is tucked inside Canterbury’s city walls, and it comes with the sort of feature that immediately changes how you read the rest of the listing. It has parking, with a garage behind the house, which, in the centre of Canterbury, is so unusual it almost deserves to be the headline on its own.

The house is a four-bedroom freehold terrace that has been refurbished to make the most of the light and height, with a big open-plan kitchen, living and dining space built around an island, plus a conservatory that opens onto a small courtyard garden. Upstairs, the rear rooms and the bathroom look out towards some of the city’s most recognisable landmarks, including the Cathedral and the Marlowe. There’s also a top-floor bedroom with an ensuite, tucked away up its own staircase. It’s on for £690,000.

Abbots Place, Canterbury, Kent, CT1

4 bedroom property House for sale in Abbots Place, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 - £690,000

Winkworth

Events this week

🎤 Wed 1 Apr - Aisling Bea: Older Than Jesus // Award-winning comedian shares stories and answers your big life questions. Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells. Tickets from £29.25.

🎸 Thu 2 Apr - Courtney Barnett // Australian singer-songwriter plays a weirdly tiny show. Where Else?, Margate. Tickets £15.

🍔 3 - 5 Apr - Broadstairs Food Festival // Food stalls, live entertainment, and activities. Victoria Gardens, Broadstairs. Free.

Footnotes

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