ABOUT THE INDEPENDENT ALLIANCE

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THE INDEPENDENT ALLIANCE - WHAT WE STAND FOR……

We are all long serving Parish and Borough Councillors , and we spend a great deal of time talking to our Parishes, attending local meetings and coffee mornings, talking to people on the street, for one single reason: because our job is to find the local consensus on important issues and develop that into policies. We do not have policies handed down by Government or a Party Machine - you draft the policies we fight, we are your representatives at Tonbridge & Malling.

 

THE PARISH ALLIANCE

One of our proudest achievements has been to develop the alliance of local parishes. Our Parishes are all unique with different needs, but a Parish on its own is weak. However, a loose Alliance of up to 8 Parishes is hugely powerful politically and financially We "mix and match" to challenge different issues, such as J5 SLIPS, Moto and Borough Green Garden City We have our own team of Planners and Legal Advisers on standby funded by Parish contributions

 

WHY ARE WE FIELDING FIVE CANDIDATES THIS TIME?  - THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION BOUNDARY REVIEW

This review proposed a reduction of Councillor numbers in TMBC from 54 to 42. This resulted in Borough Green and Platt losing our historical association with our friends in Plaxtol and Shipbourne, who despite much protest have been dumped on Hadlow Ward, a lovely village but with whom they have no cultural or historic ties.

 

We promised Plaxtol and Shipbourne that we would try and field a candidate so they could continue their successful association with Borough Green , Platt and the rest of our Parish Alliance. Sue Butterfill volunteered to join the Independent Alliance as a candidate in this election, Because the Hadlow Ward incumbents are retiring, this means all candidates are starting from scratch, but Sue will have the distinct advantage of being able to draw on our experience and knowledge of our area, and her own past experience in Local Government, and as a District & Borough Councillor.

 

It seems extremely likely that the Local Plan and Urbaser Waste fiascos, on top of the steady catalogue of disasters from the same party's Westminster colleagues, have seriously weakened the West Kent Conservatives. The Greens have made steady progress in Tonbridge, as have the Lib-Dems in the east of the Borough. So there is a very strong possibility that even if the Conservatives have the majority of seats, they may not hold an overall majority, and our position at TMBC becomes very much stronger, possibly as part of a coalition, which is always the best option at a local level..

 

Borough Green & Platt- Wendy & Mike will stand again, and Conservatives are likely to target their resources where they may have some effect, not here in the heartland of the Parish Alliance.

 

Bourne Ward-Plaxtol Shipbourne and Hadlow & West Peckham. Sue will be standing here, against as yet unknown Conservative candidates. It is vital that we maintain Plaxtol and Shipbourne's community links with our other Villages and the strength of the Parish Alliance. This could also help Hadlow & West Peckham as our new reluctant neighbours, the more of us there are in the Parish Alliance, the stronger we are.

 

Pilgrims Ward -Wrotham, Ightham, Stansted, Addington & Trottiscliffe. Tim and Scott will be standing against the incumbents, who have not had the best term of office. Tim and Scott are both well known in the Ward, and Scott came within 17 votes of unseating Martin Coffin, who is a strong supporter of Borough Green Garden City, and Robin Betts who was the TMBC Cabinet Member responsible for the Urbaser Waste Collection Fiasco. Both voted in favour of the Local Plan and Borough Green Garden City on 12 Sept 2018.

 The Conservative Party have lost a huge number of long serving members, partly retirement, and partly the Night of the Long Knives after the recent Local Plan fiasco, Many of their candidates will be completely new to Local Politics, and to be fair everyone has to begin somewhere.

 

But who would you rather have stand for you in the Council Chamber, a learner driver, or someone with years of experience as a Councillor at Parish and Borough Level?

A VOTE FOR THE INDEPENDENTS IS A VOTE AGAINST BOROUGH GREEN GARDEN CITY

A VOTE FOR THE CONSERVATIVES IS A VOTE FOR URBANISATION AND 3000 HOUSES