Should local elections be just once every four years?
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has launched a consultation, seeking views on local elections and the number of councilors.
At present, there are 48 councilors in the borough and, at present these are divided 24 Conservatives and 24 from other parties.
Electoral system
The Council is considering moving to 'all out' elections. This means that over the four-year term, elections would only be held in year one for all Councillors at the same time. Currently, one-third of the council is up for election in each of three years, with no elections in year four. Moving to a single election every four years would save the borough in the region of £50,000 in election costs. One potential downside is that a large number of councilors could change on one day, where currently, there is some continuity with the one-third option.
Number of Councillors
The Council is considering how many Borough Councillors it should have in the future. There are currently 48 Borough Councillors in 20 wards. Some wards have only one Borough Councillor to represent them, whilst others have up to three.
The consultation is open until 5 September 2021, with details on how to complete the consultation, which can be found on the council website.
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