Tonbridge Town Council gets a temporary clerk from January on up to £54,609, paid back from its first precept. Council votes on the £35,000 cost on Tuesday.
Tonbridge’s new town council will have its first member of staff in January, four months before anyone is elected to it. The borough council plans to hire an experienced temporary town clerk for up to six months to set it up.
Full Council is asked on Tuesday 20 October to approve £35,000 to pay for the post. The cost does not stay with the borough. It will be charged back to Tonbridge Town Council, which means it comes out of the town council’s first precept on Tonbridge bills. (Recommendation to Full Council, 20 October 2026)
The borough’s General Purposes Committee backed the plan unanimously on 7 October. It approved the recruitment itself and up to £3,500 for specialist help with hiring. Only the £35,000 needs Full Council’s approval.
What the clerk will do
The clerk would start in January 2027 and stay until about July. The post is graded M8, which the report puts at £51,666 to £54,609 a year. (Report to General Purposes Committee, 7 October 2026)
The borough employs the clerk at first. The contract transfers to the town council at its first meeting. The report lists the work:
- setting up insurance, bank accounts and IT
- drafting standing orders and the key policies councillors will adopt
- preparing the recruitment of a permanent clerk, a finance officer and any other staff
- arranging the first council meeting, including the agenda and venue
- preparing the paperwork new councillors must sign, such as declarations of interest
Choosing the permanent clerk will be for the elected town council, not the borough.
The report warns the post may be hard to fill. Many new town and parish councils are being set up across the country in 2027, so experienced clerks are scarce. Councillors were told other temporary or consultant clerks could be approached if recruitment fails.
What it means for your council tax
Nobody has published what the town council will cost a Tonbridge household. The first budget and precept will be drawn up by the borough’s finance chief and set at three meetings early next year:
| Meeting | Date |
|---|---|
| Overview and Scrutiny Committee | 21 January 2027 |
| Cabinet | 9 February 2027 |
| Full Council | 23 February 2027 |
That budget has to cover more than the clerk. The report says these costs are also charged back to the town council:
- the clerk’s salary
- other set-up costs the borough pays first
- the election on 6 May 2027
At the moment Tonbridge has no parish council. It pays the borough £74.50 a year at band D in “special expenses” instead, for services that parish councils provide elsewhere. We set out the figures on our council tax bands page.
Councillors on the committee asked how the new precept and the special expenses would fit together. They were told the level of special expenses will be decided in the borough’s own budget-setting. So the question every Tonbridge household will ask, whether the bill goes up overall, will not be answered until February.
The council says it will publish answers to common questions once the 2027/28 budget is agreed.
The rest of the timetable
The town council was approved by Full Council on 24 February 2026, after two public consultations. The legal order creating it was prepared in May and sent to the government.
- The new parish exists from 1 April 2027.
- 18 councillors are elected on 6 May 2027, across six wards: Cage Green and Angel, Higham, Judd, Oast, Trench and Vauxhall.
- The first meeting has to take place within a few days of the election.
- The borough’s allotments pass to the town council after the election. The Tonbridge Allotments and Gardens Association has agreed its contract will transfer with them.
The report notes the “current uncertainty” over local government reorganisation in Kent. The government paused that programme in September. The report says that makes it more important that communities “continue to feel strongly represented at a local level”. (Minister’s letter to council leaders, 7 September 2026)
What it means for you
- Thinking of standing? The election is on 6 May 2027. The electoral register is redrawn for the new wards from the 1 December 2026 edition, so check you are on it.
- Watch February’s budget. That is when the precept, and any change to the £74.50 special expenses, will be set.
- Allotment holders: the association’s contract moves to the town council after May. The report does not mention any other change.
- Council meets at 7.30pm on Tuesday 20 October at Gibson Drive, Kings Hill. The town council item is on the agenda, alongside the vote on the new Angel Centre.
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