Faversham Town Council is the parish council responsible for the town of Faversham. Council members are elected every four years and the chairman of the town council is the Mayor of Faversham.
A Proms in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be held in the Market Place on Friday 1st June 2012 at 7pm.
(Click here for further details)
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Introduction
Faversham Town Council has existed in its present form since local government reorganisation in 1974, and is the successor to the previous Faversham Borough Council.
The town council serves as the main link between the people of Faversham and the district authority, Swale Council.
Town and parish councils form the lowest tier of local government and Faversham comes under Swale Council and Kent County Council.
The town council’s main source of income is from the annual precept, a small part of the Council Tax collected by Swale Council.
It also derives some income from the town jetty at Front Brents and from its historic Guildhall, which may be hired for meetings and functions.
Faversham is a member of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports, being a limb of Dover, the town’s head port.
The Mayor of Faversham and the Town Clerk attend confederation meetings on behalf of the town council.
Council Members
Faversham Town Council consists of 14 members. It had 16 members until June, 2004, when its electoral wards were adjusted in line with a reduction in the town’s number of Swale councillors from eight to seven.
The whole of Faversham Town Council stands for election on a four-yearly basis.
The last election was in May, 2011 and the next town council elections should be in May, 2015.
A full list of Councillors can be found under Links to the left of this page.
Faversham is divided into four wards. Three wards have four town councillors. The smaller Davington Priory Ward electorate has two. Six of the 14 members are also Swale councillors and one member, Cllr Tom Gates, is the town’s Kent county councillor.
Mayor of Faversham
The Mayor of Faversham is chairman of the town council and successor in a line of civic heads going back to Robert Dod, who, in 1255, became the first person to bear the title of Mayor of Faversham.
The mayor is elected at the town council’s mayor making meeting in May each year.
The present mayor is Cllr Anita Walker.
Council Employees
The town council has part-time employees, these being the Town Clerk (Mrs Susan Brockman), a Secretary to the Mayor and the Town Clerk, a Town Sergeant and a Caretaker/Deputy Town Sergeant. Mr John Sell, CBE, is the Town Council's Planning Consultant.
Freedom of Information
Faversham Town Council supports the freedom of information to its electorate. Please see
Freedom of Information for how to obtain such information.
Minutes of council meeting, planning schedules and budgets are given below.
The town council meets on Monday evenings at four-weekly intervals in the Guildhall, Market Place. Meetings are open to the press and the public, who may question the council before formal business.
The council’s work is also carried out through committee and working party meetings.
To see the dates of meetings of Faversham Town Council please go to the Quick Links (above).
Council Meetings Minutes
Details about Council meetings ( agenda, accounts, building proposals etc) prior to them taking place will now be published in the Quick links at the top of the page and published on this page.
Meetings in 2012
Meetings in 2011
If you would like to see the minutes of earlier meetings, these are available at the library or the Town Clerk.
Contact the Faversham Town Council office on 01795 594 443
Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan
Faversham Town Council is preparing a new statutory plan for Faversham Creek under new powers granted by the government. (the Localism Act 2011). Neighbourhood Plans give communities direct power to plan the areas in which they live - but they relate only to the use and development of land in their area. A steering group including Town Council Members has been set up to oversee the development of the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan. For background information click on
Neighbourhood Plan.
Find out more about the process and timescale and how you can get involved by clicking on the links below.
Steering Group Minutes
For further information on the Neighbourhood Plan contact Natalie Earl on natalie@swale.gov.uk
The information displayed at the public exhibition on Saturday 5th May will be available to view at http://www.swale.gov.uk/neighbourhood-plan/ from Tuesday 8th May. Please send any comments to Nigel Kay by email to faversham.towncouncil@virgin.net or by post to: Nigel Kay, Faversham Town Council, The Alexander Centre, Preston Street, Faversham, ME13 8NY. All comments must be received by the 2nd June.
Faversham Council Wards
Faversham has four electoral wards for Swale Council and Faversham Town Council. These are Abbey Ward, Davington Priory Ward, St Ann’s Ward and Watling Ward.
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Abbey Ward is the eastern part of the town north of the London-Canterbury railway (but excluding Tin Bridge). It includes the Love Lane estate, the Millfield estate, the Recreation Ground, Dorset Place (the ward’s western boundary), much of the town centre and Abbey Street and Belvedere Road.
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Davington Priory Ward is the north-west area bounded by Faversham Creek and Stonebridge Pond, by Dark Hill and Bysing Wood Road (both of which it includes on both sides of the road), and by Oare Creek. As well as the Brents and Wells Way, it takes in Ham Marshes and Hollowshore.
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St Ann’s Ward includes Briton Road, Roman Road and the Cottage Hospital in the east and stretches past the Western Link Road. The railway is the southern boundary for part of the ward, whose northern boundary runs just south of Bysing Wood Road and Dark Hill. The ward includes the Nat West Bank side of Market Street and upper West Street, plus lower West Street, the St Ann’s estate, Alexander Drive, The Knole, Hazebrouck Road and Wildish Road and roads off Wildish Road. It includes Ospringe Road and the eastern end of Lower Road as far as Lion Field.
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Watling Ward is located around the A2, the Romans’ Watling Street. It includes all of Faversham south of the London-Canterbury railway line. It also includes, north of that line, the Tin Bridge area and the west end of Lower Road, from its junction with Lion Field to its end at Sumpter Way, plus the roads reached from turnings off that stretch of Lower Road (such as Lion Field, St Nicholas Road and Cress Way).
Party make-up
The 2011 town council elections returned 13 Conservative candidates and one Labour candidate to a 14-member council.
| Election |
Con
|
Lab
|
Lib Dem
|
Fav First
|
| 2011 (14 seats) |
13 |
1 |
_
|
_
|
2008 (14 seats)
|
13 |
_
|
_
|
1
|
| 2004 (14 seats) |
14
|
_
|
_
|
|
| 2000 (16 seats) |
14
|
_
|
2
|
|
|
1996 (16 seats)
|
3
|
7
|
6
|
|
|
1992 (16 seats)
|
10
|
2
|
4
|
|
|
1988 (16 seats)
|
6
|
8
|
2*
|
|
|
* as SLDP
|