Benenden Parish Council
Benenden Parish Council is a ‘civil’ or ‘administrative’ designation and the third tier of local government, below Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Kent County Council.
The Parish of Benenden has around 700 households and 1500 residents. Within the parish – which covers an area of about seven miles by three miles – is the hamlet of Iden Green, as well as East End and Dingleden. Benenden is bordered by the parishes of Cranbrook, Biddenden, Rolvenden, Sandhurst and Hawkhurst.
Benenden Parish Council is made up of nine members, elected every four years and meets in public eleven times a year.
Parish Councillors are all volunteers, local people, elected by local residents to represent the community, and give their time freely and willingly for the benefit of the whole village, supported by other parishioners involved in numerous groups and projects across the parish.
Assets of the Parish Council include the Parish Wells at Benenden and Iden Green. The Queen’s Well in Benenden was erected in 1887 for the Golden Jubilee and the Pump House in Iden Green in 1897 for the Diamond Jubilee. The Parish Council has recently overseen major refurbishments of both wells.
Other recent parish council projects have included the refurbishment of the public toilets, replacement of the flagpole and work on the Benenden sign on the Green.
The Parish Council owns land off Walkhurst Road, given to provide allotments in perpetuity for residents of the parish. The Thoburn Allotments are managed by the Benenden Allotment Association.
The Parish Council has also taken responsibility for creating a wildflower meadow on land to the south west side of Rolvenden Road, adjacent to the primary school.
The work of the Parish Council is varied, and it works closely with Borough and County Councillors. The Parish Council is a statutory consultee on all planning applications in the parish.
This website contains a plethora of information about the Parish Council, how it operates and who are members.
For any enquiries please email the Parish Clerk, clerk@benendenparishcouncil.org.
The Parish Council welcomes parishioner feedback and involvement in any of its activities.
Please do get in touch if you have any skills or interests which would support the work of your Parish Council.
We hope that you will find that the Benenden Parish Council website is fully accessible and it should function well with assistive technology. Should you find any areas of the site that present difficulties with access please let us know at clerk@benendenparishcouncil.org and we will do our best to rectify the problem.