Photo: John Salmon · CC BY-SA 2.0The Liberal Democrats hold a majority on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Cranbrook is run by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Kent County Council, with Cranbrook & Sissinghurst parish council for local matters. The Liberal Democrats have a majority on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Reform UK has a majority on Kent County Council. Its MP is Katie Lam (Conservative), member for Weald of Kent.
£2,515
Band D, a year, the middle band every council sets its tax from.
Where it goes →How Cranbrook’s politics has changed since 2021
A majority on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
The Liberal Democrats hold a majority on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council: 26 of its 39 seats as elected (it held 22 before the May 2026 election). The Conservatives hold 7, Labour 3, Tunbridge Wells Alliance 2 and Independents for Tunbridge Wells 1. Who’s in charge ↓
Kent in 2025
Kent County Council, which runs schools, social care and roads, has a Reform UK majority at the May 2025 election: Reform UK won 56 of 82 seats. Kent ↓
The 2026 vote
Across Cranbrook’s wards, the Conservatives took 46.2%, Reform UK took 25.4% and the Liberal Democrats took 14.5% of votes in May 2026. In 2024, the Conservatives had 49.3%. How Cranbrook has voted ↓
Council tax
A Band D bill in Cranbrook is £2,515 for 2026–27; Tunbridge Wells Borough Council keeps 9% of it. The council area’s Band D has risen 56% in ten years, in line with England’s 56%. Council money ↓
Written from the data on this page: Democracy Club results since May 2021, the UK Parliament Members API and MHCLG council tax.
Who holds the seats on Cranbrook’s councils
Seats by party as elected. A party needs 20 of Tunbridge Wells’s 39 or 42 of Kent’s 82 seats to run the council alone.
- Liberal Democrat26+4
- Conservative7no change
- Labour3−2
- Tunbridge Wells Alliance2−2
- Independents for Tunbridge Wells1no change
Change against the council before the 7 May 2026 election.
- Reform UK56
- Liberal Democrat12
- Conservative6
- Green6
- Labour2
Latest election: May 2025.
Seats are counted from election results: each ward’s most recent winners until its seats are filled. Councillors who have since changed party or resigned aren’t reflected, and which parties lead the council, and who is leader, comes from the council itself.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), elections since May 2021; seats per ward from its EveryElection.
Two tiers of council, and a parish tier
Cranbrook has two tiers of council: the county runs the big services, the district the local ones.
Local matters: allotments, play areas, halls, footpaths and benches; it is consulted on planning and adds a precept to the council tax bill. A town council is a parish council by another name.
100% of Cranbrook’s residents · Band D precept £155
Bins and recycling, planning, housing, environmental health, leisure, and collecting council tax.
Website ↗Schools, social care, roads and transport, libraries and waste disposal.
Website ↗Who to ask
From GOV.UK’s “Understand how your council works”: in two-tier areas the district or borough runs local services and the county the big ones.
Councils from ONS lookups (wards and councils May 2026, parishes 2025), names and websites from GOV.UK’s local council finder; parish councils from MHCLG’s 2026–27 list of precepting parishes.
From the parish to Westminster
Every elected tier that speaks for Cranbrook, from the most recent elections.
- 1Town or parishParish tierCranbrook & Sissinghurst parish council
- 2Tunbridge Wells Borough Council1 ward · 3 councillorsHarry James WormingtonAlexander EllisonAndy FairweatherNancy WarneDavid Somers
- 3Kent County Council1 division · 1 councillorClaudine Jane Russell
- 4Police and crime commissionerKent Police · elected May 2024Matthew Scott
- 5House of CommonsWeald of Kent
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. Tap an MP’s name for their contact page on parliament.uk.
3 councillors for 1 ward
Wards with at least 2% of the town’s residents, or half their own inside it. Each shows who won its most recent elections, newest first, until its seats are filled.
- Harry James WormingtonLiberal Democrat · September 2026 · by-election
- Alexander EllisonConservative · May 2026
- Andy FairweatherConservative · May 2024
- Nancy WarneTunbridge Wells Alliance · May 2024
- David SomersConservative · May 2024
Show as a table, with Kent County Council’s 1 division (1 councillor)
| Ward | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cranbrook, Sissinghurst & Frittendenmostly in Cranbrook · 3,962 residents3 seats · September 2026, May 2026, May 2024 | 3 | Harry James Wormingtonby-electionAlexander EllisonAndy FairweatherNancy WarneDavid Somers | September 2026, May 2026, May 2024 |
Kent County Council: county divisions
| Division | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cranbrook ED24% in Cranbrook · 3,962 residents1 seat · May 2025 | 1 | Claudine Jane Russell | May 2025 |
Councillors can resign, change party or sit as independents between elections; a by-election winner replaces someone not named here. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s website lists who sits now.
Results from Democracy Club’s candidates database (CC BY 4.0; elections since May 2021) and ward seats from its EveryElection, matched to ONS wards (May 2026) and county divisions (May 2025).
The Conservatives have led every council vote since 2024
Share of all votes cast for candidates in Cranbrook’s wards at each scheduled council election since 2021. A gap is a year with no election here.
Seats won at each election
Show as a table
| Party | 2024 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Green | 8.4% | 13.9% |
| Labour | 6.4% | 0% |
| Liberal Democrat | 12.5% | 14.5% |
| Conservative | 49.3% | 46.2% |
| Reform UK | 0% | 25.4% |
| Tunbridge Wells Alliance | 19.7% | 0% |
In 2026, the Conservatives won 1 of the 1 seats up in Cranbrook’s wards.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0). Where a ward elects several councillors at once, each voter has that many votes; all of them count here.
Tunbridge Wells council election, May 2026
Results in the wards that make up Cranbrook, as declared. Percentages are of votes cast for candidates in each ward; where a ward elects several councillors, each voter has that many votes.
1 ward voted. Tunbridge Wells elects a third of its councillors at a time, so a third of the seats were up.
No election is scheduled yet for Cranbrook’s wards in Democracy Club’s list. Councils publish a notice of election about five weeks before polling day.
Who can I vote for? ↗2,655 votes for candidates
Candidates and results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), from councils’ declared results; polling dates from Democracy Club’s EveryElection.
Cranbrook is in Weald of Kent constituency
The constituency’s MP and the 4 July 2024 general election, the whole constituency’s result (it reaches beyond Cranbrook).
50,712 votes for candidates · majority 8,422
Conservative, MP since 4 July 2024.
turnout in July 2024: 50,712 votes from 75,987 registered voters. England: 60%.
Majority 8,422 of 50,712 votes (16.6%): wider than in 59% of England’s 543 constituencies.
MPs and results: UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0); constituencies from ONS (2024 boundaries). Percentages are of valid votes; turnout is votes cast over the electorate.
Cranbrook’s Band D council tax is £2,515 a year
Where a Band D bill goes, what it has cost over the years, and what the councils plan to spend per resident.
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council keeps £217.10 of a Band D bill (9%); the rest goes to the Cranbrook & Sissinghurst parish council, Kent County Council, the Kent police and crime commissioner and the Kent Fire and Rescue Authority.
Band D since 1993
Tunbridge Wells’s Band D bill has risen 56% in ten years, from £1,568.91 in 2016–17, in line with England’s average (56%). It was £518.63 in 1993–94.
Your bill by band
A Band D home in Cranbrook & Sissinghurst, 2026–27, before discounts. The Valuation Office Agency’s band search gives any home’s band.
Kent’s councils
Average Band D in each council area, 2026–27, parish precepts included; the 11 nearest of 13. Bars start at £2,200.
Council budgets per resident, 2026–27
Show as a table, with Kent
| Tunbridge Wells + Kent | Cranbrook’s councils | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult social care | £505 | £492 | £487 |
| Children’s social care | £262 | £266 | £290 |
| Roads and transport | £39 | £49 | £41 |
| Housing (not council homes’ rents) | £29 | £41 | £61 |
| Bins, street cleaning, environment | £108 | £132 | £119 |
| Libraries, leisure, culture | £56 | £49 | £44 |
| Planning and development | £41 | £29 | £26 |
| Public health | £58 | £61 | £78 |
| Running the council | £70 | £74 | £59 |
| Other | £0 | £6 | £19 |
| Total, schools apart | £1,168 | £1,200 | £1,234 |
Net budgeted service spending, MHCLG Revenue Account budget 2026–27, per resident (ONS mid-2025 estimates). Both tiers added: Tunbridge Wells per its residents plus Kent per the county’s. Schools are left out: academies are paid for directly by government, so council school budgets depend on how many schools have converted. Kent and England: all their councils together. Police, fire and transport authorities aren’t included.
Band D: MHCLG Band D council tax 2026–27 (each authority’s own figure, excluding parish precepts) and Council Tax statistics for town and parish councils 2026–27; since 1993–94, MHCLG’s area averages including parishes.
Having a say in how Cranbrook is run
It takes about five minutes online; the deadline is 12 working days before a poll.
gov.uk ↗Type a postcode to write to each of its councillors and its MP.
WriteToThem ↗GOV.UK sends the report to the council that looks after the road.
gov.uk ↗Council and committee meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes online.
tunbridgewells.gov.uk ↗Anyone can comment while an application is open for consultation.
tunbridgewells.gov.uk ↗The rules, nomination papers and guidance for council candidates.
Electoral Commission ↗Questions about how Cranbrook is run
Which council runs Cranbrook?
Cranbrook is run by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Kent County Council. The county council runs schools, social care and roads; the district runs bins, planning and housing.
Does Cranbrook have a town council?
Yes: Cranbrook has its own parish-tier council (Cranbrook & Sissinghurst parish council; town councils are parish councils by another name), which adds £155 to a Band D bill in 2026–27.
Who is the MP for Cranbrook?
Katie Lam (Conservative) is the MP for Weald of Kent, which covers Cranbrook.
How many councillors does Cranbrook have?
3 ward councillors represent Cranbrook’s 1 ward, and 1 county councillors its county divisions.
When are the next elections in Cranbrook?
No election is scheduled yet in Democracy Club’s list for Cranbrook’s wards. The next UK general election must be held by August 2029.
How much is council tax in Cranbrook?
Band D council tax in Cranbrook is £2,515 for 2026–27. Your bill depends on your home’s band, from A (6/9 of Band D) to H (18/9).
Who controls Tunbridge Wells Borough Council?
The Liberal Democrats have a majority: 26 of 39 seats as elected. The council’s website lists who leads it now.
Who controls Kent County Council?
Reform UK has a majority: 56 of 82 seats as elected.
Who won the 2026 council election in Cranbrook?
In Cranbrook’s wards on 7 May 2026, Conservative 1 of the 1 seats up. The Conservatives had the largest share of votes, 46.2%.
Sources: ONS ward, county division, parish, constituency lookups (Census 2021 output areas; Open Government Licence v3.0) · GOV.UK local council finder · Democracy Club candidates (CC BY 4.0) and EveryElection · UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0) · MHCLG Band D council tax, parish precepts and Revenue Account budgets 2026–27 (OGL v3.0) · ONS mid-2025 population estimates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.