Polls open 7am to 10pm on Wednesday 23 September in Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden. Four candidates, photo ID needed, winner serves only to May 2027.
Voters in Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden elect a borough councillor on Wednesday 23 September. Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm. Four candidates are standing for the one seat.
The Cranbrook by-election falls on a Wednesday, not the usual Thursday. Only this one ward votes, so nobody in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Southborough, Pembury or Paddock Wood has a poll card for it. The ward covers Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden in the east of the borough, about 12 miles from Royal Tunbridge Wells in a straight line.
Why the seat is vacant
The seat became vacant when Cllr Nancy Warne resigned as a borough councillor. Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council recorded the resignation at its meeting on 13 August 2026 and placed its thanks on record, noting “her many years as both a Parish and Borough Councillor” and “her important role in the preparation and development of the Cranbrook & Sissinghurst Neighbourhood Development Plan”.
Nancy Warne was elected for the ward in May 2024 for the Tunbridge Wells Alliance, with 843 votes, according to the council’s own result for that election.
Who is on the ballot paper
Four candidates were nominated, and none withdrew. The statement of persons nominated published by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council lists them in alphabetical order:
- Max Lawson Chesters, Green Party
- Nicholas Lees, The Conservative Party Candidate
- David Somers, Reform UK
- Harry James Wormington, Liberal Democrats
Two things stand out on that list.
David Somers has held this seat before, for a different party. He was elected for Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden in May 2024 as a Conservative, polling 640 votes, and he served until the seat next came up in May 2026, when he did not stand again. He is now Reform UK’s candidate for the ward he used to represent as a Conservative.
The party that held the seat is not defending it. There is no Tunbridge Wells Alliance candidate on Wednesday’s ballot paper, and no Labour or Independents for Tunbridge Wells candidate either, although all three have councillors on the borough council.
What Wednesday changes at the town hall
Not the balance of power. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has 39 seats and the Liberal Democrats hold 25 of them, so they keep a majority whichever way the ward votes. The council’s list of borough councillors showed 38 sitting members on 22 September, with Warne’s seat the only vacancy: 25 Liberal Democrats, seven Conservatives, three Labour, two Tunbridge Wells Alliance and one Independents for Tunbridge Wells.
What it does change is who answers for this corner of the borough at planning and budget meetings. The ward’s two remaining councillors, Andy Fairweather and Alexander Ellison, are both Conservatives.
The winner will not get a full term. Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council’s minutes of 10 September record Borough Councillor Andrew Fairweather telling members that “the forthcoming borough by-election will fill a seat only until the end of its current term, meaning the successful candidate will be required to stand for re-election in 2027”. He told the parish council that borough elections are expected in May 2027 with 13 of the 39 seats up, and that the West Kent elections proposed under local government reorganisation are not now expected to go ahead, although the Government has not formally ruled them out. Whoever wins on Wednesday has roughly eight months in the job before facing the voters again.
How the ward voted last time
The seat was last contested on 7 May 2026, and the borough council’s published result gives the shape of the ward:
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Ellison | Conservatives | 1,227 | 46% |
| Matthew Beattie | Reform UK | 674 | 25% |
| Vivian Widgery | Liberal Democrats | 384 | 14% |
| Paul Froome | Green Party | 370 | 14% |
There were 5,823 electors on the register and 9 ballot papers were rejected as unmarked or void for uncertainty. That is 2,664 papers in all, or just under 46 per cent of the register on our own calculation from the council’s figures.
That turnout was unusually high for a local election here. At the all-out election of May 2024, when the ward returned three councillors, the council recorded a 31 per cent turnout from 1,736 ballot papers and an electorate of 5,552. Andy Fairweather took 917 votes, Nancy Warne 843 and David Somers 640.
By-elections held on their own, in September, on a Wednesday, do not usually match a May turnout.
What it means for you
If you live in Cranbrook, Sissinghurst or Frittenden and you are on the electoral register, here is the practical part.
- Polling stations are open 7am to 10pm on Wednesday 23 September. Your poll card names your station and you can only vote at that one. You do not need to take the card with you, and you can still vote if you have lost it.
- You must show photo ID, and it has to be the original document, not a photo of it on your phone. Accepted ID includes a UK or EU photocard driving licence, a UK or Commonwealth passport, a Blue Badge, a PASS card, an older person’s or disabled person’s bus pass and a Voter Authority Certificate.
- Expired ID still counts, as long as the photograph still looks like you. This is the point people get wrong most often.
- It is too late to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for this poll. Democracy Club’s published timetable for this by-election puts that deadline at 15 September.
- An emergency proxy is still open until 5pm on polling day. GOV.UK says that covers a medical emergency or disability, a work reason, or photo ID that has been lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed, or replacement ID you ordered that has not arrived.
- If you have a postal vote still sitting at home, do not post it on Wednesday. Take the ballot paper and the postal voting statement to your polling station by 10pm, or to the electoral registration office before it closes. You have to hand it to a member of staff and fill in a form; posting it through the office letterbox does not count, and the vote is rejected if the form is not completed. You can hand in your own pack and packs for up to five other voters.
- Not sure where to vote? Contact the borough council’s electoral registration team, which is the only body that can tell you your station.
The councillor elected on Wednesday will sit on a council that sets your council tax and decides the planning applications in the ward, including the sites in the adopted Local Plan.
Sources: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, statement of persons nominated, Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden, 23 September 2026 (document read via the copy filed with Democracy Club, because the council’s own website blocks automated readers); Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, election results for Cranbrook Sissinghurst and Frittenden, 7 May 2026; the same ward, 2 May 2024; Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, your borough councillors, counted 22 September 2026; Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council, minutes of 13 August 2026 and 10 September 2026; GOV.UK, photo ID you’ll need, voting in person, voting by post and voting by proxy; Democracy Club, ballot timetable for the by-election.
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