Date and candidates for election of every Birchington Parish Council seat

An election for the entire Birchington Parish Council will be held on Thursday, March 12.

The election was triggered by an administrative error.

Birchington Parish Council is split into two wards, South (6 seats) and North (4 seats). However, at the 2023 elections, a decision was taken in error to delete the ‘north’ and ‘south’ on the electoral system and turn the Parish Council into one ward with 10 councillors.

This was not done under the proper legal process of community governance review and meant the election was in breach of legislative provisions.

Because the process was not questioned by an election petition within a period of 21 days, the election was deemed valid.

However, last July Thanet council agreed that although it would not use powers to call another parish election at that time, it would be necessary if a councillor at the Parish Council resigned or was for some other reason not able to fulfil their duties. Then a full election would have to be held on the basis of the North and South wards.

Last September, parish councillor Marcel Pooke resigned and a report to Thanet councillors said because of the error it was impossible to know which ward the vacancy was in.

Thanet council said the only option was to hold “an election for all seats in the ward Birchington North and an election for all the seats in the ward Birchington South.”

It is estimated  the cost of holding  the election is £4,400. Half of this cost will be borne by the Returning Officer – who is partly responsible for the error-  and half by the Parish Council.

The deadline to register to vote is 24 February, with postal vote applications due by 25 February 2026.

The election was originally planned for 26 February but delayed by two weeks following a request from the Chair of the Parish Council.

Birchington North candidates:

Colin Brown (Independent)
Rosie Brown (Independent)
Max Houghton (Independent)
Jim Moore (Independent)
Bob Prebble
Lucy Williams (Green Party)

Birchington South candidates:

Nick Blankley (Independent)
Marty Bonedol (Independent)
Phil Fellows (Independent)
Neville Hudson (Independent)
Mark Lavender (Green Party)
John Tiley (Independent)
Linda Wright (Independent)

Register at: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Apply for a postal vote at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote