West Kent will be a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. It is planned to be formed on 1 April 2028. The largest settlement will be Maidstone,[1] the county town of Kent, and it will also include Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Ditton, and Swanley.[2]

It will be formed from the Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells districts.[3] The alternative proposal for four unitaries and the proposals for a single unitary, three unitaries and five unitaries were not accepted.[4]

Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge are currently unparished, and the rest of the area is parished.[2] The area has a 2024 estimated population of 567,062.[5]

History

Under different boundaries, defined as the area west of the River Medway, West Kent was a traditional subdivision of Kent. It was advocated by the Association of the Men of Kent and Kentish Men, an organisation formed in 1913. The division may have risen from the ethnic differences approximately 1,500 years ago between the Jutish settlement of the east of the county and the Saxon presence in the west, although its origins are somewhat obscure. Residents of the traditional East Kent are called 'Men (or Maids) of Kent', as opposed to residents of West Kent, who are known as 'Kentish Men' or 'Kentish Maids'.

According to the BBC,[6] a few hundred years later, it appears that the Men of Kent resisted William the Conqueror more stoutly than the Kentish Men, who surrendered.

West Kent had its own Quarter Sessions based in Maidstone until 1814, when the administrations of East and West Kent were merged. The West Kent Quarter Sessions Division consisted of the Lathe of Aylesford, the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone and the lower division of the Lathe of Scray.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Figure 1". Office for National Statistics.
  2. 1 2 "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey.
  3. ↑ "Local government reorganisation: decision letter to Kent and Medway council leaders" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Consultation on the Proposals for Local Government Reorganisation in Kent and Medway". Gov.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Option 4B" (PDF). Kent Council Leaders. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  6. ↑ BBC - Kent Places - Man of Kent or Kentish Man?
  7. ↑ Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol. II, 1831
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Kent