About me 

Hello, I’m Mike Appelbe, the 2023 Lib Dem candidate for Hawkhurst & Sandhurst.

You have voted me in to serve you on Hawkhurst Parish Council since 2008, and have re-elected me each time I have stood. Thank you. It has been reassuring for me that you think I have been doing the right thing. Service and duty are important to me.

I have always understood that our representation on planning matters is the most important role we, your elected representatives, have--and this has become increasingly obvious most recently.

After a long career working in IT the most important thing to me now is putting something back into the community I love and where I have lived for five decades. Please vote for me on May 4.  

My focus for Hawkhurst & Sandhurst 

1. Traffic reduction projects: e.g. work with my fellow Lib Dem councillors in Tunbridge Wells to extend Co-wheels, the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council car club, to this area.

2. Help the Borough to pursue their plan to improve air quality
   Originally identified by Hawkhurst Parish Council as a problem and now confirmed with the results of air measurements by TWBC, action has to be taken to address this.

3. Stop bus route closures.
   I pledge to work with my fellow Lib Dems on Kent County Council to stop bus route cancellations and try to improve the dire state of our roads.

If elected, I will always listen if you have a problem.  And “give it my best” to assist you.

I hope you will vote for me on the 4th May.

Tunbridge Wells Liberal Democrats Local Elections 2023 Manifesto

As the largest party within the Borough Partnership we will work to drive through our manifesto priorities:

Green Plan for the Borough

• Double the number of electric charging points inc. on-street provision.

• Work with Lib Dems at County Council to campaign for the reinstatement of bus routes across the Borough axed by the Conservatives.

• Greening the council: e.g. more air source heat pumps to reduce council carbon footprint to net zero by 2030.

• Make residential roads safer through better cycling & walking provision, 20 mph zones, and trialling low traffic neighbourhoods.

• Deter rat running & speeding. Make cycling & walking more attractive, reduce congestion and air pollution.

Tourism to drive economic development

• Continuing to work with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to boost our tourism spending for three years driving tourism growth within the Borough by e.g. building new itinerary for coach operators, matching up host families with tourists, and developing cultural packages / historical tours. 

• Promoting TW as Creative Tunbridge Wells – e.g. in 2024 Tunbridge Wells Borough is hosting the Subbuteo World Cup.

• Creating tourism info points throughout the Borough e.g. Cranbrook.

• Create a farmers’ market in the town centre to attract visitors.

Protecting services in a tough economic climate

• Inherited 2022/3 £944k deficit which the Borough Partnership has eliminated due to sound financial management. Services protected.

• 2023/4 budget deficit was £2.6m, now £950k after savings and charges increases. Services protected. The Borough Partnership put £100K towards a Community Support Fund this winter.

• Whilst high inflation and energy costs continue, the deficit cannot be reduced further, but work will continue to reduce it in 2024/5, once inflation abates.

• We will fight to protect the following services no matter what: refuse collection, housing services, protecting the Tunbridge Wells Commons, street sweeping, & cemeteries.

Tunbridge Wells Lib Dems

The Tunbridge Wells Liberal Democrats are an energetic, pro-active and growing local political party.  We are the largest party on the Borough Council.  Together with two other parties and one independent Councillor, we control the Council through the Borough Partnership which was formed in Spring 2022.

Under the leadership of Ben Chapelard, the Borough Partnership has five key objectives

1. Safeguarding finances

2. Vibrant and safer towns and villages

3. Carbon reduction

4. Genuinely affordable housing and social rental housing

5. Digital access, transparency, and local democracy

See HERE for an interview with Ben Chapelard.