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A calendar of all meetings and the latest published agendas are available here.
Public meetings are held at Lenham Community Centre, Groom Way, Lenham, ME17 2QT
May 2026
Parish Precept
The parish council has agreed an increase of 3% in the Parish Precept for the financial year 2026/27. This is slightly below inflation figures and addresses increases in the costs of providing the services for which the parish council is responsible. A “band D” property will pay £145.70 for the precept in this financial year, that’s the equivalent of £2.80 a week.
The budget for 2026/27 is higher than the income the precept will deliver, this is because the parish council has offset the income it is projecting to receive against the budget it has set, thus reducing the precept requirement (which covers the difference).
The parish’s budget is made up of two aspects: the revenue budget, which is supported mostly but not wholly by the parish precept, and the capital budget, which has no impact on the parish precept and is funded through other means.
The revenue budget contains the cost of all the services the parish council provides, many of which have been “handed over” to the parish council by the borough and county councils. With the “handed over” services, such as the toilets, if the parish council had not agreed to operate and maintain these, they would have closed.
Examples of these “handed over” services include maintenance of the play areas, the public toilets, Maidstone Road car park and maintenance of green spaces such as the grass triangles on the A20 (where we have planters). The parish council also owns land, such as William Pitt Field, Cherry Downs picnic area, the Lenham Cemetery and the allotments on Ham Lane, some of which it manages directly, some are managed by other organisations but for which the parish remains responsible.
It is the costs of running these aspects of the parish which make up the parish precept charge.
The capital budget is different, the cost of delivering specific capital improvements (such as the revamp of the public toilets last year and the proposed upgrades to the Maidstone Road car park and the cemetery service road this year) come from either capital investment funds or match funding.
The budget for 2026/27 is now available here.
Parish Caretaker
The response to the post of Parish Caretaker was excellent. All the potential candidates were strong, and the parish council is pleased to announce that Stephanie Richardson has been appointed. Steph will work up to 16 hours each week on tasks set by the Parish Clerk, and Deputy Clerk.
Catch up with Steph on the parish council's FaceBook page.
The former Marley site
The former site occupied for many years by Marley and more recently by Aliaxis has now changed ownership and is in the hands of Panattoni. If this name is unfamiliar to you that’s possibly no surprise, however Panattoni is one of the larger construction companies in the UK and recently brought the former Aylesford Newsprint site back into operation by completely rethinking the usage. It is now turning attention to the largely redundant former Marley Works.
At the end of January representatives from the parish, borough and county councils were invited to meet with representatives from Panattoni and hear the outline ideas for redeveloping the site, along the lines of the successful redevelopment of the former Newsprint site, in Aylesford. There was a very informative and well attended session at the Dog and Bear at the end of February.
While we understand that initial conversations were held with the borough council as early as summer 2025, Panattoni assures us local input to the emerging ideas for the site will be undertaken. Ongoing discussions with Panattoni are being planned and an outline planning application with more details is expected to be submitted to Maidstone Borough Council.
There is now a dedicated website www.Panattoni-MarleyWorks.co.uk which will provide you with an introduction to the company, the site and its history and offer you an opportunity to comment of the potential plans.
Heathlands - Public consultation on the Outline Planning Application (OPA)
You may have been notified of further public consultations relating to Heathlands, this time dealing with the Outline Planning Application (OPA). This is being led by Homes England and many will have received a flier in the post (at home) and seen postings on local social media.
We have been to the consultation briefings and, apart from some new boards explaining the likely roll-out of the development, there is little new information available. None of the pressing questions have responses, there is no news on the requirement for a new station or how the critical infrastructure will be delivered. It will rely on S106 arrangements to fund and deliver the necessary infrastructure and, as we know from the experience at Chilmington Green, that is fraught with loop-holes.
We await the second "consultation" in the autumn which we are promised will have more of the issues resolved.
Parish Council meetings
I would like to remind everyone that all our meetings are held in public and there are always opportunities for parishioners to ask questions or raise issues at all the public meetings.
They all take place in the Lenham Community Centre, and they all start at 7:30pm.
Each month we hold a full council meeting (always the first Wednesday of the month), then there is a dedicated planning meeting, usually on a Wednesday around the middle of the month, and finally a finance meeting on the last Monday of the month (although this gets moved around when a Bank Holiday is due).
Agendas are published on our website, all planning applications in the parish can be seen there as well.
If you want to raise something ahead of a meeting please drop into the Parish Office, at 1A High Street, and speak to the Parish Clerks – they will be happy to speak to you, and the Parish Office is open 10:00 – 13:00 Tuesday - Thursday.
It's your parish council, please come and find out what is going on!
… and finally
Now the new storage facility at the revamped public toilets is up and running, the “parish lock up” is clear and the Tourism Group will be looking for ideas about how to use this unusual building, in the heart of the village, to better effect. Look out for posts on local social media about how to share your ideas.
We are also keen to get ideas for the redundant red telephone box close to the library in the square - see the parish's social media postings for that one!
Cllr John Britt
Chair - Lenham Parish Council
What does Lenham Parish Council do?
Parish Councils are the tier of local government closest to the people. Although the parish council covers the Parish of Lenham it is not linked to the church in any way. All parish councillors are volunteers who dedicate their free time to enhancing their parish as best they can by utilising their individual skills and experience.
Those putting themselves forward to serve as a parish councillor have to submit to the regular election process, or, if filling a vacancy mid-term, can be co-opted for the remainder of that electoral term. Electoral terms are four years. The elections for a parish council will only go to a public vote if there are more nominations than there are spaces on the parish council. Lenham parish is currently represented by 13 parish councillors: four representing South Ward (everything south of the railway) and nine representing North Ward (everything north of the railway). All parish councillors have to agree to abide by the Nolan Principles of Public Office. Parish councillors receive no remuneration for their time.
The responsibilities of Lenham Parish Council include looking after open spaces, such as the William Pitt field and Cemetery, maintaining playgrounds and other amenities, providing Maidstone Borough Council with a view on planning applications within the Parish and undertaking projects to benefit the Parish. Lenham Parish Council also has a Neighbourhood Plan which was adopted as part of the Maidstone Local Plan in July 2021. This Neighbourhood Plan is active until 2031. For more details of the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan please refer to the information tab "Lenham Neighbourhood Plan" on this website.
In addition to holding a full council meeting monthly, Lenham Parish Council has two specific sub committees which also meet monthly: Finance and General Purposes (F&GP) and Planning and (Neighbourhood Plan) Implementation (P&I). Both these sub committees focus on specific issues of work and in some cases do the detail which is then referred back to full council as recommendations to be discussed and agreed.
Both of these sub committees are open to the public and can be attended by all parish councillors, however, while all nominated attendees and visiting parish councillors can participate in the discussions only those parish councillors nominated as attendees to that subcommittee are able to vote on recommendations that will go forward to the full parish council meeting for discussion and agreement.
Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GP)
The F&GP subcommittee consists of six nominated parish councillors and addresses the financial issues which the parish council is responsible for: dealing with contracts for maintenance of open space; maintaining and upgrading play equipment and other financial matters as and when these arise. The committee oversees the preparation of the annual budget and also discusses all other non-expenditure related matters and makes a recommendation to the full parish council for discussion and agreement. The sub committee is quorate when at least four parish councillors, including the Chair, are present.
Planning and (Neighbourhood Plan) Implementation (P&I)
The P&I subcommittee consists of six nominated parish councillors as well as three members of the public (who are non-voting) and the parish's planning consultant (also non-voting). The subcommittee carries out two important functions: it is a statutory consultee for all planning applications in the parish and it is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Lenham Neighbourhood Plan ensuring that the parameters and policies within the plan are actioned and reflected in the parish responses to planning applications. All recommendations from the subcommittee are referred to the next full meeting of the parish council for ratification. The subcommittee is quorate when at least four parish councillors, including the Chair, are present.
Our Mission Statement
The Lenham Parish Council (LPC) is dedicated to enhancing the lives of all the residents of Lenham and its surrounding hamlets. LPC aims to maintain and protect the Parish environment and amenities. LPC strives to be pro-active in identifying and completing projects, large and small, that will benefit the Parish as a whole, with value for money always being sought. LPC aims to help keep Lenham Parish a unique and special place for residents and visitors alike as the world around us changes.
Council Officers:
Parish Clerk & RFO: Lisa Westcott
Contact details Email: clerk@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk Telephone: 01622 829034
Deputy Parish Clerk & RFO: Sarah Newell
Contact details Email: deputyclerk@lenhamparishcouncil.org.uk Telephone: 01622 829034
Registered office: 1A High Street, Lenham, Kent ME17 2QD Open: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:00h - 13:00