Tim Shaw

Professionally, I have been associated with the engineering industry since 1977, and being privileged to travel the world as a businessman. I entered into politics in January 2003 through founding the Borough Green Traffic Action Group (BGTAG) to campaign for and later secure three new pedestrian crossings in Borough Green. The village was then and still is, eaten alive by passing through traffic. Something had to be done to provide the villagers with a safe means of crossing the busy A227 and A25 roads. After three successful road closures for community protest marches around the village, KCC finally bowed to public pressure and installed new Zebra crossings at the A227 Railway bridge and A227 Nat West Bank Western Road. A third new crossing in the form of a Pelican push button crossing was installed on the notoriously busy Red Lion stretch of the A25.

 

In May 2005 I stood as an Independent candidate in the Kent County Council Election, coming second to the local tory candidate and polling 2,000 votes as an Independent for the Borough Green and Platt Bypass. I spent many years raising the case for the bypass to enable the residents of Borough Green and Platt to enjoy a new lease of life from passing through traffic.

In 2007 we successfully supported the H+H Celcon block making business in their triumphant hours of winning KCC approval for a new state of the art factory to enable funds to be released for the bypass construction. However, in 2009 a public inquiry halted KCC and H+H Celcon from progressing the bypass any further when it came to light that the approved1991 bypass planning application had expired in 1995 and never renewed by KCC. The bypass campaign collapsed and that evening a community meeting was called to agree the way forward. The J5 Slips, East Facing Slip roads campaign went live with myself as its elected Chairman. A new multi–council community campaign designed to help every parish in West Kent suffering from passing through traffic and freight impact. This traffic forced through our A and B roads simply because the missing east facing slip roads were never constructed in 1985 to link the A21 to the M26 in the vicinity of M25 J5 Sevenoaks.

 

In 2009 became involved in the campaign against a potential Rail Freight Hub being built in the area near to Wrotham Secondary School. A potential catastrophic development of gigantic proportion which would have changed our West Kent landscape forever. Our team fought off the developer and all the lures and promises of funding the bypass in exchange for support to their monstrosity of a rail freight hub in our green belt. I always stood firm on ‘public money via KCC or the H+H Celcon private funding route’ for the bypass, making it clear that I would never support any form of mass housing schema of circa 1,500 houses south of Wrotham School across to Ightham in exchange for a privately funded bypass. Coupled with a need to defend any possibility of impact to the local schools, I was elected a School Governor of Borough Green Primary, the primary school where I enjoyed my childhood and later served for four years as Governor.

 

With the growing concern of an unprecedented mass housing schema plan unfolding within the Tonbridge and Malling borough, this made me consider standing for both local parish and borough offices. In 2011 I stood in both the parish election which saw an emphatic win but narrowly losing out to the conservatives in the borough election.

 

A number of concerning developments in the borough, including the Isles Quarry development convinced me that the voice of the people was not democratically being heard. The seemingly lack of concern by the Tonbridge and Malling Conservatives for infrastructure provision to support these mass housing schemes was laughable. Lack of concern for the increase in traffic generated on an already saturated road network and the increase in already high levels of diesel generated air pollution in what is already a declared Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

 

No bypass and no slip roads, yet thousands of extra generated vehicles - No potential expansion of doctors and dentist centres for either NHS or private patients.

 

Walk to work local employment not considered, and in the case of A-Z Maps, a protected employment site within the Local Development Framework (LDF) given the green light to be demolished to make way for yet more mass housing. A complete failure of the LDF designed to do what it says on its tin ‘to protect that agreed within its framework’.

No consideration for the local school provisioning. All schools are at capacity, and in the case of the local secondary, now four times oversubscribed annually with local children on the verge of being turned away to travel dozens of miles on public transport on a daily basis.

 

We all have children and want to see local homes for them, but we must have adequate infrastructure provision to support the thousands of new people moving into these new homes in the community before we build on such mass scales in the borough.

 

I was one of the ambassadors for ensuring that our wider community achieved the recognition of ‘In the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. I intend to work to make sure that never changes.

 

These local community issues convinced me to continue as a Parish Councillor and fight these conservatives in the ward of Borough Green and Longmill in May 2015. You, the people spoke, and together we convincingly won the borough election. Again, we convincingly won my 2nd term in the 2019 election where i continued to stand as your elected Tonbridge and Malling Borough Councillor until 2023 ready to serve you and your voice in our community. Today, with so many pressing local issues here in our constituency needing national Westminster resolution, i am truly privileged to accept the Independent Alliance (Kent) nomination as Parliamentary candidate 2024. 

 

Thanks for your continued support.

 

Tim Shaw

Independent

 

 

Summary Profile

2003 –  2009 Borough Green & Platt Bypass Chairman

2005 – Kent County Council Election – 2nd polling 2,000 votes as people’s Independent.

2009 – 2013 Borough Green Primary School Governor

2009 – 2015 West Kent Bypass - J5 Slips (M26/A21 East Facing Slips M25 J5) Chairman

2011 – Borough Green Parish Council Election – Elected polling 2,000 votes

2011 – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Election – 2nd to Conservatives 1,400 votes

2013 – 2015 Kent Area Local Councils (KALC) Motorways Sub –Committee

2015 – Borough Green Parish Council Election – Re-elected

2015 – Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council – Elected beating Conservatives 1,600 votes

2015 – Driving forward as Chair of the J5 Slips Group to delivering once and for all the missing slip roads to provide our West Kent residents with a new lease of life from traffic

2017 – Kent Area Local Council - Elected executive member (re-elected 2023)

2019 – Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council Election - Re-elected 2nd term until 2023

2019 -  Independent Alliance (Kent) - Founder Member

2024 – Parliamentary Candidate - Tonbridge County Constituency (newly created Constituency in 2023)