The first tier of Local Government is the Kent County Council, the second the Borough Council and, except for the town of Tonbridge, all the Borough has a Town or Parish Council as a third tier.   While part of Kent was hived off to form the Medway unitary authority during the nineties, in this area local government was last reorganised with new District Council areas in 1974. Tonbridge and Malling (which became a Borough in 1983) was formed primarily from the previous Tonbridge Urban and Malling Rural District Council areas. Hildenborough and Hadlow moved, separately from the rest of Tonbridge Rural, to join them.   Set out below is a brief outline of 'who does what' in Local Government as it affects Hildenborough, but both the County and Borough have web sites which, amongst other things, provide a detailed alphabetical guide on responsibilities with the County site showing both their own and, in less detail, those of the Borough/District Council.   The Kent Association of Parish Councils maintains a website which complements thedata on the list of other county Parish website addresses on the K.C.C. site. Click here to visit the K.A.P.C. website.   Click here to visit the Kent County Council website.   Click here to visit the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council website.   The County is responsible for:- * EDUCATION & CAREER GUIDANCE * SOCIAL SERVICES * STRATEGIC PLANNING covering Structure and Land Use Planning * EMERGENCY SERVICES - Fire, Police etc * HIGHWAYS and TRANSPORTATION - Public Transport, Traffic Management, the planning, design and structure of Roads,Highways (including Lighting) and Traffic Management * WASTE DISPOSAL& RECYCLING (including Refuse Tips) * LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS & ARCHIVES * ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT   The Borough looks after:- * PLANNING - covering the Local Plan and Building and Development Control, Car parking and local Land Searches * ENGINEERING - Car Parking, Street Cleansing, Highways and Traffic Management * ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - Refuse Collection and Recycling, Dogs, Food Hygeine, Health and Safety, Pollution Control, Street Cleansing * HOUSING - Strategy, Homelessness and Grants and Benefit (the Council has no council houses, they were sold to Russet Homes (previously the Tonbridge & Malling Housing Association) * LICENCING- including temporary street markets, alcohol and entertainments, taxis and street trading * LEISURE - Indoor and Outdoor Facilities, Parks, Tourism, Sport and Arts Development * MISCELLANEOUS- Collection of Council Tax, Electoral Registration, co-ordination of sundry Joint bodies etc   Hildenborough Parish Council has limited functions and is primarily concerned with:- * STREET LIGHTING (outside the built up area) * BURIAL GROUND, in conjunction with the Church * OPEN SPACES - Recreation Ground in Riding Lane, Village Green off Mount Pleasant and at Westwood, Seats and Shelters and the War Memorial * APPOINTING Trustees to certain Charities * CONTRIBUTIONS to charities etc. and acts as a consultee on Planning Applications and Footpath matters and as the local focus when the other local government tiers consult.   More information on Parish Council Functions.   Street lighting   At one time the Parish Council paid for the maintenance and power for all of the lights in the Parish but used the Borough Council as their Agents to do the job. Starting in 1993, when there was pressure to replace existing lighting which had 3 core wiring-which applied principally to the Gough Cooper estate- the Parish Council, aided by grants from the Borough Council, replaced all of the streetlights in the built up part of the village with adoptable schemes. To be adopted the scheme had to meet County Council design criteria about lamp distance, placing and the like which involved new columns (except for Francis Road). Once installed the new lamps were adopted by the County Council and were no longer a Parish Council responsibility.   Some lights, however, do remain the responsibility of the Parish Council, namely those between the War Memorial and the Station, upgraded in 2003 to help walkers, and several isolated lamps along Mill Lane and Riding Lane and in the passageways . These lamps are looked after by the KCC under Agency arrangements. So, if you see any light on when it should be off or vice versa tell the County by phoning 08458 247 800.   Although the County Council's Contractor periodically inspects the lights to identify where action is needed they have a set of criteria about speed of response with Keep Left signage the highest, so instant action is unlikely but the sooner a fault is reported hopefully the sooner it will be fixed. If the fault turns out to be concerned with the wiring Seeboard is often called in, meaning a further delay before the repair is done.   Burial Ground   It is part of the duty of the Parish Council to provide a burial ground. In 1966 to meet this task an agreement was reached between the Church and the Council for the Council to assist with the cost of maintenance of the Churchyard in return for it's availability to all.   Burial in the Churchyard is available to all residents of the Parish. Supervision of how the Churchyard is used is the responsibility of the Church.   The Powers of the Parish Council include one to provide burial facilities and others to aid the maintenance of a burial ground or a War Memorial .   A 1999 revision agreed that for the next 25 years the Parish Council would take responsibility for:- 1) Mowing and treating the grass within the area used for burials at any time. 2) Tree surgery and care of the shrubs in the same area. 3) Maintenance of the wall alongside the B245 and any hedges within the area used for burials at any time. 4) Any initial capital costs associated with the extension of the facilities for burial existing in 1999 (including that used for ashes) such as new hedges walls, fencing and drainage works so as to extend the existing areas to ready them for use.   The definition means that as well as the lych gate and the paths a considerable area of Church land remains their responsibility, for example the grass by the car park.   The work on the burial ground is supervised by a Churchyard Committee, which instituted the 'nature area' alongside the vicarage . It has four members-two from the Church and Parish Council- and meets twice a year.   After this agreement was reached work began on the extension of the burial ground into the Glebe Field. The Council has now given up it's rental of the Glebe because the use being made did not justify the Diocesan rent.   For several years the mowing was carried out by the County's Landscape Services with varying results depending on the application and skill with their machines of the crews . However in 2004 they declined to quote for the work .   As part of an attempt to offset the extra cost imposed by the Parish Rate on the Parished areas compared to un-parished Tonbridge, for the last few years the Borough has made a Grant to the Parish of their estimate of the cost of mowing the churchyard to maintain a standard similar to that at Tonbridge Cemetery.   Borough Councillors Mr M J Dobson - 98 Tonbridge Road, Hildenborough TN11 9BT Tel: (01732) 833759 click here to email Cllr Dobson   Mr M R Rhodes - 27 Hawden Close, Hildenborough TN11 9BP Tel: (01732) 833125 click here to email Cllr Rhodes   Borough Council Address Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council Gibson Building Gibson Drive Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4LZ Tel: 01732 844522 Fax:01732 842170 Minicom: 01732 874958 Opening Times: 8:30am – 5:00pm Click here to visit the Tonbridge and Malling Website   County Councillor Cllr V Dagger - Martins, Reeds Lane, Shipbourne Kent TN11 9RR Tel: (01732) 811080 click here to email Cllr Dagger   County Council Address Kent County Council County Hall Maidstone Kent ME14 1XQ Tel 08458 247 247 Click here to visit the Kent County Council Website   Member of Parliament Rt Hon Sir John Stanley MP   Tel: 01732 842794   House of Commons London SW1A 0AA

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