A community looks almost certain to get a new town council after a public campaign was picked up by councillors.

People living in Tonbridge have been lobbying for the creation of a town council to represent that part of the borough.

They are worried that following the government’s proposed local authority reforms - which will see the abolition of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council in favour of a much larger unitary authority - voters will face a “democratic deficit.”

Residents were well on the way to gathering enough signatures to force a debate on the issue.

But now Conservative members of the borough council are themselves proposing a town council be established.

A motion to that effect has been put forward by Cllrs Dennis King and Adem Mehmet to be considered at tonight’s full council meeting.

If passed, it will start the process of setting up a Community Governance Review to put forward proposals for a public consultation.