Community Governance Review

We believe parish councils play an important role in terms of community empowerment at the local level. With parish elections due in May 2027, we want to ensure parish governance in our district continues to be robust, representative and able to meet the challenges ahead. We also want to ensure there is clarity and transparency to the areas that parish councils represent.

The Community Governance Review (CGR) covers the entire local authority area for Dover District Council and this particular review considered the allocation of councillors to each parish council.

The details of what the CGR has covered is listed in the Terms of Reference below, along with other relevant documents.

• Terms of Reference - January 2026 (opens in new tab)
• Appendix 1 - Electorate forecasts and councillor numbers (opens in new tab)
• Appendix 2 - Contested and uncontested elections (opens in new tab)

Parish/town maps:

• Parishes (A to M) (opens in new tab)
• Parishes (N to Z) (opens in new tab)
• Towns (Deal, Dover, Sandwich and Walmer) (opens in new tab)
• View interactive map on parish and parish wards (opens in new tab)

We considered the Terms of Reference for the CGR at its meeting on 28 January 2026.

In setting the Terms of Reference, we considered the views of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) in conducting a CGR.

Due to the proximity of Local Government Reorganisation and its potential to amend parish as well as district/county boundaries, it was necessary to narrow the scope of this particular Community Governance Review to just one option – the setting of the number of councillors for each parish council - and run another CGR to consider all other options after Local Government Reorganisation has been completed and the new unitary authority is in place.

By looking solely at councillor numbers across the district, the CGR will not interfere with any plans for Local Government Reorganisation and can be accommodated in plenty of time for the May 2027 parish elections. In acknowledgement that a full CGR is not being conducted at this time, the requirement to hold a full CGR including options to amend wards, groupings and internal and external boundaries, will be included on the Implementation Plan to be taken forward by the new unitary authority.

The first stage of the consultation started 9 February 2026 and ran until 2 April 2026. This stage allowed residents and local authorities to comment on the review.

All responses received during the first stage consultation were considered by the Electoral Matters Committee and Full Council. Draft recommendations were then prepared based on the feedback received.

The consultation on the draft recommendations ran from 18 May 2026 to 7 August 2026 and has now closed.

The following documents are available:

• Reports and minutes from the Electoral Matters Committee (opens in new tab)(27 April 2026) and Council (opens in new tab)meetings (28 January and 13 May 2026)
• Stage one consultation responses (opens in new tab)
• Draft Recommendations (opens in new tab)

All responses received during the consultation on the draft recommendations were considered as part of the review. Personal information provided by respondents will not be published and will be destroyed one month after the CGR Order has been made.

Following the close of the consultation, final recommendations will be prepared taking into account both the draft recommendations and the responses received.

Once Full Council has agreed the final recommendations, they will be published around the 22 October 2026, and the Community Governance Review will be concluded.

At least one month after the final recommendations are published, we will need to resolve to make the Community Governance Reorganisation Order, which will be signed, sealed and copies sent to the relevant agencies, including the Secretary of State and the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.