It has recently been widely publicised that Kent Police, having fought for its independent status and negotiating this successfully with the Home Secretary is now embarking in earnest on an internal change programme called the “2015 Project”. 

In the case of Kent Police at West Kent this involves the West Kent policing area effectively “growing” by including all of the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council area, all of the Sevenoaks District Council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council areas.  A significant and positive change resulting from 2015 is the appointment of District Chief Inspectors for each of the these three districts in West Kent.

As from the 3 April 2006 the District Chief Inspector for Tonbridge & Malling will be Martin Very, for Sevenoaks district Gill Ellis and for the Tunbridge Wells area Russell Nyman.  What will then follow over the coming months will be an incremental change management process involving human resources, budgets, estates, IT and vehicle fleet etc.  West Kent Area Commander Chief Superintendent Mark Salisbury said: “I fully support these proposals as it will provide a much neater and sensible coterminous working arrangement with all three councils at Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks and Tonbridge & Malling respectively.”

He continued: “I am very positive about the future policing arrangements in the three districts and feel that having a Chief Inspector in post for each district is crucial for local neighbourhoods and communities and I am confident that they will provide a genuine commitment to citizen focussed neighbourhood policing”.

The day-to-day patrol, response and investigative policing responsibilities for the Mallings and north Sevenoaks/Swanley areas will continue to be policed by Maidstone and North Kent policing areas respectively until the changes are fully realised.  This could take anything from six months to a year to fully ‘bed’ in. 

Chief Superintendent Salisbury added: “Having the District Chief Inspectors in place in April will ensure that they can personally oversee the necessary changes, including partnership working, required to fully deliver quality policing services in their particular part of West Kent.  I would like to reassure the public that it will be ‘business as usual’ in terms of responding to their calls for assistance and investigating crime in the Mallings and Swanley areas and I am working collaboratively with the Area Commanders at Maidstone and North Kent to ensure these new and positive changes are managed in a way that enhances our service delivery across all three of the districts in West Kent”.