Tim has lived and worked in Sandgate (on Sandgate High Street) since 2004.
A trustee of the Sandgate Heritage Trust, Secretary of the Sandgate Members Club, Treasurer and Trustee of the Chichester Memorial Hall, former Trustee of the Gurkha Memorial Fund and former Governor of St Martin's School, and current Sandgate Speedwatch volunteer, Tim knows and works for the area!
Tim is honoured and delighted to have been elected as:
In May 2025 Tim won the Kent County Council seat from the Conservatives. He was the only non-Reform Councillor elected that day anywhere in Folkestone & Hythe, Dover & Deal, Ashford or Thanet.
In May 2023 Tim was re-elected to all the above town and district seats for four more years. At the District Council AGM on 24th May 2023, he became Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance.
Previously, Tim has served on Folkestone Town Councillor for Cheriton from 2006-2011, and Shepway District Councillor for Cheriton from 2007-2011, Kent County Councillor for Folkestone West from 2009-2013. He has sat on Sandgate Parish Council for Sandgate Village since 2011, was the Vice Chair of Sandgate Parish Council from 2018-2020 and Chair from 2020 to date.
Contact Tim by email to tim@prater.uk, call 07956 276118 or write to 98a Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY. As a District Councillor he runs monthly surgeries at the 1st Sandgate Farmers and Makers Market of every month at the Chichester Hall, 70 Sandgate High Street from 11am-12.30pm (and has each month since election in 2019). No appointment needed: just turn up.
Search Engine Optimisation is part of my day-job: making websites perform as well as possible in search engines for sites I'm working on is a key part of the job. There is little point helping some build the perfect shop that no-one comes into, right?
Application forms for the Folkestone West "You Decide" day on 11th September are now available for download at http://tinyurl.com/3aytmo9
Kent County Council have announced that they have finished the short-listing process of the companies who expressed an interest in the core highways maintenance contract. The core maintenance contract is currently provided in partnership with Ringway, and was put out to tender a few months ago.
On 24th August from 12.30-1.30pm, children can discover the solar system with Mark Brake and 'NASA' science rapper, Jon Chase, star of CBBC's Space Hoppers at Cheriton Library, Cheriton High Street. Mark and Jon will take children on an exciting journey to find out what's needed to take a holiday in outer space.
Kent County Council have published expense and allowance figures for Kent County Councillors in 2009-10 which show Folkestone West County Councillor Tim prater as one of 8 serving County Councillors who claimed no expenses for mileage, fares or subsistence in 2009-10.
Shepway District Council (OK - not all of them: a couple of Officers and a Cabinet member) have asked me for feedback on things to improve on the Shepway Council website at www.shepway.gov.uk as they are about to do some enhancement of the site. If you've got views on the site and things that need fixing / improving (or you think are great!) then please let me have your feedback at tim@prater.org.uk and I'll add them to my report to Shepway.
Tim's Council Record of Service
| Council | Seat | Dates | Years |
| Kent County Council | Folkestone West | 2009-2013 | 4 |
| Kent County Council | Cheriton, Sandgate and Hythe East | 2025- | |
| Shepway District Council | Cheriton | 2007-2011 | 4 |
| Folkestone and Hythe District Council | Sandgate & West Folkestone | 2019- | 6 |
| Sandgate Parish Council | Sandgate Village | 2011- | 14 |
| Folkestone Town Council | Cheriton | 2006-2011 | 5 |
| Folkestone Town Council | Folkestone Harvey West | 2019- | 6 |
| Hythe Town Council | Hythe East | 2019- | 6 |
| 45 |
