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.
Folkestone West County Councillor Tim Prater has started a bid under Kent County Council's Members Highway Fund to look into a scheme to create a one-way scheme in Morehall Avenue and Chart Road in Folkestone. The roads suffer badly from parking and traffic problems, especially around school times, with the roads often locking with traffic unable to pass each way.
The Q&A below answers questions posed by Your Shepway newspaper (www.yourshepway.co.uk) by James Alexandre from the paper. And yes, Kurt Cobain really DID touch my hand (Reading Festival, 1992).
It's now been just under a week since I was elected to Kent County Council for Folkestone West - polling day was Thursday and my result only announced around 6.30pm on Friday after a recount. In one of few gains from the Conservatives across the County, the Lib Dems overturned an over 1600 vote majority and I was elected with a massive majority of - er - 11 votes.
In the second of a two part interview and the first of Romney Marsh Times' "Interviews of Note" series, Kyle Hill chats to Tim Prater, Folkestone West's newest county councillor about sitting on three councils, expenses and working in a minority. Read the part 2 of the interview at http://www.romneymarshtimes.com/2009/06/interviews-of-note-tim-prater-part-2.html
In the first of a two part interview and the first of Romney Marsh Times' "Interviews of Note" series, Kyle Hill chats to Tim Prater, Folkestone West's newest county councillor about the elections, Shepway and Kent roads. Read the part 1 of the interview at http://www.romneymarshtimes.com/2009/06/interviews-of-note-tim-prater-part-1.html
Wow - that was close, but we won! At around 6.30 on Friday, I was declared the new County Councillor for Folkestone West having beaten the sitting Conservative County Councillor (and leader of Shepway District Council!) by just 11 votes.
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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 |
