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.
I am currently investigating several reports of Criminal Damage to parked vehicles in Surrenden Road and Harcourt Road, which occurred on Friday 21st June at approx. 11:05 pm.
If you have a difficult policy, give it a name you can't disagree with. That seems to be the Kent County Council approach to streetlighting. Faced by trying to make savings (and reduce the number of lights they have to maintain) they have come up with a two stage policy of first turning off a lot of streetlights, and then secondly switching many more to part-time working so they would be turned off at midnight (or thereabouts) until pretty much dawn.
On Saturday 11th May 2013 PCSO Mark Ball hosted a Residents Meeting at All Souls Church Hall. Residents as well as local Councillors attended in order to discuss the issue of Anti-social behaviour surrounding Cheriton Park. Several key action points were established.
Kent Police and the local PCSO team have arranged a Cheriton Residents Meeting to held this coming Saturday (15 June) at Cheriton Library on Cheriton High Street which will start at 11am.
An update from Sandgate Parish Council on events, meetings and other general information.
The Parish of Sandgate is now the proud holder of a "Seaside Award' as judged by the 'Keep Britain Tidy' organisation. It is the only beach in Shepway awarded this year.
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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 |
