About Wye

Historical background

"Wye in Kent has a long and distinguished history: Mesolithic hunters camped by the River Stour, Neolithic farmers cleared the forest and Bronze-age warriors were buried on the Downs. A Romano-British country estate on the road to Canterbury gave place to a royal residence of Kentish kings, a regional centre with jurisdiction over a large part of Kent. William the Conqueror gave the Manor of Wye to Battle Abbey in 1067, and Domesday records a thriving community. The mediaeval village, with its minster church, ancient grammar school, timbered houses and inns, is still very much in evidence." Wye Historical Society

The civil parish of Wye with Hinxhill

Some key facts about the civil parish of Wye with Hinxhill today

• The village of Wye is unusually compact. Most residents live within a 400m circle centred on the junction of Church Street and Bridge Street. However, the average population density across the whole parish is only one person per hectare, about the same as Romney Marsh!
• The shops and facilities in Wye serve about 8,400 people (based on the Wye Surgery patient catchment area), who live in Wye, and in 30 neighbouring rural parishes and along the north side of Ashford;
• Wye Surgery's catchment area covers about 100 square miles, 30 parishes and 4 districts. Almost all of the catchment area is in the North Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty;
• The parish of Wye contains the historic village of Wye, the hamlets of Hinxhill, Naccolt and Coldharbour, and several scattered farmsteads and cottages;
• The parish has a population of upwards of 2,380, who live in some 1,150 households; (ONS Mid-Year Estimate, released November 2013);
• Various sites within the parish have planning permission for some 75 dwellings, and a further 300 dwellings on the parish boundary. Once these are built the housing stock will increase by about 33%.
• Over a third of the current parish population is aged over 60, and over 16% are aged over 75 years (2011 National Census);
• The two Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) in Wye ward show extremes of both affluent and deprived households; and the two populations are diverging.

Representation

• Wye parishioners can elect up to eleven parish councillors to represent them.
• The parish is not sub-divided into wards, so each councillor represents the whole parish.
• Wye parish councillors are independent representatives, with no political party affiliations
• The Wye parish boundary also defines Wye Ward, one of 35 in Ashford Borough Council.
• Wye elects one borough councillor, Cllr Noel Ovenden. (re-elected 2015)
• Wye is within the Ashford Rural East division, one of 84 in Kent County Council (At the 2017 election this was reduced to 81 divisions, following a Boundary Commission review).
• Wye is within the Ashford Rural East Division and elects one county councillor Cllr Clair Bell
• Wye is on the north east boundary of the Ashford parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Damian Green MP at Westminster. (re-elected 2017)

The next election will be for all seats on Ashford Borough Council 2nd May 2019, and all seats on all parish councils on the same date. The previous election was for all seats on Kent County Council 4th May 2017.

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