Editing Whitstable (section)

==Governance==
Since 1918, Whitstable has been in the constituency of [[Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Canterbury]]. The [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for the constituency is [[Rosie Duffield]], elected for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] but sitting as an independent since September 2024, who was first elected in the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]] after unseating long-serving [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP [[Julian Brazier]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Election Results 2017: Canterbury won by Labour for first time |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-40212652 |access-date=25 October 2021 |work=BBC News |date=9 June 2017}}</ref>

Whitstable, along with Herne Bay and Canterbury, is in the [[City of Canterbury]] [[Districts of England|local government district]]. The town comprises the five electoral wards of Tankerton, Seasalter, Chestfield, Swalecliffe, and Gorrell. These wards have 9 of the 39 seats on the [[City of Canterbury|Canterbury]] City Council. Following the [[2023 United Kingdom local elections|2023 local elections]], four of those seats were held by the Labour Party, 3 by the Green Party and 2 by the LiberalDemocrats.<ref>{{cite web | title = Members of the Council | publisher = Canterbury City Council | url = http://www2.canterbury.gov.uk/committee/mgMemberIndex.asp?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 | access-date = 29 July 2009 | archive-date = 7 July 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090707065750/http://www2.canterbury.gov.uk/committee/mgMemberIndex.asp?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 | url-status = live }}</ref> Whitstable has no parish or town council. In their lieu, the Official Planning Consultee was the Whitstable Society, membership of which is open to all, until Cllr. Ben Fitter-Harding removed it in 2020.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Whitstable Society | publisher = The Whitstable Society | url = http://whitstablesociety.info | access-date = 31 January 2021 | archive-date = 31 January 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210131230633/https://www.whitstablesociety.info/ | url-status = live }}</ref>