The 1998 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Kent, England.
[2] However the Conservatives were optimistic of making gains as they were no longer in government nationally and after some Liberal Democrat councillors had defected.
[2] Issues in the election included plans for traffic calming and to widen the A21.
[2] The Liberal Democrat council's plans to create cycle and bus lanes by using part of the common were attacked by the Conservatives.
[3] The victory was seen as being symbolic for the Conservatives in the 1998 local elections as an area which they had lost at the height of unpopularity in the mid-1990s.