ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Otterpool Park Update: Phase 1B Emerges as Likely Start for Early Homes

March 31, 2026 // 0 Comments

The latest Homes England announcement is dressed in the usual language of collaboration, momentum and delivery. But the most important Otterpool development is not in the [...]

KCC SEND Crisis: Private EHCP School Placements and Costs Soar

March 31, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council is paying for far more children with EHCPs to be placed in independent special schools than it was a few years ago, and the bill is now rising so fast [...]

Kent solar panel data raises questions over MP Tony Vaughan’s rooftop energy plan

March 30, 2026 // 1 Comment

New Department for Energy Security and Net Zero figures show rooftop solar is already well established across Kent. But while Tony Vaughan KC MP is plainly right that more [...]

Southern Water Bewl Water Signs Show £30m and £40m as FHDC Faces Statutory Nuisance Test

March 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

Two Southern Water signs at Bewl Water appear to describe the same reservoir-upgrade scheme, yet one says “over £30 million” and the other says “over £40 million”. [...]

National Highways Land by Kent A2 Near Canterbury Strewn With Rubbish

March 28, 2026 // 1 Comment

National Highways says it wants “a thriving environment” and to be “a good neighbour”. But beside the A2 at Faulkners Lane, Harbledown, land owned by the company is [...]

Sandbanks Littlestone Development: Ownership, Planning and Company Questions

March 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

We have written about Sandbanks before. Back in 2021 the questions were about planning, ownership and who was really driving the scheme. Five years on, the former care home [...]

Southern Water Sewage Spills in the East Stour: Why Councils Must Use Statutory Nuisance Powers

March 27, 2026 // 2 Comments

England had its driest spring for more than 100 years, and 2025 was England’s warmest and sunniest year on record. Even so, the selected Southern Water overflows affecting [...]

Kent County Council SEND Taxi Invoice Irregularities Found by Counter Fraud, Not Reform UK DOLGE

March 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

Reform UK came into County Hall promising a “laser-like focus” on waste, set up its Kent Department of Local Government Efficiency, and said home-to-school transport was [...]

FHDC Approves £2.42m Folkestone Sports Centre Grant to Reopen Pool

March 26, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet has unanimously approved a £2,421,250 capital grant to The Sports Trust to reopen Folkestone Sports Centre’s pool. The [...]

Right to Buy in Kent: How Council Homes Were Sold Off

March 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Right to Buy is usually told as a Thatcher fairy tale with a sold sign. The neat version says Margaret Thatcher arrived, handed council tenants a key to capitalism, and [...]

FHDC Sewage Testing Motion Demands Evidence on Romney Marsh and East Stour Pollution

March 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

On 1 April, Folkestone & Hythe District Council has a chance to do something painfully obvious but surprisingly rare in local politics: stop holding yet another round of [...]

Folkestone Library Move: KCC Puts Grace Hill Building on Disposal Track

March 24, 2026 // 2 Comments

Kent County Council has now put Folkestone’s old Grace Hill library on the disposal track while pressing ahead with a new library home at 14 Sandgate Road. The paperwork [...]

Folkestone Beach Huts: Council Charity Falls Short of Its Promise

March 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

Marine Walk is full, colourful and plainly popular. But when we compared the promise made in 2019 with the accounts now on file, a more awkward picture emerged: the scheme [...]

FHDC Temporary Accommodation Costs Soar as Homelessness Pressure Grows

March 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has already spent almost £1.38 million on temporary accommodation by the end of February, before March’s figures are even [...]

Kent potholes: how residents can use section 56 to force road repairs

March 22, 2026 // 2 Comments

Kent drivers are told to report potholes, wait patiently, and trust that somewhere in County Hall a spreadsheet is humming reassuringly. But there comes a point when patience [...]

Reform UK at KCC Says Councillors’ 3.8% Pay Rise Is “Reasonable” — As Council Tax Rises 3.99%

March 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

At Kent County Council, a 3.99% rise in council tax is apparently the stern medicine residents must swallow. A 3.8% rise in councillors’ allowances, however, is “entirely [...]

Cllr David Wimble’s Problem With Numbers

March 20, 2026 // 3 Comments

When a cabinet member says his party has 76 councillors at Kent County Council, but the official figure is 47, that is not a tiny slip. It is less a rounding error than a [...]

FHDC’s Green Image Meets the East Stour Rubbish Problem

March 20, 2026 // 1 Comment

If the East Stour rubbish sits on or beside land tied to Otterpool Park, then Folkestone & Hythe District Council has a problem no amount of eco-language can mulch away. [...]

Cllr David Wimble’s Kent County Council Motion Collapses After Opposition Walkout

March 19, 2026 // 3 Comments

Cllr David Wimble’s motion at Kent County Council on 19 March fizzled out into a damp squib. Put simply, the opposition left the chamber, and only Reform UK was left to [...]

Could Tony Vaughan MP Take Southern Water to Court Over Sewage?

March 19, 2026 // 2 Comments

Joining a briefing is easy. Holding a placard is easy. Posting angry words on social media is easy. The harder test is whether Folkestone and Hythe’s MP is prepared to do [...]

Folkestone Sports Centre Grant: Public Money, Private Asset, Big Questions for FHDC

March 18, 2026 // 2 Comments

On Wednesday 25 March, Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet is due to decide whether to award The Sports Trust a £2,421,250 capital grant to reopen the [...]

Leas Pavilion Folkestone: the £20m Claim the Filed Accounts Do Not Support

March 17, 2026 // 3 Comments

For years, Folkestone was sold a dream in glossy renders: restored heritage, luxury flats and a grand old pavilion brought back to life above the Channel. What the town has [...]

Southern Water, Sewage and Kent’s Water Crisis Reach County Hall

March 16, 2026 // 0 Comments

Updated 18 March 2026 Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. W. H. Auden Cllr Stuart Heaver’s motion on water infrastructure is serious, overdue and [...]

David Wimble’s “Illegal Migration Emergency” Motion Falls Apart on the Facts

March 16, 2026 // 4 Comments

Updated: 06:45am 17 March 2026 On Thursday 19 March, Kent County Council will be asked to declare an “Illegal Migration Emergency in Kent” on a motion proposed by Reform [...]

Kent Councils’ Environmental Health Powers on Sewage: Who to Contact and What They Can Do

March 16, 2026 // 2 Comments

Yesterday, we looked at What Powers Does Kent’s Director of Public Health Have Over Sewage Pollution. Today, in the final part of this public health series, we turn to the [...]

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