ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Southern Water bosses’ pay: bonuses blocked as bills rise and pollution failures continue

July 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

The chief executive and finance director received no annual bonus for the second year running. But Southern Water’s accounts show why the word “bonus” tells only part [...]

Long Read: Kent Library Visits Rise as Physical Loans Fall and Costs Climb

July 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent’s libraries gained almost exactly as many visits as they lost physical loans. Between 2023/24 and 2024/25, recorded visits to Kent’s libraries and mobile services [...]

Ship Street Folkestone: FHDC Backs 85-Home Orbit Scheme as Hidden Land Value and ‘400 People’ Claim Raise Questions

July 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

FHDC has approved another £132,000 for Ship Street after being told 85 homes could remove nearly 400 people from the housing waiting list. The trouble is that the list [...]

Romney Marsh Solar Farms: FHDC Asked for a Cumulative Impact Rule That Already Existed

July 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

A non-lawyer councillor stopped Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s solar motion. Five minutes later, Chief Executive Dr Susan Priest read out the repair — but [...]

Cllr David Wimble on Nigel Farage: A Pint, a Phone and ‘We Make It Up as We Go Along’

July 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

Satire occasionally arrives fully assembled. On page 45 of the latest Looker, David Wimble mocks Britain’s instant experts: “Apparently all you need to become Britain’s [...]

Kent County Council Reform UK Led Audit Committee ‘Not Effective’ as Camilla Black May Resign

July 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council’s only independent audit committee member says the body isn’t working, serious questions aren’t being answered and the people responsible for [...]

Why KCC’s Folkestone Library Footfall Comparison Is Nonsense: Grace Hill v Sandgate Road

July 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

Brian Collins arrived at KCC’s Cabinet meeting brandishing two figures as though he’d just cracked the Enigma code. Grace Hill library received 4,613 visits in June 2022; [...]

South Brooks Solar Farm: FHDC Signals ‘Holding Objection’ Over Romney Marsh Risks

July 23, 2026 // 1 Comment

“It just feels a bit fait accompli.” With those words, Cllr Adrian Lockwood (Lab – pictured) put his finger on the unease running through Folkestone & Hythe [...]

High Court Rules Environment Agency Can Prosecute Former Southern Water Chief Matthew Wright for Conspiracy to Defraud

July 22, 2026 // 0 Comments

A former Southern Water chief executive has failed in a High Court attempt to establish that the Environment Agency had no legal power to prosecute him for conspiracy to [...]

Why It’s So Hard to Get a GP Appointment in Folkestone & Hythe

July 22, 2026 // 2 Comments

At the crack of eight, the scramble begins. Patients ring, refresh a webpage, fill in a form or wait for somebody to decide whether their problem merits an appointment. By [...]

Folkestone and Hythe Council’s Unfulfilled Promise to Investigate Sewage Pollution

July 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

On 1 April, Folkestone & Hythe District Council agreed that possible human faecal contamination across Romney Marsh and the East Stour needed investigating “as a matter [...]

Folkestone and Hythe District Council: Officers Must Declare Freemasonry, Councillors Don’t

July 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

When Folkestone & Hythe District Council meets tomorrow, 22 July, councillors will consider a constitutional overhaul containing two codes of conduct. Tucked inside is a [...]

Ship Street Folkestone: Enabling Costs Could Reach £1.43m as Land Value Remains Hidden

July 20, 2026 // 0 Comments

Open Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s latest Ship Street report and one detail does all the talking: a blank where the developer’s calculated land value should [...]

Martello Lakes Pool Promise Replaced as Hythe Pool Refurbishment Could Cost £10.7m

July 20, 2026 // 0 Comments

When Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet meets on 22 July, members will be asked to set two leisure projects moving. One involves spending £353,000 [...]

Southern Water 2025/26: Leakage, Pollution and £7bn Debt — Long Read

July 19, 2026 // 0 Comments

Southern Water cut leakage sharply during 2025/26, but still lost almost 90 million litres of treated water every day — enough over the year to fill Bewl Water reservoir [...]

Kent Local Government Reorganisation: Four Unitary Councils, Debt and Costs — Long Read

July 19, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent knows where the new boundaries will run. It still doesn’t know who’ll inherit the mortgage. Steve Reed MP Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local [...]

Kent Coastal Housing Market Cools as Folkestone and Hythe Rents Soar

July 18, 2026 // 1 Comment

Kent’s coastal housing boom has cooled. That much is no longer seriously in doubt. The frantic bidding, sealed offers and London money that swept through Folkestone, Hythe, [...]

Kent Local Government Reorganisation: Four Unitary Councils and One Almighty Hangover

July 17, 2026 // 0 Comments

What follows isn’t a leaked meeting or a quotation from any named council officer. It’s an imagined pub conversation translating Kent’s local government shake-up into [...]

Folkestone A Brighter Future: £22m Project Delayed by at Least 17 Months

July 16, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council says Folkestone – A Brighter Future is now “80% complete”. It’s a neat little figure, polished until it shines: the sort of [...]

Four Companies Registered at Folkestone and Hythe Council Homes Raise Tenancy Fraud Audit Questions

July 15, 2026 // 0 Comments

A new Cabinet Office agreement with Airbnb will allow participating councils to compare social-housing records with holiday-let listings to identify possible illegal [...]

South Brooks Solar Farm: FHDC Officers Raise Concerns Over Heathrow-Sized Romney Marsh Scheme

July 15, 2026 // 0 Comments

Back in May, The Shepway Vox Team wrote that Romney Marsh isn’t empty land beside a handy National Grid socket. It’s a vast, man-made water system held together by [...]

Exclusive: Royal British Legion Says Reform UK Fundraising at Hythe Armed Forces Day Was Unauthorised

July 14, 2026 // 2 Comments

The Royal British Legion says Reform UK wasn’t authorised to claim any connection with the charity or fundraise on its behalf at Hythe Armed Forces Day. The local branch [...]

Folkestone Footfall Data: FHDC’s Own Figures Show Visits Peaked in 2023

July 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council says Folkestone’s town centre grew beyond the national trend, reached a five-year footfall peak in 2024 and then settled into a [...]

Saga Enbrook Park Housing Plan: Can Saga Fix The Pavilion Without Building Homes?

July 13, 2026 // 0 Comments

Saga wants residents at Enbrook Park on Monday 13 July 2026, from 4pm to 7pm, at the Main Reception, Saga Building, Enbrook Park, Sandgate. That’s the consultation, and if [...]

NHS Kent and Medway Job Cuts: 430 Posts Go as ICB Faces £50.8m Deficit

July 12, 2026 // 0 Comments

What follows isn’t Adam Doyle’s actual words, and it’s not some leaked chinwag from the snug. It’s our straight-talking take on NHS Kent and Medway’s board papers [...]

	Stephen on Ship Street Folkestone: FHDC B…
	ian on Cllr David Wimble on Nigel Far…
	cg on South Brooks Solar Farm: FHDC…
	South East Londoner on Kent Councils’ Out-of-Area Tem…
	Amanda on Why It’s So Hard to Get a GP A…