ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Part 3: Hodson’s Chilmington Green Collapse — £211.9m in Creditor Claims, Six Administrations and 5,750 Homes at Stake

September 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

Chilmington Green was supposed to be much more than a housing estate. Ashford planned for a new community of up to 5,750 homes, schools, shops, parks and roads, backed by [...]

Get Off the Pavement: The Law Cyclists Ignore and Pedestrians Pay For

September 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

Guest contributor Alan has had enough of cyclists treating the pavement as an escape lane. He’s looked beyond the muttering and arm-waving to find out what the law actually [...]

Kent Local Government Reorganisation: KCC Considers Judicial Review of Option 4B

September 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Reform-led Kent County Council says the Government selected a financially weaker model for reorganising Kent and failed to address serious concerns about the county’s [...]

Part Two: Hodson Developments — From Building Disputes to a £5 Million NHBC Claim

September 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

In Part One, we traced Alan Hodson (pictured) and Hodson Developments from Sunningdale through decades of housebuilding, land acquisition and secured finance. Part Two [...]

Bradstow School Closed — Now Kent and Wandsworth Are Fighting Over £4.58m in SEND Fees

September 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

Bradstow School in Broadstairs educated and cared for children with some of the most complex special educational needs and disabilities. Kent County Council didn’t merely [...]

Plug-In Solar Panels in Folkestone & Hythe: What Renters Need to Know About Landlord Permission and Planning

September 2, 2026 // 2 Comments

Plug-in solar could finally allow renters to generate some of their own electricity. But there’s an awkward catch: the person paying the electricity bill may still have [...]

Part One: Alan Hodson and Hodson Developments — The Rise of the Property Business Behind Chilmington Green

September 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

This is the first of a three-part investigation into property developer Alan Derek Hodson (pictured), Hodson Developments and associated companies, prompted by the [...]

Kent LGR Secrecy: FHDC Withholds MoU Figures Under FOI Section 22 — Even Though They’re Already Public

September 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

An FoI request submitted to Folkestone & Hythe District Council on 30 July 2026 asked for the Local Government Reorganisation Implementation Reserve Memorandum of [...]

Southern Water Sewage Spills Hit Folkestone and Hythe as Sea-Swimming Health Concerns Grow

August 31, 2026 // 1 Comment

By Claire, guest contributor I’ve got to the point where going anywhere near the sea seems to require three checks before leaving the house: what’s the weather doing, [...]

Allard and Dunlop: Five Liquidations, £705,820 in Creditor Exposure and a Trail of Failed Companies

August 30, 2026 // 1 Comment

Between October 2016 and March 2026, five companies linked to William Dunlop entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation with £705,820 in initial creditor liabilities or [...]

Petticoat Lane Emporium Folkestone: ‘No Refund’ Sign, £77,580 Loss and £246,787 Short-Term Creditors

August 30, 2026 // 1 Comment

“Sorry — NO REFUND — ALL SALES FINAL.” That’s the notice facing customers at Petticoat Lane Emporium. The photograph supplied to The Shepway Vox Team shows it [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Complaints Surge 88% as 60 Residents Demand a Second Answer

August 28, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council makes residents a pretty clear promise on its website: “We aim to resolve any complaint at stage one.” Yet in 2025/26, 60 [...]

Hythe Imperial Planning Objection Guide: What Residents Need to Know About GSE’s £120m, 291-Home Plan

August 28, 2026 // 2 Comments

This is a Guest Post After reading The Shepway Vox Team’s examination of planning application 26/1290/FH, I spent a fair bit of time going through the application papers [...]

Nepal Disaster: Folkestone & Hythe Sends Messages of Hope and Comfort to Those Affected

August 27, 2026 // 2 Comments

The terrible events unfolding in Nepal and the wider Himalayan region will feel a very long way from Kent. But for many families across Folkestone & Hythe and the county, [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s £1.26m Fraud Report Doesn’t Say How Much Was Fraud — or Error

August 27, 2026 // 1 Comment

There’s a rather important word hiding inside Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s latest £1.26 million fraud figure. “Or.” FHDC says its investigations team [...]

GSE’s £120m Hythe Imperial Plan: 291 Homes, a 25m Pool — and a Planning File That Doesn’t Quite Add Up

August 26, 2026 // 2 Comments

GSE’s Imperial Gardens scheme promises 291 homes, around 73 “affordable homes”, a new 25m swimming pool and substantial private investment on Hythe seafront. [...]

KCC’s £100m AI Surveillance Framework: The GDPR Guide That Thinks It’s About Electric Cars

August 25, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council’s national surveillance framework can help public bodies buy facial-recognition cameras, artificial-intelligence surveillance, biometrics, ANPR, thermal [...]

Kent Council Debt: Borrowing Reaches £2.45bn as Medway Overtakes KCC Ahead of Local Government Reorganisation

August 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

New Government figures show nine of Kent’s 14 councils borrowing more than two years ago. With four new unitary councils due in 2028, those liabilities aren’t simply [...]

Kent’s AI Border Towers: £21m Spent as 153,000 People Arrived by Small Boat — Now the Home Office Plans to Spend £120m More

August 23, 2026 // 1 Comment

Walk west along the shingle at Hythe and, above the beach, an unusual structure looks out over the Channel. Roughly 18ft high, it carries radar and electro-optical and [...]

	shepwayvox on Plug-In Solar Panels in Folkes…
	Graham on Plug-In Solar Panels in Folkes…
	Barry on Southern Water Sewage Spills H…
	Andy on Nepal Disaster: Folkestone…
	Keith on Allard and Dunlop: Five Liquid…