ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s New Finance System Raises Old Questions

April 8, 2026 // 0 Comments

Cllr Tim Prater says Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s new finance system should improve things. He may be right. But the awkward truth is that this is not really a [...]

Kent Meningitis Outbreak: Exercise Pegasus Paper Mentioned Meningitis Before Canterbury Cluster

April 7, 2026 // 0 Comments

In January, Kent’s public health committee was given a routine-looking update on Exercise Pegasus, a national pandemic-preparedness exercise. Buried in the paper was a line [...]

Southern Water Sewage: Why Some Kent Councils Investigate and Others Look Away

April 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

Two Kent councils are now investigating possible statutory nuisance complaints over alleged untreated sewage discharges by Southern Water. Others are hesitating, dragging [...]

New Romney and Its Perfect Cousins

April 4, 2026 // 2 Comments

There are few things more revealing in local government than a row about street sweeping. Not because it is glamorous. Quite the opposite. When residents start arguing over [...]

David Wimble and the long trail of false claims and official corrections

April 3, 2026 // 3 Comments

For years, David Wimble (pictured) has mixed life as a councillor with life as a publisher. That is not the problem. The problem is what happens when the man with the [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Backs East Stour and Romney Marsh Sewage Testing

April 2, 2026 // 1 Comment

There are some council debates that arrive gift-wrapped for local government purists: knotty, procedural, full of worthy intent and decorated with enough amendments to make [...]

East Kent Hospitals Recovery Programme: Fire Safety, Maternity and Complaint Failures Exposed

April 2, 2026 // 1 Comment

When East Kent Hospitals’ board meets later today, Thursday 2 April, it will do so with the trust now officially placed in the government’s new NHS intensive recovery [...]

Folkestone Beach Book Swap Draws 2,073 People and Sets World Record

April 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

More than 2,000 people gathered at Sunny Sands for what organisers say was a world-record book swap, turning Folkestone’s shoreline into a joyful celebration of stories, [...]

Chris Hespe, Reform’s DOLGE and the KCC Debt Claim That Does Not Add Up

April 1, 2026 // 3 Comments

Chris Hespe’s parish updates offer an unintentionally marvellous guide to life inside Reform-run County Hall: surplus property that supposedly has to be sold by law, [...]

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 // 3 Comments

Updated with Mr Derek Bennett’s Instructions to Get Roads Repaired Kent drivers are told to report potholes, wait patiently, and trust that somewhere in County Hall a [...]

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 [...]

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