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Otterpool Park Update: Hillhurst Farm Homes Rise From 300 To 500 As Homes England Hides Land Price

July 9, 2026 // 0 Comments

In a response under the Environmental Information Regulations, Homes England has confirmed it has bought part of the Hillhurst Farm/Hillhurst Green land at Otterpool Park. [...]

Kent’s Housing Crisis: 47,839 Approved Homes, But Councils Still Fail The Delivery Test

July 8, 2026 // 1 Comment

Kent hasn’t run out of planning permissions. It’s got plenty of paper foundations. The latest Kent housing land supply audit shows 47,839 homes with planning permission [...]

Free School Meals In Folkestone & Hythe Rise From One In Five Pupils To Almost One In Three

July 7, 2026 // 0 Comments

The free-school-meals (FSM) line in Folkestone & Hythe doesn’t wobble. It climbs. All-schools district data shows the rate rising from 19.8% in 2020 to 32.6% in 2026. [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council HR Reports Show Staff Sickness, Stress And Long-Term Absence Rising Under Green-Led Rule

July 6, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s HR reports between 21/22 – 25/26 read like a match of two halves. The Conservatives left the pitch with a governance mess [...]

FHDC Public Money: 46 Contract Red Flags Raise Questions Over Council Spending

July 5, 2026 // 0 Comments

There’s no point dressing this up in committee-room cotton wool. Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s public data shows 46 confirmed 2025/26 contract red flags and [...]

Sunflower House And One Folkestone: Public Money, Vulnerable People And Missing Safeguards

July 3, 2026 // 4 Comments

Sunflower House says it’s about community. One Folkestone says it’s about partnership. Both talk in the soft language of help, hope, joining-up and civic renewal. But [...]

Cllr Jim Martin Held 18 Meetings With Sir Roger De Haan — FHDC Says No Notes Were Kept

July 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has confirmed that its Leader, Cllr Jim Martin, attended 18 meetings with Sir Roger De Haan between March 2024 and May 2026. No great [...]

Leas Pavilion Folkestone: £4m Hole, Receivers And Vanishing Buyers Leave Rescue On The Brink

July 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

The latest Friends Of The Leas Pavilion meeting points to a Leas Pavilion scheme that isn’t easing back to life, but wobbling badly: the historic fabric is said to be safe, [...]

Otterpool Park Design Brief To Be Submitted With Outline Planning Application Update

July 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

Otterpool Park where FHDC got a council resolution to grant outline permission in April 2023. Three years later, the actual permission still hasn’t been issued. Now the [...]

FHDC Gives Residents Just 256 Characters To Ask About The Public’s Money

July 1, 2026 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s public inspection form now limits residents to 256 characters when asking for accounting records. That’s less than X. Less than [...]

KCC DOLGE: Reform UK’s Waste Hunt Finds “No Obvious Wasteful Spending” After £22.7m Overspend

July 1, 2026 // 1 Comment

Reform arrived at County Hall promising to hunt waste. Then KCC’s own DOLGE paper said the job was to check “there was no obvious wasteful spending”. That’s the [...]

Councillor Home Addresses: Why the New Privacy Law Matters

June 29, 2026 // 1 Comment

Today, 29 June 2026, the law changes.Councils in England must no longer publish councillors’ home addresses in public registers of interests unless the councillor [...]

East Kent Maternity Safety: Warning Signs Still Flash

June 28, 2026 // 1 Comment

Donna Ockenden’s Nottingham Maternity report, published on Wednesday last week, should make uncomfortable reading in East Kent. Not because Nottingham and East Kent are the [...]

Otterpool Park First Homes: Hillhurst Costs and North Downs Views

June 26, 2026 // 3 Comments

Homes England has bought Hillhurst farmland. The first 300 Otterpool homes are being aimed at sites HF2 and HF3, where the public plans show buildings up to 12–15 metres. [...]

FHDC Housing Account: Millions Unspent on Council Homes

June 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s council-housing account ended 2025/26 with a much bigger reserve than expected. That’s the good news. The less comfortable [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Spent Less, Delivered Less, But Borrowed More

June 25, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s capital programme ended 2025/26 with a headline underspend of £3.649m, but that doesn’t mean the council simply saved money. [...]

Oliver Davis, Dace Environmental and the £6.68m Creditor Question

June 25, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent’s new green housing fix is being sold with drone footage, widened ditches and the promise of thousands of homes. But behind the clean-river sales pitch sits a very [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Budget Surplus Masks £3m Service Overspend

June 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council says it ended 2025/26 with a small General Fund surplus. But its own papers show a harder story: services overspent, Princes Parade [...]

Romney Marsh Solar Farms: Full Council to Decide Next Step

June 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe councillors are being asked to give senior officers faster powers to respond to three giant solar schemes on Romney Marsh — but the petition that [...]

Southern Water Drought Plan Exposes Kent’s Water Supply Crisis

June 22, 2026 // 1 Comment

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. W. H. Auden Southern Water is telling us to think about drought before we have no choice. Not just hosepipe bans. [...]

Reform UK Loses High Court Bid to Block Voter Data Claim

June 22, 2026 // 0 Comments

Reform UK tried to block The Good Law Project’s data-rights claim ahead of the trial. The High Court wouldn’t do that. So, the claim goes on. And the basic question is, [...]

Kent Fire and Rescue Shake-Up Puts Rural Response Times Under Scrutiny

June 21, 2026 // 1 Comment

On the surface, Kent Fire and Rescue Service looks like a success story. If you look at the reports from inspectors and auditors, they are full of praise. But if you dig into [...]

Oportunitas: FHDC’s £11.7m Landlord Faces EPC and Dividend Questions

June 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s housing company, Oportunitas, is headed back to the Cabinet on June 24th. The numbers on the table involve 75 homes, one empty shop, [...]

Kent and Medway NHS Dentist Crisis Leaves Patients Behind

June 19, 2026 // 0 Comments

New NHS figures show Swale and Ashford doing better, Canterbury falling badly behind for adults, Thanet flashing red for children — and a dental system still built around [...]

KCC’s £22.7m Overspend Punctures Reform’s Waste-Cutting Promise

June 19, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Tories set Kent County Council’s 2025/26 budget in February, before they lost office. Reform has run KCC since May 2025. By the end of March, the council was £22.7m [...]

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