ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Folkestone Town of Culture 2028 Bid: Come Together, Tell Our Story, Make It Happen

February 17, 2026 // 1 Comment

A £3 million national prize is on the table for the UK’s first Town of Culture in 2028. Folkestone has decided to take a run at it — and, for once, the first step [...]

Kent Councils’ Out-of-Area Temporary Accommodation: The FOI Numbers

February 17, 2026 // 0 Comments

When a council accepts that a household is homeless, it often has to find “temporary accommodation” fast. That can mean anything from a hotel or B&B to a short-term [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Fees: Prices Up Since 2019 — Are You Paying More Than Inflation?

February 17, 2026 // 0 Comments

Most people never read a council’s fees and charges appendices unless they absolutely have to. You only encounter them at awkward, very human moments: when you need a copy [...]

Cllr David Wimble Suggests Pulling Turner Contemporary Funding After MP Challenges Kent County Council ‘Savings’ Claim

February 16, 2026 // 3 Comments

When a senior politician is accused of inflating a headline “savings” number, there’s a simple, boring remedy: publish the workings, explain the language, and let [...]

High Street Cash Businesses and Money Laundering: What UK Enforcement Has Actually Found

February 16, 2026 // 1 Comment

Walk down almost any British high street and you can feel the mood: more “cash only” signs, more cloned-looking barbers, more shuttered banks, and a steady hum online [...]

Saga Sells Acromas Underwriter to Ageas: The 20-Year Insurance Partnership Explained

February 15, 2026 // 2 Comments

For years, Saga has sold insurance under its familiar brand to Britain’s over-50s. But behind the scenes, it was also carrying the most complicated part of the insurance [...]

EKHUFT Maternity Board Data: Ethnicity Recording Gaps and Higher Emergency Caesarean Rates for Some Groups

February 14, 2026 // 2 Comments

Maternity services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust have been a known area of concern in the past. That history matters, because it raises the bar for [...]

East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust: A&E Delays, Patient-Safety Backlogs and a System Running on Empty

February 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

Board papers from East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust show a week of “critical incident” pressure has now eased — but also reveal deep problems that [...]

Kent County Council Budget: Reform UK’s Debt Pledge and the Risks Behind the Numbers

February 13, 2026 // 0 Comments

After more than seven hours of debate at Sessions House, Reform UK passed its first ever Kent County Council budget — and did it with a political flourish that could not [...]

Hythe Bay Bathing Water Warnings: Sewage Pollution and E. coli from Hythe to Dungeness

February 13, 2026 // 0 Comments

Hythe Bay’s “no swim” problem didn’t start in the 2020s. It has a paper trail that runs from the mid-1970s, through the coliform “fail” tables of the 1980s, into [...]

Controlled Parking Zones: What FHDC Must Fix Before Adopting Its CPZ Policy

February 12, 2026 // 3 Comments

Controlled Parking Zones are arguments over a finite resource: a few metres of kerb outside your home or shop. From Snargate to Sellindge, Lydd to Lyminge where streets can [...]

Folkestone Sports Centre: Cabinet Approves £2.4m Reopening Grant Ahead of Full Council Vote

February 11, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet has agreed to include a one-off £2.4 million grant aimed at reopening Folkestone Sports Centre and cutting its future [...]

FOLCA Folkestone: FOLCA 1 Saved for Retail-and-Flats, Sale Funds FOLCA 2 Medical Centre

February 11, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone’s long-stalled FOLCA project has entered its most consequential phase yet: FOLCA 1 is being sold, FOLCA 2 is being refurbished, and councillors are now publicly [...]

The Velvet Voices “Romney Marsh” Album: 20+ Musicians, Nine Nationalities, One Love Letter to Romney Marsh

February 11, 2026 // 4 Comments

Romney Marsh is often overlooked in the Folkestone & Hythe District Council chamber — but not by The Velvet Voices. Our latest album, Romney Marsh, lands with the scale [...]

Sunshine Bistro Licence Revoked After Home Office Review Hearing

February 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe councillors have revoked Sunshine Bistro’s premises licence, ending its authorisation to sell alcohol, after a review brought by the Home Office. [...]

Kent County Council HQ U-Turn: County Hall Basement Contract Casts Doubt on Invicta House “Savings”

February 6, 2026 // 1 Comment

Reform UK promised a cheaper headquarters plan: ditch the Invicta House refurbishment, bring staff back into Sessions House, and spend “a relatively small amount” [...]

Sunshine Bistro Folkestone: Owner Faces Losing Alcohol Licence Over Illegal Workers

February 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

Council hearing today will decide fate of Sunshine Bistro after immigration enforcement raid uncovered four illegal workers Sunshine cafe, the popular town centre restaurant [...]

Temporary Accommodation Costs Hit Record High at Folkestone & Hythe District Council, Passing £1m

February 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s spending on temporary accommodation has now crossed £1,052,870 in the current financial year, according to the council’s [...]

Folkestone Sports Centre Trust: From £150,000 Council Grant to Administration — What the Sale Price Reveals

February 6, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone Sports Centre didn’t die because it had nothing. It died because it had no money where it mattered: in the bank. That is the central message running through the [...]

Folkestone & Hythe ‘Stretches the Mortgage’ on £192m Debt: MRP Savings Now, Higher Bills Later

February 5, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) is proposing a change that makes its finances look dramatically healthier on paper — not by paying down debt, but by changing [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Tax: The Numbers Were Blacked Out — the Bill Wasn’t

February 4, 2026 // 1 Comment

There’s a familiar annual trick in local government: lead with the smallest number you control, then hope nobody asks about the rest. This year, Folkestone & Hythe [...]

Kent and Medway ICB £198m Deficit: Financial Crisis, Governance Failures and Hospital Performance Ratings Revealed

February 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

Exclusive analysis reveals severe financial pressures across Kent and Medway’s health system, with deficit support funding withdrawn and emergency measures implemented [...]

Ofsted: Kent Care Leavers in Unsafe Homes

February 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

In Kent, young adults leaving care are telling inspectors something no “corporate parent” should ever have to hear: I don’t feel safe where I live. In a local authority [...]

Cold Homes, Fuel Poverty and FHDC Independent Living: Why Older Residents Are Still Being Left in the Cold

February 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

In the bleak mid-winter; Frosty wind made moan; Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Christina Rossetti Cold is not just uncomfortable; for older people it can be [...]

Southern Water Bills Rise as Sewage Spills Persist: 50 Years of Warnings on the Kent Coast

February 1, 2026 // 2 Comments

Southern Water customers are being asked to pay more again, and the public justification is that the money will “fix” the system. From April, the average bill is due to [...]

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