She says she understands the importance of transparency and is able to discharge responsibilities to the highest standards of probity.
Dr Susan Priest, the Chief Executive of Folkestone & Hythe District Council, took up the top job on 1st April 1st 2018.
Under her leadership, there was a failure to spot a £1.5 million pound “systemic fraud“ by P & R; and significant breaches of health & safety issues for Council tenants, such as gas, fire, electrical, legionella and asbestos.
In her first year of office she failed to get the Council’s accounts signed off due to the “systemic fraud“. The Auditor, Grant Thornton have not yet given a clean bill of health for the 2018/19 accounts.
Then who could forget the significant data breach in 2019, where data about council employees pay and pensions, landlords personal and financial data and council tenants personal data, remained in the public domain for more than ten weeks.
Then just yesterday we made it clear, under her leadership the council have failed to provide the public with the developer contribution data in 2018/19 and 2019/20. And we ask where are the 2019 and 2020 Annual Monitoring Reports (See example here ⇒ Annual Monitoring Report (2018)); which have not been published as they must under The Town and County Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.
In Jan 2020, the Council were heavily chastised by the Local Government Ombudsman regarding their treatment of a homeless family. The Ombudsman said in his report:
The Council has, at times, refused to respond to our enquiries and questioned our authority to investigate parts of the complaint. This resulted in us having to threaten to issue a summons requiring the Council to attend our offices.
In this case the Council produced the evidence we requested. However, we should not have had to threaten the Council with a summons in the first place.
We would ask the Council to reflect on how it has responded to our enquiries in this case and put measures in place to ensure we receive an appropriate response to any future investigations.
Were these signs of petulant shyness, or an extreme reluctance to be transparent with the ombudsman?
For somebody who stressed the importance of transparency in her bid for the top job as Chief Exec, there are now more meetings behind closed doors, than at any other time in the Council’s forty six year history.
When Susan took the top job on 1st April, 2018, her annual salary was £111,994, plus £13,485 in pension contributions, amounting to £125,479.
In June 2019, the personnel committee awarded Susan a pay rise. Her annual salary, without pension contribution, rose to £149,279, which was a 33.3% increase. With pension contribution it rose by 32.3% to £165,969.
A Local Government Association spokesman informed the public face of The Shepwayvox Team:
‘Senior pay is always decided by democratically elected councillors in an open and transparent way.’
It’s true the decision was taken by democratically elected Councillors. They being:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
The decision though was taken behind closed doors.
Nobody in their right mind would consider a meeting behind closed doors to be open and transparent, except of course, a democratically elected councillor, and the Chief Exec, Dr Susan Priest.
As we’ve said before: One person’s transparency is another’s humiliation.
If I was that incompetent at my job and wasted this much money and did not comply with the law I would get the sack and probably end up in prison.
We need to get rid of these incompetent money sapping members of our council and get people that actually care about our community and account for their actions!
Strange thing this, but at the last local council election the voters returned more ‘none-Tory’ Councillors than Tories
Then within hours (or even minutes) of the election results three of the ‘non-tories’ raced off to support the Tory administration and give Monk a majority again.
So much for local democracy and respecting voter intentions.
An obviously incompetent Council needs an equally incompetent Chief Executive. They can protect each other by covering up mistakes, breaches of the law, maladministration, deliberate obstruction, questionable planning decisions and much worse.
Requiring ex-employees to sign non-disclosure agreements is a sign of a working culture that is clearly dis-functional. Also, signing an agreement does not prevent an employee from blowing the whistle on malpractice (see ACAS guidance below).
A competent Chief Executive who believes in the rule of law and the highest standards of personal and professional probity would not be welcome in a Council that has become a byword for mediocrity and incompetence.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council, the gift which keeps on giving.
Shame that the local council tax payers couldn’t have stood outside the Civic Centre and given her the clap.
If I was that incompetent at my job and wasted this much money and did not comply with the law I would get the sack and probably end up in prison.
We need to get rid of these incompetent money sapping members of our council and get people that actually care about our community and account for their actions!
Strange thing this, but at the last local council election the voters returned more ‘none-Tory’ Councillors than Tories
Then within hours (or even minutes) of the election results three of the ‘non-tories’ raced off to support the Tory administration and give Monk a majority again.
So much for local democracy and respecting voter intentions.
An obviously incompetent Council needs an equally incompetent Chief Executive. They can protect each other by covering up mistakes, breaches of the law, maladministration, deliberate obstruction, questionable planning decisions and much worse.
Requiring ex-employees to sign non-disclosure agreements is a sign of a working culture that is clearly dis-functional. Also, signing an agreement does not prevent an employee from blowing the whistle on malpractice (see ACAS guidance below).
https://www.acas.org.uk/acas-publishes-new-guidance-on-non-disclosure-agreements-ndas
A competent Chief Executive who believes in the rule of law and the highest standards of personal and professional probity would not be welcome in a Council that has become a byword for mediocrity and incompetence.