Senior Council Officers and Cllrs rewarded handsomely for losing public purse tens of thousands of pounds

Between them they have lost the public purse tens of thousands of pounds and failed to keep the publication scheme up to date. The publication scheme aims to make the maximum amount of current information available at minimum inconvenience and cost to the public.

He betrayed the Folkestone & Hythe Labour Party. He betrayed the electorate of Harbour Ward. He betrayed Princes Parade, and took Monk’s shilling.

Cllr Ray Field Cabinet Member of Folkestone & Hythe District Council  for digital transformation, information technology, information access and security, RIPA, and customer service, is being paid £16,000 plus to manage a portfolio he isn’t managing. The Chief Exec of Folkestone & Hythe District Council , Dr Susan Priest – who understands “the importance of transparency“,  and earns in excess of £140,000; and Cllr David Monk are doing nothing about Cllr Field’s apparent incompetence to manage his portfolio.

Nor could Cllr Monk or the Chief Exec Dr Priest manage the previous Cabinet Member who controlled this portfolio, former Cllr Rory Love between 2015 and 2019; who received an allowance of near £20,000 in his last year in office. He too failed to keep the information on the publication scheme up to date. Then after him before Cllr Field took over, was Cllr Ian Meyers, the squealer, who breached confidentially and spilled the beans about the price the Reubens Brother were to get for the racecourse. 

Cllr Field, who no longer lives in the district, is the man currently responsible for the council’s publication scheme, much of which remains out of date.

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The council’s publication scheme webpage states it:

• “aims to make the maximum amount of current information available at minimum inconvenience and cost to the public.

• You don’t have to make a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to view the information in the publication scheme; the information is available either to view or download below.“

However, this is Folkestone & Hythe District Council and they don’t publish all the information, which means the only way to get the information is to make an FoI request .

The Section 106 financial contributions go up to 2017 only. This means 2018, 2019 and 2020,  section 106 financial contributions are NOT published for the last three and half years. This means the only way to get the information is to request it by making an FoI request.

The Parking Account data only goes up to 2018/19 and as such two years worth of data is missing. This means the only way to get the information is to request it by making an FoI request.

The number of covert surveillance and other related activities the council can carry out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, stops at 2017/18. This means the only way to get the information is to request it by making an FoI request.

The Building Control register runs between 1997 – December 2018 and as such misses out 2019 and 2020. This means the only way to get the information is to request it by making an FoI request.

The Brownfield register only shows data up to 2017. This means the only way to get the information for 2018, 2019 and 2020 is to make a FoI request.

Financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, tendering, procurement and contracts, such as the council’s Internal financial regulations and procurement procedures are not published – quelle surprise. This means the only way to get the information is to request it by making an FoI request.

The Council fees and charges, which they have published for the last four financial years have been incorrect. This is because there is no fee for environmental permits on the fees and charges publication as there must be law.

This means the council has lost tens of thousands of pounds of income through their failure to implement and follow the law.  This is a serious failure in governance as the council were not fulfilling it’s statutory obligations to charge for environmental permits. Again it would appear the Assistant Director for Governance, Law and Regulatory Services at Folkestone & Hythe District Council Amandeep Khroud (pictured) was paid handsomely (£90,000) for failing to do her job.

This means the only way to discover exactly how much they have lost the public purse is to request it by making an FoI request.

None of this can be blamed on Covid, as all the data which had to be published should have happened well before then.

My own private lake                                 Before I visited the optician

Cllr Field, his immediate boss and Leader of the Council, Cllr David Monk, the Chief Executive, Dr Susan Julia Priest and the Assistant Director for Governance, Law and Regulatory Services – Amandeep Khroud, are all being paid well to ensure the council fulfill it’s statutory obligations; and maintain the publication scheme, whose alleged aims are to:

• “make the maximum amount of current information available at minimum inconvenience and cost to the public.” So “you don’t have to make a Freedom of Information request to view the information in the publication scheme; the information is available either to view or download below.“

Between them they receive approx £275,000 of taxpayers money, and fail to to fulfill their statutory responsibilities and keep the publication scheme up to date.

What this clearly demonstrates to us is the Dunning Kruger effect and the Peter Principle are alive and well at the Council.

The Shepway Vox Team

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