July 2025

Hythe Tops UK Wood Burner Pollution Charts: Green Party Accused of Environmental Hypocrisy

July 31, 2025 // 4 Comments

A recent investigation by the ShepwayVox team has revealed that Hythe—one of the Green Party’s strongholds in Folkestone & Hythe District—has the highest [...]

Kent County Council SEND Crisis: Private School Placements Surge 28%

July 31, 2025 // 0 Comments

The cost to Kent County Council (KCC) of placing children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in private schools has surged dramatically. New figures show a 28% [...]

Explained: How Local Councils Raise Council Tax Without a Referendum

July 30, 2025 // 0 Comments

What happened to residents’ right to vote on ‘excessive’ council tax increases? And what does that have to do with the growing number of councils in financial crisis? [...]

Revealed: Thousands of Empty Homes Across 12 Kent Districts While Families Wait Years for Housing

July 28, 2025 // 0 Comments

Using publicly available data published by the Department of Levelling UP Housing & Communities on vacant dwellings (empty homes) and households on waiting lists for 12 [...]

Ship Street 70 Years of Nothing Much: Folkestone’s Most Patient Plot Finally Seeks a Future

July 28, 2025 // 1 Comment

Stand on the lip of Ship Street and look south: a 1.56‑hectare rectangle, scooped out like a giant wasp bite, dropping a vertiginous twelve metres towards the railway. Once [...]

More Contract & Financial Irregularities At Folkestone & Hythe District Council

July 26, 2025 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s contract register shows that on 5 February 2024 it awarded Threds Construction Ltd a £25,060 contract for [...]

And Now for Something Completely Different

July 26, 2025 // 0 Comments

It isn’t every day that a local council receives a planning application for a new burial ground, but that’s precisely the innovative step Gentle Endings Ltd is taking [...]

Affordable Homes Lost After Council Fails to Enforce Legal Planning Condition

July 25, 2025 // 0 Comments

This is a story of lost affordable housing. At the Full Council meeting on 23 July 2025, Cllr Jim Martin responded to a question from Cllr Nicola Keen about affordable [...]

Folkestone Gets Ahead: St Eanswythe Statue in Radnor Park to Regain Missing Head by August

July 24, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone’s most famous headless resident is finally due a reunion. After more than a year without a face, the statue of St Eanswythe at the entrance to Radnor Park is to [...]

Greatstone Coast Drive Beach Huts: Cost Doubles, Sea View Blocked

July 23, 2025 // 0 Comments

Work is finally in full swing on Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s £1.6 million “coastal destination” at Coast Drive, Greatstone. Contractors say the [...]

Audit calls foul: Folkestone & Hythe Council’s £1.74 m no‑bid contracts branded a “huge own‑goal”

July 23, 2025 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Contract Standing Orders could not be clearer: any officer who wants to buy something costing more than £10,000 without first [...]

Parking Mayhem, Missing Millions and a Headless Statue: Folkestone & Hythe District Council Meeting Turns Farce

July 23, 2025 // 2 Comments

They call it “Councillor Question Time”, but in Folkestone & Hythe the phrase feels more like the title of a particularly savage game show: councillors line up with [...]

Kent County Council Paid Out £10.7 Million in Secret Exit Deals — But Only Reported £3.65 Million

July 21, 2025 // 0 Comments

In an era defined by rising council tax, stretched services, and mounting pressure on frontline care, Kent County Council (KCC) has managed to lose sight of something rather [...]

Everything Adds Up Except the Future: How Kent’s £1.25bn Budget Balances on Delay, Denial and Disappearing Millions

July 20, 2025 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council’s Draft Statement of accounts 2024/25 have arrived — spreadsheeted, formatted, and radiating confidence — with what appears to be a balanced and [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Leaves £30m Unspent While Services Decline

July 19, 2025 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council approved over £136 million in planned spending across five financial years from 2020/21 to 2024/25. The stated aim was to deliver [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council’s Housing Shame: Five Years of Inaction and Budget Underspends

July 19, 2025 // 0 Comments

Updated @ 17:18 Let us begin, as all good auditors do, with the Three Es of public service delivery: Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness. Economy is all about cost—how [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Plans 100% Council Tax Reduction: £1.75m Shortfall Looms

July 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is preparing to launch a public consultation on a bold plan that could restore 100% Council Tax Reduction (CTR) for the district’s [...]

Refugee Turned NHS Nurse: The Case for Investing in English Classes, Not Cutting Them

July 15, 2025 // 3 Comments

Why cutting English classes for refugees is a false economy—and how one NHS nurse proves it. Rishan T (pictured) is not here to judge. She is here to care. At 26, Rishan is [...]

Dumb, Dangerous and in Charge: Reform UK’s Procurement Tantrum Should Terrify Every Voter in Kent

July 14, 2025 // 3 Comments

What happens when you hand the toolkit of the state to people who don’t even know what the spanners are for? In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig [...]

Reform UK’s £140m Cuts at Kent County Council: Are the Most Vulnerable Paying the Price?

July 13, 2025 // 3 Comments

Kent County Council (KCC) is undergoing one of the most far-reaching restructures in its history. Following Reform UK’s dramatic electoral win in May 2025, the new [...]

Folkestone’s Leas in Crisis: Locals Fight to Save Historic Promenade from Neglect and Landslides

July 12, 2025 // 5 Comments

This is a Guest Post Big changes are coming to local government across Kent—and Folkestone & Hythe District Council will not be immune. By mid-2028, the current [...]

Councils Blocking Public Right to Object: £8.8 Billion Fraud Risk Exposed

July 11, 2025 // 0 Comments

Each year, councils across England are legally required to throw open their financial books to public scrutiny. It’s not a token gesture — it’s a vital pillar of [...]

Two Resign from Folkestone Parking Team Amid Financial Irregularities

July 10, 2025 // 0 Comments

A supervisor employed by the private contractor responsible for parking enforcement across Folkestone & Hythe has resigned from their position following allegations [...]

FOLCA 1 to Be Sold at a Loss: The £13m Gamble on Folkestone’s Town Centre Revamp

July 9, 2025 // 7 Comments

Both documents referenced in this article — Cabinet Reports C/25/07 (FOLCA 1) and C/25/25 (FOLCA 2) — are scheduled for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, [...]

Folkestone Parking Enforcement Supervisor Suspended Amid Expenses Investigation

July 8, 2025 // 1 Comment

A senior supervisor working for the private company contracted to provide parking enforcement across Folkestone & Hythe has been suspended from duty pending the outcome [...]

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