Folkestone & Hythe District Council Withhold Audit Records, Breaching Public Inspection Rights

One week after the statutory 30-working‑day inspection period closed (1 July–12 August 2025), residents report that Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) has still failed to provide requested financial records. Under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, every local elector has the right to inspect the council’s accounts and “all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents” relating to them during a fixed inspection period. FHDC’s own public notice (30 June 2025) confirmed that from 1 July – 12 August any “interested” person could inspect the 2024/25 accounts and related documents. It also stated that within that window a local elector may “make an objection to the accounts as set out in sections 26 and 27” of the Act.

In practice, however, campaigners say residents made formal requests for invoices and contracts but the council provided nothing during the inspection period. If key documents are withheld during those 30 days, taxpayers are effectively deprived of the only chance to object or challenge anything potentially unlawful in the accounts. And is it any wonder? Among the requests were details of senior officers’ spending on trains, planes, cars, hotels and food – expenses which would shine a light on how taxpayer money is used at the top of the organisation. That is precisely the kind of scrutiny the inspection window was designed for, yet FHDC’s silence only fuels unnecessary suspicion.

This impasse comes amid a national crisis in local government auditing. In July 2025 the National Audit Office again refused to sign off the UK’s Whole of Government Accounts for 2023/24, because of incomplete local authority data. In England, only 16 out of 407 councils managed to submit properly audited figures – 167 provided no data at all and 224 submitted only unaudited or draft figures. As a result, Gareth Davies (the NAO’s Comptroller and Auditor General) warned he could not determine whether the information “provided by these entities is free from material misstatement”. In total, some £73.2 billion of 2023/24 local spending was effectively unaudited. Davies bluntly noted that “local taxpayers in England deserve timely audited accounts from their local council”. The FHDC debacle – opening an inspection period but declining to hand over records – only adds to worries about governance during this audit crisis.

FHDC’s own track record is sobering. For the past three years the council has failed to produce its audited accounts on time, reflecting severe resource strains. For example, auditors announced in July 2023 that the 2022/23 accounts audit would be delayed until October 2023 (The 2023/24 audit was not certified until early 2025, and even then an audit certificate was held back pending completion of the WGA work) By contrast, the 2024/25 draft accounts were at least published for inspection on schedule. So what is the point of the public inspection, if requests for details are ignored? Critics suspect a culture problem: staff either cannot or will not release information to the public. FHDC’s statutory Section 151 officer (the council’s finance chief responsible for the money) for 2024/25 was Lydia Morrison (now succeeded by Alan Mitchell); legally she is responsible for the accounts’ completeness. The chief executive (Dr Susan Priest) and monitoring officer (Ewan Green) are likewise charged with upholding governance. Yet by the end of the inspection period no documents had been produced or received. Unsurprisingly, this creates “reasonable cause for doubt” about the council’s transparency.

The situation is compounded by weaknesses in political oversight. The council’s Audit & Governance Committee – which by charter should scrutinise financial control – is composed of four councillors (and an independent member) Its chair is Liz McShane, with members Belinda Walker, David Wimble – (below @ Full Council Council 26 Feb -who never attends A & G Committee), John Wing.

Public video from the full Council meeting on 26 February show that at least two of these members have admitted they don’t understand the Council’s finances.

If half the committee cannot interpret basic finance reports, local watchdogs fear that officers can routinely “run rings” around them. This mirrors a recent parliamentary finding: many councillors and statutory officers lack financial literacy, and “need the tools and training” to oversee spending of public money. Indeed, a July 2025 report by the House of Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee  recommended mandatory financial training for all councillors and senior officers, so they can “understand their council’s financial accounts” and hold officials to account. At present, critics say, FHDC is falling woefully short of that standard.

In sum, Folkestone & Hythe residents are being denied the full exercise of their legal rights. By opening its accounts but withholding documents, the council has blocked any meaningful public review or objection of its finances. Combined with national audit failures and an under-equipped Audit & Governance Committee, this situation undermines trust in the council’s stewardship of taxpayers’ money. Observers warn that effective accountability is impossible when information is hidden: good governance demands openness. Until FHDC changes course and releases the requested data, its commitment to transparency will remain in serious doubt.

The Shepway Vox Team

Discernibly Different Dissent