ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Folkestone & Hythe Council Backs East Stour and Romney Marsh Sewage Testing

April 2, 2026 // 1 Comment

There are some council debates that arrive gift-wrapped for local government purists: knotty, procedural, full of worthy intent and decorated with enough amendments to make [...]

East Kent Hospitals Recovery Programme: Fire Safety, Maternity and Complaint Failures Exposed

April 2, 2026 // 1 Comment

When East Kent Hospitals’ board meets later today, Thursday 2 April, it will do so with the trust now officially placed in the government’s new NHS intensive recovery [...]

Folkestone Beach Book Swap Draws 2,073 People and Sets World Record

April 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

More than 2,000 people gathered at Sunny Sands for what organisers say was a world-record book swap, turning Folkestone’s shoreline into a joyful celebration of stories, [...]

Chris Hespe, Reform’s DOLGE and the KCC Debt Claim That Does Not Add Up

April 1, 2026 // 1 Comment

Chris Hespe’s parish updates offer an unintentionally marvellous guide to life inside Reform-run County Hall: surplus property that supposedly has to be sold by law, [...]

Otterpool Park Update: Phase 1B Emerges as Likely Start for Early Homes

March 31, 2026 // 0 Comments

The latest Homes England announcement is dressed in the usual language of collaboration, momentum and delivery. But the most important Otterpool development is not in the [...]

KCC SEND Crisis: Private EHCP School Placements and Costs Soar

March 31, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council is paying for far more children with EHCPs to be placed in independent special schools than it was a few years ago, and the bill is now rising so fast [...]

Kent solar panel data raises questions over MP Tony Vaughan’s rooftop energy plan

March 30, 2026 // 1 Comment

New Department for Energy Security and Net Zero figures show rooftop solar is already well established across Kent. But while Tony Vaughan KC MP is plainly right that more [...]

Southern Water Bewl Water Signs Show £30m and £40m as FHDC Faces Statutory Nuisance Test

March 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

Two Southern Water signs at Bewl Water appear to describe the same reservoir-upgrade scheme, yet one says “over £30 million” and the other says “over £40 million”. [...]

National Highways Land by Kent A2 Near Canterbury Strewn With Rubbish

March 28, 2026 // 1 Comment

National Highways says it wants “a thriving environment” and to be “a good neighbour”. But beside the A2 at Faulkners Lane, Harbledown, land owned by the company is [...]

Sandbanks Littlestone Development: Ownership, Planning and Company Questions

March 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

We have written about Sandbanks before. Back in 2021 the questions were about planning, ownership and who was really driving the scheme. Five years on, the former care home [...]

Southern Water Sewage Spills in the East Stour: Why Councils Must Use Statutory Nuisance Powers

March 27, 2026 // 2 Comments

England had its driest spring for more than 100 years, and 2025 was England’s warmest and sunniest year on record. Even so, the selected Southern Water overflows affecting [...]

Kent County Council SEND Taxi Invoice Irregularities Found by Counter Fraud, Not Reform UK DOLGE

March 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

Reform UK came into County Hall promising a “laser-like focus” on waste, set up its Kent Department of Local Government Efficiency, and said home-to-school transport was [...]

FHDC Approves £2.42m Folkestone Sports Centre Grant to Reopen Pool

March 26, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet has unanimously approved a £2,421,250 capital grant to The Sports Trust to reopen Folkestone Sports Centre’s pool. The [...]

Right to Buy in Kent: How Council Homes Were Sold Off

March 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Right to Buy is usually told as a Thatcher fairy tale with a sold sign. The neat version says Margaret Thatcher arrived, handed council tenants a key to capitalism, and [...]

FHDC Sewage Testing Motion Demands Evidence on Romney Marsh and East Stour Pollution

March 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

On 1 April, Folkestone & Hythe District Council has a chance to do something painfully obvious but surprisingly rare in local politics: stop holding yet another round of [...]

Folkestone Library Move: KCC Puts Grace Hill Building on Disposal Track

March 24, 2026 // 2 Comments

Kent County Council has now put Folkestone’s old Grace Hill library on the disposal track while pressing ahead with a new library home at 14 Sandgate Road. The paperwork [...]

Folkestone Beach Huts: Council Charity Falls Short of Its Promise

March 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

Marine Walk is full, colourful and plainly popular. But when we compared the promise made in 2019 with the accounts now on file, a more awkward picture emerged: the scheme [...]

FHDC Temporary Accommodation Costs Soar as Homelessness Pressure Grows

March 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has already spent almost £1.38 million on temporary accommodation by the end of February, before March’s figures are even [...]

Kent potholes: how residents can use section 56 to force road repairs

March 22, 2026 // 2 Comments

Kent drivers are told to report potholes, wait patiently, and trust that somewhere in County Hall a spreadsheet is humming reassuringly. But there comes a point when patience [...]

Reform UK at KCC Says Councillors’ 3.8% Pay Rise Is “Reasonable” — As Council Tax Rises 3.99%

March 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

At Kent County Council, a 3.99% rise in council tax is apparently the stern medicine residents must swallow. A 3.8% rise in councillors’ allowances, however, is “entirely [...]

Cllr David Wimble’s Problem With Numbers

March 20, 2026 // 3 Comments

When a cabinet member says his party has 76 councillors at Kent County Council, but the official figure is 47, that is not a tiny slip. It is less a rounding error than a [...]

FHDC’s Green Image Meets the East Stour Rubbish Problem

March 20, 2026 // 1 Comment

If the East Stour rubbish sits on or beside land tied to Otterpool Park, then Folkestone & Hythe District Council has a problem no amount of eco-language can mulch away. [...]

Cllr David Wimble’s Kent County Council Motion Collapses After Opposition Walkout

March 19, 2026 // 3 Comments

Cllr David Wimble’s motion at Kent County Council on 19 March fizzled out into a damp squib. Put simply, the opposition left the chamber, and only Reform UK was left to [...]

Could Tony Vaughan MP Take Southern Water to Court Over Sewage?

March 19, 2026 // 2 Comments

Joining a briefing is easy. Holding a placard is easy. Posting angry words on social media is easy. The harder test is whether Folkestone and Hythe’s MP is prepared to do [...]

Folkestone Sports Centre Grant: Public Money, Private Asset, Big Questions for FHDC

March 18, 2026 // 2 Comments

On Wednesday 25 March, Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet is due to decide whether to award The Sports Trust a £2,421,250 capital grant to reopen the [...]

	Martin on East Kent Hospitals Recovery P…
	Andrew on Folkestone & Hythe Counci…
	Andrew on Chris Hespe, Reform’s DOLGE an…
	Barry on Kent solar panel data raises q…
	Rebecca on National Highways Land by Kent…