Unaddressed systemic issues are holding back Council’s development
This is a guest post I am a Folkestone & Hythe District Council Officer. What is written here is a distallation of my own and other colleagues opinions. All opinion [...]
Articles by shepwayvox
About shepwayvox
Curiouser and curiouser!
Well things are turning stranger by the minute. With regards to the Hythe West by-election, which we wrote about on the 3 March 2023, raising the issues of missing votes, and [...]
Just for the record
This is a guest post For the record and for clarity, my name is Bryan Rylands (pictured). I am the public face of The Shepway Vox Team. I am one of nine members of the [...]
Council set new record on temporary staff costs
It’s a new record and yes they’re record breakers. Folkestone & Hythe District Council have spent £1,364,558 on temporary staff between April 22 and Jan [...]
Council not publishing information in a timely manner
In Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s recently published Code of corporate governance it states at Part G: We comply with the local government transparency code [...]
Is she, or isn’t she?
“The Section 151 Officer is responsible to the Council for ensuring that appropriate advice is given on all financial matters, for keeping proper financial records and [...]
Fuel Poverty: Hythe sees largest rise in fuel poverty, while Folkestone Central remains in first position
While our MP Damian Collins received taxpayers cash to heat his second home, 11% of households in the Folkestone & Hythe District were living in fuel poverty in 2020, [...]
Kent MPs stay warm at taxpayers expense, while Kent children go cold
9 of the 17 Kent MPs have claimed more than £28,000 on expenses to pay energy bills in their second homes over the last six years, the Shepway Vox Team can reveal. Taxpayers [...]
Something doesn’t add up about the Hythe West By-election
Congratulations to Cllr Jenni Hawkins (Green) (pictured) for winning the local by-election for the Kent County Council – Hythe West Division The Conservative candidate [...]
Provisional date set for Otterpool Park Planning application to be heard
So eight years and five months after Folkestone & Hythe District Council purchased the land at Otterpool Lane, from the Champney Brothers for £5m, the planning [...]
Princes Parade: Financial mismanagement of Faithful & Gould contract
Updated 6 March @ 07:40am According to the Council’s procurement guide under Value for Money it states: Value for money is a balance of quality, price and delivery and [...]
Bouverie Place to be sold to new investor
Bouverie Place, currently owned by CCP III SHOPPING FOLKESTONE S.A.R.L., registered in the offshore tax jurisdiction of Luxembourg, is to be sold to a new investor. Bouverie [...]
Sunningdale House Developments Ltd make offer to buy Princes Parade.
Updated: 26 Feb 23 @09:15am We can confirm that Sunningdale House Developments Limited, are the company who have made an offer to buy Princes Parade, from Folkestone & [...]
Cllr Stuart Peall deliberately and knowingly misled Cllrs over Council Tax
So residents of Folkestone & Hythe District Council have the highest Council Tax of any Council, in Kent, for the twentieth year in a row. Regardless of the nonsense Cllr [...]
Southern Water: No clue how much undiluted raw sewage they’ve pumped into our seas for 34 years
Exclusive They don’t have a clue. Not a single idea of how much undiluted raw sewage they pump into our rivers and seas. Is it plausible that the closing of St [...]
Council Tax: Is it excessive to ask – Where’s all the money gone?
The last item on the agenda to go before full council, today, the 22 February is, Report number A/22/31 The last recommendations in the report states: To determine that the [...]
Princes Parade Update: Possible solutions to discover the lost £5m.
Updated 6 March @ 07:55am How does Folkestone & Hythe District Council lose £5m on Princes Parade? Cllr Jim Martin doesn’t know, nor does Cllr Lesley Whybrow. Cllr [...]
Community Organsiation Cllr Ward Grant analysis 2014/15 to 2022/23
Following on from our Community Groups – Grab the Cash blog, we’ve continued to dive into this pool of data, provided exclusively & publicly by Folkestone [...]
Are you a Community Group? If so, here’s how to grab some cash for your projects
Each of your 30 Councillors have a ‘ward budget’ of up to £3,000 to help community projects. The combined maximum they as Cllrs can dispose of, in any one year [...]
Council look to sell Princes Parade to Property Developer & possibly Otterpool Park as well
“Do what ever it takes to make it stack up” Cllr Martin was of Course refering to Princes Parade at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Valentines Day. He [...]
Otterpool Park Update: Consultation opens on new information submitted
Further information relating to the Otterpool Park outline planning application – Y19/0257/FH – has been submitted. Otterpool Park, a 756 hectare site, is where [...]
Council Tax set to rise by £103, with New Romney leading the way.
Once again New Romney, Hawkinge and Folkestone take the medal positions for the highest Council Tax rates across the district, using the band D average. It’s inevitable [...]
You’re my Mate
“You’re my mate and I will stand by you” sang Right Said Fred, on their single released on the 6 August 2001, and no doubt Folkestone & Hythe District [...]
Our heritage is of substantial value to us all
Does it matter? Some think it does Is it important? Depends who you talk to. What the devil are we talking about? Well Heritage of course. Heritage is an emotive [...]
Incompetence: Power without accountablity
Purchase Orders (POs) are either the prevention of all evil, or the creation of all evil in local government, and elsewhere. At Folkestone & Hythe District Council, they [...]