Local Government

Oportunitas Ltd: How £2.7m in Paper Gains Masked £254k in Trading Losses at Folkestone & Hythe Council

October 17, 2026 // 0 Comments

At Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet meeting on 14 October, Councillor Jeremy Speakman asked a rather sensible question. How had the council’s [...]

Every Penny Watched? Reform UK’s Kent County Council Gets Three Red Audit Warnings as Public Webcast Goes Dark

October 16, 2026 // 0 Comments

When Reform UK swept to power at Kent County Council in May 2025, its newly appointed leader, Linden Kemkaran, told BBC Politics South East she’d approach running the [...]

Otterpool Park: £500m at Stake — and No Meetings on the S106 Financial Package

October 9, 2026 // 0 Comments

There are two numbers worth remembering when looking at Otterpool Park: £250 million and more than £500 million. The first is our best estimate of the potential value of [...]

Otterpool Park Targets 2028 Start as Homes England’s Hillhurst Farm Is Fast-Tracked for First 300 Homes

October 7, 2026 // 1 Comment

Construction of the first homes at Otterpool Park is now targeted to begin in 2028, with the first 38 homes forecast to be completed the following year. But before a brick [...]

£4.135m Apart: Why Folkestone & Hythe Council’s 2025/26 Accounts Won’t Add Up

October 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s 2025/26 accounts are not final audited accounts. They are still draft, Grant Thornton’s audit opinion is still to come, and [...]

The £9.769m That Doesn’t Add Up in Folkestone & Hythe Council’s Audited Accounts

October 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

There’s a figure in Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s 2024/25 audited accounts that should stop any reader cold. The Group Comprehensive Income and Expenditure [...]

Benefits Fraud Gets the Headlines — Local Government Fraud Is Estimated at £6.7bn

October 5, 2026 // 0 Comments

Benefit fraud gets plenty of attention. But figures in the latest Annual Fraud Indicator show that estimated fraud against local government is running at almost the same [...]

Folkestone & Hythe’s Cost-Cutting Elephant Takes Off — Literally

October 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

A work of satire, inspired and adapted from Sławomir Mrożek’s short story “The Elephant”. The events described below are entirely fictional. It had been six months [...]

Five Reform Councils Pay 55p a Mile — So Why Are KCC Staff Still Getting 45p?

September 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

This is a Guest post by a Kent County Council employee I work for Kent County Council. My job requires me to travel across a wide operational area, around Kent and sometimes [...]

Storm Goretti Was Lydd’s Warning — Nine Months Later, Its Community Resilience Plan Still Doesn’t Exist

September 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

As autumn closes in and another winter approaches, Lydd, like the rest of us towns and villages, is heading back into the season of strong winds, heavy rain, high seas and [...]

Grand Burstin Fire: How Hundreds Got Out Alive — and Why Folkestone’s Crisis Isn’t Over

September 24, 2026 // 2 Comments

Four days after flames and thick smoke poured from beneath Folkestone’s Grand Burstin Hotel, firefighters were back. At 8.36am on Wednesday, Kent Fire and Rescue Service [...]

Poor Beaches, Damaged Businesses, No Report: FHDC’s ‘Urgent’ Water Quality Work Goes Nowhere

September 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

On 1 April 2026, Folkestone & Hythe District Council agreed that investigating water quality across Romney Marsh and the East Stour should happen “as a matter of [...]

FHDC Housing Allocations Policy: ‘Fully in Line’ With the Law?

September 22, 2026 // 0 Comments

Tonight, Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee will be asked to examine a new 78-page Housing Allocations Policy — the rulebook [...]

Folca 2 Planning Application: Two GP Surgeries Drawn In, Commercial Space To Let — But NHS Sign-Off Is Still Pending

September 15, 2026 // 0 Comments

Walk past Folca 2 on Sandgate Road today and there’s a fairly blunt message hanging from the scaffolding: “SUBSTANTIAL COMMERCIAL PREMISES – TO LET.” Behind that [...]

If Intent Is a ‘Fuzzy Line’, How Can FHDC Call It Fraud? Cllr Tim Prater and the £1.266m Question

September 14, 2026 // 1 Comment

When our public face asked Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance how much of £1.266 million was actually fraud, Cllr Tim [...]

Kent and Medway LGR Paused as Government Reviews Option 4B and Orders Councils to Stop Work

September 7, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent and Medway’s Local Government Reorganisation hasn’t been cancelled. But Whitehall has now told councils to stop implementing July’s decision because ministers may [...]

Kent County Council Staff Suspensions: Seven Cases Lasted a Year or More as Average Hit 166 Days

September 7, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council says disciplinary issues should be dealt with through a “swift and effective process”. Yet its latest figures show staff suspensions averaging 166 [...]

Folkestone & Hythe: 155 Children in Temporary Accommodation as Costs Double and Out-of-Area Placements Soar

September 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

The number of children living in temporary accommodation arranged by Folkestone & Hythe District Council has more than doubled in two years. Now, as the Government [...]

Part 3: Hodson’s Chilmington Green Collapse — £211.9m in Creditor Claims, Six Administrations and 5,750 Homes at Stake

September 4, 2026 // 2 Comments

Chilmington Green was supposed to be much more than a housing estate. Ashford planned for a new community of up to 5,750 homes, schools, shops, parks and roads, backed by [...]

Kent Local Government Reorganisation: KCC Considers Judicial Review of Option 4B

September 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Reform-led Kent County Council says the Government selected a financially weaker model for reorganising Kent and failed to address serious concerns about the county’s [...]

Bradstow School Closed — Now Kent and Wandsworth Are Fighting Over £4.58m in SEND Fees

September 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

Bradstow School in Broadstairs educated and cared for children with some of the most complex special educational needs and disabilities. Kent County Council didn’t merely [...]

Kent LGR Secrecy: FHDC Withholds MoU Figures Under FOI Section 22 — Even Though They’re Already Public

September 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

An FoI request submitted to Folkestone & Hythe District Council on 30 July 2026 asked for the Local Government Reorganisation Implementation Reserve Memorandum of [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Complaints Surge 88% as 60 Residents Demand a Second Answer

August 28, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council makes residents a pretty clear promise on its website: “We aim to resolve any complaint at stage one.” Yet in 2025/26, 60 [...]

Kent Council Debt: Borrowing Reaches £2.45bn as Medway Overtakes KCC Ahead of Local Government Reorganisation

August 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

New Government figures show nine of Kent’s 14 councils borrowing more than two years ago. With four new unitary councils due in 2028, those liabilities aren’t simply [...]

Kent Fire Response Times Worsen: One in Seven Dwelling Fires Takes 15 Minutes or More

August 20, 2026 // 1 Comment

If your home catches fire in Kent, the latest government figures raise a pretty fundamental question: how quickly will the first fire engine actually arrive? Our analysis of [...]

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