Creative Quarter: Are the Creative Folkestone Tenants Revolting?
Down in the Creative Quarter of Folkestone, all is not well. Tenants in properties leased to Creative Folkestone (CF) by the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, have received [...]
Shepwayvox
FHDC: Dodgy data, but one shouldn’t shoot the messenger
Something does not stack up. One has to realize that one doesn’t shoot the messenger, but the person/s, department, responsible for passing the message to the Freedom [...]
Princes Parade: What did they know and when did they know it?
What did they know and when did they know it? It turns out Folkestone & Hythe District Council knew quite a lot. They withheld it from Cllrs and residents alike. This is [...]
Council fail to give additional resources to the Information Governance & Data Protection Team
Nineteen years ago, thanks to the actions of a “naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop”, the British people acquired an important new legal right. This is how [...]
Update Otterpool Park: Financial return is the primary purpose, it’s not ancillary
You can’t have your cake and eat it ” Financial return being the main objective” of Otterpool Park, says the the Capital-Strategy 2024/25 at 5.4 of the [...]
Council will borrow £60.2 million in 2024/25, while debt repayments will rise by 44%
Ninety percent of politics is deciding who to blame – Meg Greenfield When you borrow money you normal set aside money to repay what you have borrowed, this generally [...]
Folkestone & Hythe District Council Tax likely to be the highest in Kent for the 21st year in a row
On the 28 February, 2024, our 30 elected members of Folkestone & Hythe District Council will meet to set the council tax that you as residents of the district will have [...]
Still £47,560 to claim in Cllr Ward Budgets to help Community groups.
Each of your 30 Folkestone & Hythe District Councillors have a ‘ward budget’ of up to £3,000 to help community projects. Community groups in the district or [...]
£1.3m of council contract irregularities emerge between Apr 2023 and Sept 2023
Towards the end of Nov 2023, we made it known that 9 contracts above £5,000, and with a combined value of £750,000 were not on Folkestone & Hythe District [...]
Rubbish Council proposes reduction of litter bins and street cleaning in Folkestone & Hythe
After a rapid U turn on putting parking charges on the high streets of Folkestone, Hythe & New Romney, the council is now proposing reducing the number of litter bins [...]
Council doesn’t cut the mustard while the fish rots from the head down
Whichever way you try to cut the mustard the numbers do not reconcile, but given this is Folkestone & Hythe District Council we are talking about, you really [...]
De Haan Harbour charm offensive spins “positive response” to new heights.
“He says the modified design had a positive response from the local civic groups.” This is the last sentence in an article by The Independent about Sir Roger De [...]
Hoarding at Princes Parade will be down by Easter 2024
It is the beginning of the end for the hoarding on Princes Parade. On Monday 20 Nov 2023, Folkestone & Hythe District Council placed a tender for the removal of the [...]
£750,000 of Contract Irregularities at Folkestone & Hythe District Council
Before we move forward we must go back almost a year. If one casts one’s mind back to Report Number AuG/22/21; which went before the Audit & Governance Committee [...]
Council withdraw car parking charging proposals for Folkestone, Sandgate, Hythe & New Romney High Streets.
Parking in our district is currently in the headlines. But something most of you didn’t know, and don’t know, is the Council is yet again in breach of the law and [...]
Council’s on street car parking financial modelling proposal for raising money to plug £18m deficit, doesn’t add up.
Is it a U-turn or even a partial U-turn on the parking fiasco engulfing the new Green led Folkestone & Hythe District Council. When we last reported on this issue, on the [...]
Is the pot calling the kettle black?
Pot and kettle spring to mind. Since May 2023, the Greens & Lib Dems have formed a minority coalition, while being supported by Labour. Prior to the Greens leading [...]
Council propose parking charges in Folkestone, Hythe & New Romney high streets to plug £18.5m deficit
And due to the Tory profligacy under former leader David Monk, the new Green led administration are proposing motorists pay nearly £400,000 per year, for parking in the town [...]
Temporary Staff costs to break £1m barrier for fourth time in six years
In a time when the Council need to save money, they will once again spend more than a million pounds on temporary staff. They will spend this amount for the fourth time in [...]
More contract irregularities even under new Green led administration
Who cares, who really cares? It is not as if we can say our Cllrs care. They are all too often reactive to situations, not proactive. Under the old regime we wrote frequently [...]
Tory profligacy means newly elected Council must find savings of £3m
‘History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce’ Karl Marx In Feb 2004 the then Tory led Shepway District Council voted for a 39% increase in its [...]
Failed businessman David Pownceby starts two new construction companies
Some people have more front than Selfridges, so the saying goes. And one such person is David Richard Pownceby (pictured). Having recently sent two companies into voluntary [...]
Leas Pavillion not being held up by planning or utility issues
For many it will not come as a surprise, but all work on the Leas Pavillion site has come to a halt. The site is owned by Leas Pavilion Development Limited. They purchased [...]
New Green led Council abandons election pledge to build more affordable Council homes
The Council are looking to sell land once earmarked for 30 Council homes at Highview Moat Farm Rd Folkestone, to a private developer, meaning only 7 homes will be [...]
Sunningdale House & Development House go under owing £55m to 321 creditors
Sunningdale House Developments Limited (SHDL) and Development House Limited (DHL) both previously owned and controled by David Richard Pownceby (pictured) have both gone into [...]