ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Who Owns 67 Sandgate Road? Greggs Moves in on a Property Linked to Offshore Deals and a Controversial Tycoon

June 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

Contrary to speculation, Greggs has not abandoned its plans to open in Folkestone town centre. The company has simply withdrawn its previous planning application in order to [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Wastes £26K Fighting Three Flats in Cheriton – and Loses in Court

June 16, 2025 // 5 Comments

In a saga that began with a modest plan to replace derelict garages at The Old Laundry, Bowen Rd, Cheriton, Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) has now found [...]

Kent County Council to Cut £75m Under Reform UK: Potholes, Transport, and Migrant Services Face Review

June 15, 2025 // 1 Comment

Kent County Council (KCC) has a gross annual budget exceeding £2.5 billion but is burdened by hundreds of millions in debt, its newly elected leader Linden Kemkaran [...]

Reform UK: Kent’s New Ruling Party Perfects the Art of Doing Sweet F*** All

June 14, 2025 // 6 Comments

Well, it’s finally happened. Kent County Council, the mighty engine room of local democracy, has been seized by the political equivalent of a Wetherspoons lock-in. Reform [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Paid £230K to Departing Staff with No NDAs, Raising Transparency Questions

June 13, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has paid over £230,000 to a handful of departing employees since 2022 through confidential settlement agreements—legal tools [...]

Folkestone Harbour’s Second Bite at the Cherry: Revised Development Plans Return to Planning Committee

June 9, 2025 // 4 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Planning Committee will once again consider major redevelopment proposals for the town’s historic harbour area, with a fresh [...]

EXCLUSIVE: Council Fraud Crisis: New Data Shows £100 Billion Lost Since 2010

June 9, 2025 // 0 Comments

More than £100 billion may have been lost to fraud, corruption, and mismanagement in UK local government over the past 15 years, according to a landmark investigation [...]

UK Councils Lose £8.8 Billion a Year to Fraud and Waste: Full Breakdown

June 8, 2025 // 3 Comments

An in-depth investigation into how local authorities are losing billions through procurement fraud, payroll scams, housing abuse and mismanagement—based on official [...]

A Week Is a Long Time in Kent Politics: Reform UK’s Chaotic Takeover of Kent County Council

June 7, 2025 // 2 Comments

It began with pomp, promises, and a pinch of political theatre. By Monday, it was already spiralling into farce. On Monday morning, the self-styled “Doge Team” of Reform [...]

Bronze Age Burial Site Discovered at Sellindge Housing Development

June 6, 2025 // 1 Comment

Sellindge development unearths Bronze Age burial mounds – planners vow to preserve them in a new public park In late 2016, a local developer quietly began laying the [...]

Selective Secrecy: How Kent Councillors Exploit a Transparency Loophole

June 5, 2025 // 0 Comments

When Parliament passed the Localism Act in 2011, it aimed to strengthen public confidence in local government by making councillors’ financial interests transparent. The [...]

Reform UK’s ‘Doge Unit’ Targets KCC: Transparency or Political Muscle?

June 5, 2025 // 3 Comments

Reform UK, which now holds sway at Kent County Council, has brought in its Department of Government Efficiency—known as the Doge unit—to scrutinise council spending, [...]

Tony Vaughan MP Claimed £60 in Expenses for Swiss Cheese Plant While Earning £40,000 in Extra Legal Work

June 2, 2025 // 4 Comments

Last month, The Shepway Vox Team reported that Tony Vaughan KC MP, the recently elected Labour representative for Folkestone & Hythe, had claimed expenses for two plants [...]

Reform UK’s Push for Transparency at Kent County Council Raises Legal and Constitutional Questions

June 2, 2025 // 6 Comments

Updated @ 11.20am Kent County Council’s new Reform UK leadership is facing a constitutional and legal backlash after attempting to install an investigatory team with [...]

Folkestone Council’s Charity Misses £500k Beach Hut Income Target, Accounts Filed Late Again

May 31, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Folkestone Parks and Pleasure Grounds Charity, managed by Folkestone & Hythe District Council as sole trustee, has come under renewed scrutiny after filing its [...]

FHDC Wants New Romney to Take Over Its Public Buildings and Land

May 27, 2025 // 3 Comments

New Romney Town Council is being urged to take ownership of a sprawling portfolio of public assets from Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC), including toilets, car [...]

Lydd Playground Swing Failures Caused by Vandalism, Says Safety Report

May 25, 2025 // 0 Comments

A series of mysterious swing failures at The Rype Play Area in Lydd has been traced to deliberate misuse rather than any manufacturing defect, according to a new report by a [...]

Reform-Led Kent Council Under Fire for Excluding Deaf Residents from Democracy

May 23, 2025 // 3 Comments

Kent County Council’s ongoing failure to provide subtitles on its public meeting webcasts may constitute a breach of the Equality Act 2010, potentially amounting to [...]

Kent Food Bank Use Soars 230% as Trussell Trust Warns of Deepening Hunger Crisis

May 21, 2025 // 0 Comments

In a quiet but relentless surge, food banks have become a fixture in communities across Kent. What was once considered emergency aid has, over a decade of austerity and [...]

Falling for Folkestone: Landslides, Leas and a Council Playing on the Edge

May 19, 2025 // 1 Comment

In the town once nicknamed the “Brighton of the East,” the cliffs are crumbling faster than the council’s reputation for timely public works. Another chunk of [...]

Oportunitas Ltd: Debt, Valuations & Failures at Folkestone & Hythe District Council

May 18, 2025 // 1 Comment

Established in 2014 as a wholly owned company of Shepway District Council (now Folkestone & Hythe District Council), Oportunitas Ltd was intended to be a bold municipal [...]

FOLCA 1 Faces Sale, FOLCA 2 Chosen for New Town Centre Health Hub

May 16, 2025 // 1 Comment

What began as a flagship regeneration project for Folkestone town centre has unravelled into a divided legacy of half-funded ambitions and fading civic promises. The FOLCA [...]

Tony Vaughan MP Claims £105 for Pot Plants – Green Office or Greenwash?

May 16, 2025 // 3 Comments

Tony Vaughan, the recently elected MP for Folkestone & Hythe, has claimed expenses for two potted plants purchased for his constituency office, as revealed by records [...]

Serious Discrepancies Found in Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Temporary Accommodation Costs

May 13, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is facing serious questions over the reliability and consistency of its published data on Temporary Accommodation (TA) costs, after a [...]

‘Stop the Boats, Stop the Waste’: How Reform UK Took Control in Kent

May 12, 2025 // 2 Comments

Kent, with its chalk cliffs and close proximity to Calais, has become Britain’s symbolic and logistical frontline in the ongoing small boat migration crisis. Since 2018, [...]

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