Budget

Folkestone & Hythe Council Budget: Council Tax Rise, Reserves Drawdown and Debt Repayment Shake-Up

February 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s budget debate yesterday evening didn’t hinge on a big, obvious “cuts list”. It hinged on something far less [...]

Madeira Walk Landslide: Folkestone Leas Playground Cliff Stabilisation Cost Rises to £400,000

February 20, 2026 // 1 Comment

Madeira Walk was shut on 29 February 2024 because the ground above Folkestone’s Lower Leas playground looked as if it might go. Two days later, on 2 March, it did: the [...]

FHDC Budget 2026/27: Paying £63,000 a Year for Empty, Unlettable Otterpool Homes

February 19, 2026 // 2 Comments

The council’s budget papers for 2026/27 admit it is now paying ongoing costs on four Otterpool properties sitting empty, “not fit to be let”, while housing pressures [...]

FHDC Budget 2026/27: The £38k Saving That Weakens Contract Oversight

February 19, 2026 // 3 Comments

Here’s the £38,280 “saving” in Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s 2026/27 budget (item 12) that ought to set off the loudest alarm in the building — because [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Budget 2026/27: Council Tax, Reserves and Debt

February 18, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s 2026/27 budget (item 12) goes to Full Council on Wednesday 25 February with a headline most residents will miss, because it [...]

Kent County Council Budget: Reform UK’s Debt Pledge and the Risks Behind the Numbers

February 13, 2026 // 0 Comments

After more than seven hours of debate at Sessions House, Reform UK passed its first ever Kent County Council budget — and did it with a political flourish that could not [...]

Kent County Council 2025/26 Budget vs Forecast Outturn: What Q1–Q3 Reveals About Overspends in Adult Social Care and SEND

January 27, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council (KCC) agreed its 2025/26 budget in February 2025. In simple terms, it set out how much the council expected to spend day-to-day on services (social care, [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Tax Rise Explained: Where the Money Goes and What It Means for Local Services

January 14, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has begun the annual civic tradition of explaining why everything costs more, while promising not to make it feel like it does. Last [...]

Kent County Council Budget Compared: Reform UK 2026/27 vs Conservatives 2025/26 — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

January 9, 2026 // 2 Comments

Kent County Council (KCC) has now put two very different budget stories on the public record. The first is the Conservative administration’s approved 2025/26 budget (voted [...]

FHDC Budget 2026/27: £6m Hythe Pool Spend, Grant Cliff-Edges and Hidden Costs for Residents

January 8, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) is proposing a budget that pours millions into leisure facilities – including a £6 million refurbishment of Hythe Swimming [...]

Kent County Council Budget Overspend at Half-Time: Reform UK Era Faces Adult Social Care Crisis

November 19, 2025 // 0 Comments

Half-way through the 2025–26 financial year, the scoreboard at County Hall does not make pretty reading. Against a net revenue budget of £1.53 billion, Kent County Council [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Budget 2026/27: Council Tax Rises, Services, and Risks

October 15, 2025 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council published its 2025/26 Budget Strategy last December and its 2026/27 Budget Strategy this October. Read together, they show a Council [...]

Everything Adds Up Except the Future: How Kent’s £1.25bn Budget Balances on Delay, Denial and Disappearing Millions

July 20, 2025 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council’s Draft Statement of accounts 2024/25 have arrived — spreadsheeted, formatted, and radiating confidence — with what appears to be a balanced and [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Leaves £30m Unspent While Services Decline

July 19, 2025 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council approved over £136 million in planned spending across five financial years from 2020/21 to 2024/25. The stated aim was to deliver [...]

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 [...]

Green led Council – Supported By Lib Dems & Reform – Deepen Residents Suffering

March 6, 2025 // 3 Comments

The situation facing residents of Folkestone & Hythe District led by Cllr Jim Martin (pictured) and his Green led administration is nothing short of a disgrace. A closer [...]

Council budget shows useable reserves are set to fall for a second year under green led administration

February 27, 2025 // 0 Comments

Updated to reflect audited accounts 2023/24 position for usable reserves. Last night’s full council meeting saw the term “reserves” mentioned sixteen times. The [...]

Council overspend budget on transitioning to committee system by £22,000, so far

January 31, 2025 // 2 Comments

It had a budget of £100,000. However, at the first full council of the year, held on the 29 January 2025, Cllr David Godfrey (Con) made it clear the budget for moving to a [...]

Budget: Green & Lib Dem Councillors deliver above inflation price rises and the highest Council Tax in Kent

February 29, 2024 // 6 Comments

So the Greens have set their first budget, with the help of the Lib Dems. The vote to implement their budget on Wednesday 28 February 2024, at Full Council was: 13 For [...]

Tory profligacy means newly elected Council must find savings of £3m

November 3, 2023 // 3 Comments

‘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 [...]

Overview & Scrutiny: Retrofitting, Housing, Fuel Poverty and a dash of hypocrisy

January 18, 2023 // 0 Comments

Housing, housing, housing, it’s all about housing. On the agenda at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on the 17 Jan 2023 was Retrofitting Council homes in the [...]

KCC close to bankruptcy while overcharging domicilary care clients

November 15, 2022 // 1 Comment

Kent County Council and Hampshire County Council in a joint letter letter to the Prime Minister – Rishi Sunak and the Chancellor of the Exchequeur – Jeremy Hunt, [...]

Good News emerges from KCC’s budget after intensive lobbying

February 11, 2022 // 0 Comments

Sometimes when residents and organizations lobby KCC Cllrs, they do listen. Such was the case with the recent KCC budget. Members of the Shepway Vox Team and many others, [...]

KCC Draft Budget to decimate Homeless & Disabled Services

February 7, 2022 // 1 Comment

KCC’s draft budget to be discussed and voted on this coming Thursday, 10 Feb, is proposing £37.9m of savings [read cuts]. £10 million of these proposed savings, or [...]

Kent County Council Draft Budget – it ain’t good news

February 5, 2022 // 0 Comments

On Thursday Feb 10, 2022, Kent County Council [KCC] will be setting it’s budget. But before we begin, we wish to draw your attention to a matter which needs raising. [...]

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