£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 [...]
David Monk
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 [...]
Cllr Monk’s diary reveals his freemason links.
Hands up those who knew that Parish Cllr, David Monk, and former leader of Folkestone & Hythe District Council is a freemason, as was his wife’s father. According [...]
Sunningdale House Developments Ltd & Princes Parade
In the sunniest January since 1959, Folkestone & Hythe District agreed Sunningdale House Developments Ltd (Sunningdale House) had won the contract to deliver the proposed [...]
More Homes for Sellindge?
Once again Sellindge is under the spotlight. Quinn Homes wish to build 105 homes at Elm Tree Farm Sellindge. No planning application has been submitted yet, and no planning [...]
Cllrs receive one and a quarter million in allowances and expenses in last four years.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council has thirty councillors. As councilors they receive an allowance – plus expenses. They do not receive a wage. All payments made [...]
Evidence emerges of non-fire compliant doors in Folkestone & Hythe DC social housing
More than a 100 fire doors in properties owned by Folkestone & Hythe District Council from Lydd to Lyminge are non compliant according to a fire safety expert of more [...]
Otterpool Park: Outline Planning Application for 8,500 homes granted
Yesterday, 4 April 2023, the Outline Planning application for 8,500 homes at Otterpool Park was granted by 7 votes to 5, by Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s [...]
Oportunitas update: True & Fair Bulls**t
Updated 28 March @ 11:05am How, how could this happen? How can the directors of Oportunitas be employees of the Council, and be elected Cllrs, when that’s not [...]
Part 42: Princes Parade – further evidence of incompetence by Council
It never rains around here it just comes pouring down, says Mark Knopfler on the song It Never Rains, from the Love Over Gold album. And after today’s installment of a [...]
Council Temporary staff cost pass a million with a little help from a possible lie
Temporary staff costs for Folkestone & Hythe District Council between April and Nov 2022 have reached £1,116,860. We predicted back in Nov 2022, temporary Staff would [...]
Review of 2022: Trial dates, Prison Sentences, Financial Irregualrities and Damp & Mould
It’s been a tumultuous year by anyone’s standards. A war in Europe, a cost of living crisis, the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; Liz Truss lasting just [...]
Chance to raise local community issues which affect us all.
Each year you the residents of the district are offered the opportunity to submit your ideas about which local community issues you believe Cllrs should discuss at Overview [...]
Council to press on with controversial Princes Parade redevelopment
Members should note however that there is a critical path which would need to be followed and this does not allow for any slippage, delay, or process frustration. Ever since [...]
Council in advanced negotiations to sell Connect 38, but was purchase lawful?
Folkestone & Hythe District Council are looking to sell Connect 38 – Ashford; which they bought for £16.8m, on the 14 May 2019. However, no evidence exists of a [...]
£1,452,646 spent on suppliers without a compliant contract
A damning report released today, by Folkestone & Hythe District Council, show that procurement management and contract standing orders (CSO) have been significantly [...]
Part 2 – Damp and Mould – “It’s not lifestyle”.
Following on from yesterday’s post – Damp and Mould – “It’s not lifestyle” – we follow up today with Part 2. The Shepway Vox Team undertook an [...]
All current spending paused on Princes Parade
Last week it was announced the Leader of the Council recommended suspending further spending on Princes Parade due to price hikes on the contract and the energy. Well today [...]
Holidays in the sun and unpaid road tax by the Council
In Oct 1977, Holidays in the Sun was released by the Sex Pistols. It could be seen as an unofficial anthem for some Council Officers, as some of them have, according to [...]
Otterpool Park Update: Hidden Agenda’s and Fair Value
Ever since the first piece of land was purchased by the Council at Otterpool, in Dec 2015, for £5m from the Champney Brothers, the fair value of the land has risen by 540%, [...]
Cost of Living Crisis – Yet more locals to become migrants due to being priced out of the local rental market.
A Bureau of Investigative Journalism analysis of 648 rental properties across eight districts of Kent shows 99% of those advertised over a single month (July 2022) were [...]
Three Areas of Kent put forward as potential locations for Govt Investment Zones
On the 23rd Sept 2022, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the concept of Investment Zones. 38 areas have been identified as potentially Investment [...]
Princes Parade: Lock, stock and two smoking farrell’s
Miss Chris Farrell – a former Military Police Officer – was passionate, very passionate when speaking about the petition she had lodged to be heard at Full [...]
Council take incompetence to a new level putting lives in serious danager
Folkestone & Hythe District Council have taken incompetence to a whole new level. In doing so they’ve placed the lives of women, children and men at significant and [...]
One in three calls go unanswered and Information requests haven’t met targets for last five years
Yesterday at Cabinet, Cllr Lesley Whybrow (Green) & Cllr Tim Prater (Lib Dem) both raised the issue around the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the council not [...]