Part 3: Folkestone & Hythe District Council Financial Irregularities
In this final piece (for now) we look at at very specific part of the time line in the P & R potential £1.5 million pound fraud which came about as a result of failings [...]
Deborah Upton
Ross House: Five Fire Risk Assessments And Still Significant Issues Remain
Ross House, Ross Way, Folkestone is home to 43 people. Since Folkestone & Hythe District Council began housing people there in April 2018, five fire risk assessments have [...]
EKH Chief Exec Deborah Upton Has Stepped Down
Updated: 16:40 East Kent Housing’s Chief Executive Deborah Upton (pictured) has stepped down from her role following a string of failures by the organisation. The action [...]
The Long Read: The Blame Game
In two reports, the HQN Report (not yet seen by Cllrs) commissioned by East Kent Housing (EKH); and the Pennington Report commissioned by the four Councils, evidence of EKH [...]
The Long Read: Penny Wise And Pound Foolish
The Pennington Report – a report into the failings of East Kent Housing and the four Councils of Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet – makes it [...]
COUNCILS TAKE DECISIVE ACTION TO DISMISS EAST KENT HOUSING BOARD
The Four Councils who own East Kent Housing, Dover Canterbury, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet have today (12/12/19) dismissed the East Kent Housing Board and taken direct [...]
Rewarding Failure with a Ten Grand Pay Rise.
Deborah Josephine Upton (pictured), Chief Executive of East Kent Housing (EKH) was awarded a nine thousand six hundred and eighteen (£9,618) pound pay rise in 2018/19. Since [...]
Ross House: A Tissue of Lies
Pursuant to section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, Ross House was not fire compliant when Folkestone & Hythe [...]
Ross House Is A “Tinderbox” and All Tenants Must Be Moved Immediately
All tenants living in Ross House should be moved out immediately as it is a “tinderbox”, according to a number of sources across mutliple organisations. This is [...]
Ross House not fire compliant since purchase for £1.8 million in April 2018
Updated: 08:21 5th Nov 2019 In Feb 2018, two months prior to purchasing Ross House, Folkestone, East Kent Audit Partnership slammed fire safety at East Kent Housing managed [...]
Conversion of Ross House “was total shit” and “sub standard” yet Council paid £1.8 million
Updated 4th Nov 10:35 Cllr Tim Prater has made candid public statements about the conversion of Ross House, Ross Way into 16 flats, owned by the Council since April 2018, [...]
Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet Council Tenants suffered Carbon Monoxide poisoning and hospitalised during failed P & R contract
Exclusive – Updated 22/10/19 – 08:30am The Shepwayvox Team has acquired a growing body of evidence that tenants living in the 17,000 plus properties owned by the [...]
The End Of The Beginning For East Kent Housing
So the beginning ends. Folkestone & Hythe District Council Cabinet has agreed in principal to withdraw from East Kent Housing and begin a consultation process with all [...]
Slum Landlord, Double Payments, Overcharging and Killing Pensioners
Double payments, overcharging, lack of adherence to legislation and a failure to manage the P & R contract, and all the issues raised in Appendix 3: Audit report for East [...]
EKH rocked by safety issues looks set for closure after two of its owner councils voted to take housing stock back in-house
After more than a year of investigating by the Shepwayvox Team, East Kent Housing looks like it may have run its course after eight years of existence. On Wednesday 9th Oct [...]
One fifth of Council Housing stock not fit for purpose
On the 5th June, 2017 a report to the East Kent Housing (EKH) board (page 99) made it explicitly clear that “the level of non-decent homes currently stood at around [...]
For your eyes only: Appendix 3 Audit report for East Kent Housing (EKH) – tenant health and safety
Exclusive: The Shepwayvox Team can now publish the damning report which was restricted from the public and East Kent Housing Tenants. Over the next few days we will be coming [...]
East Kent Housing: Major failings and historic mismanagement rewarded with £110,000 a year
Appendix 3: Audit report for East Kent Housing (EKH) – tenant health and safety is a restricted document, as such it will not be available for the public to see, nor EKH [...]
Misleading omissions, council properties and drugs
At 6pm on the 10th June 2019, The East Kent Housing Board convened at Garrity House, Aylesham. Present were the following people :James Queay – Chair, Cllr Trevor [...]
New gas safety & maintenance contractor selected but should Deborah Upton continue to lead East Kent Housing?
The Governance Manager of East Kent Housing witnessed an East Kent Housing tenant address Deborah Upton, the Chief Executive of East Kent Housing (pictured), about a forged [...]
P & R closes down, but we are NOT out of the woods yet.
After 15 months of continuous investigation by the Shepwayvox Team into P & R Installation Company Ltd, who won a £27 million pound contract with East Kent Housing; [...]
Part 2: East Kent Councils overcharged £1.5 million by Gas Contractor P & R.
£1,479,000 worth of overcharging by P & R, the contractor who was responsible for the Gas Servicing & Maintenance contract for all four East Kent Council, managed by [...]
Part 1: Is the Chief Executive of East Kent Housing, Deborah Upton, fit for purpose? You decide.
Deborah Josephine Upton (pictured) has a long history of contracts going pear-shaped on her watch. This has happened while she worked for Medway Council, Circle Housing and [...]
Serious disrepair and safety issues in Folkestone & Hythe District Council housing stock
“I feel trapped.” “Nobody is listening to me – that’s what it feels like.” “My mental health is going downhill rapidly due to this,” are just some of [...]
Further issues of possible non-compliance by East Kent Housing emerge
An East Kent Internal Audit makes clear there are justifiable concerns over the gas safety certificates fiasco. The preliminary findings of the audit into East Kent Housing, [...]