£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 [...]
Dr Susan Priest
Council temporary staff costs will pass million pound mark in 2022/23
Temporary employees are people that employers – such as Folkestone & Hythe District Council – contract to a job for a limited period through a third-party [...]
All work and spending on Bigginswood must stop with immediate effect due to lapsed planning permission
Land at Bigginswood, Cheriton, was purchased in Dec 2016 under urgency powers by the then Coporate Director Dr Susan Priest. The price paid by the Council was £1.5m; which [...]
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 [...]
Temporary staff costs set to break million pound barrier for third time in 5 years
She has a PhD from St Catherine’s College Cambridge. The PhD she received was for a study of the effectiveness of government policy to stimulate small and medium enterprise [...]
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 reluctant to place reports about financial and contract irregularities into the public domain.
Updated 26/10/22 @19:30 Sometimes, just sometimes, we do feel for Cllrs who try their best, but find themselves unsupported by other Cllrs who sit on the same committee. [...]
A witchhunt, a c*ck up, and an unofficial “reward scheme”
Updated – 13/09/22 @17:43 For starters we’ll serve up the c*ck up salad; followed by the main dish the reward scheme roast; and for deseret, a delightful witch [...]
Part 1 – Oportunitas Limited incorporated unlawfully and unconstitutionally
Oportunitas Ltd is a Housing & Regeneration Company, which begun life as long ago as 18 Dec 2013. It was first discussed at Cabinet in Report C-13-58. From the outset, [...]
Council are acting beyond its powers by giving £16m plus to the two companies it owns
Folkestone & Hythe District Council have acted beyond their powers (ultra vires) by allowing in excess of £16 million to be paid to companies in which they allege they [...]
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 [...]
Data matching shows £7.2m of likely council procurement fraud over four years to family or friends
Recently while the sun was shining, and the birds were singing – well not on Princes Parade – Folkestone & Hythe District Council took the decision to suspend [...]
Cllrs need to step up their game understanding council finances.
In the 10 years Folkestone & Hythe District Council have been publishing their spend data, £179m or 48% of the spend has been on premises related expenditure, as the [...]
Temporary staff costs rise 28% in four years under Dr Susan Priest’s leadership
On the 1st April 2018, Dr Susan Julia Priest (pictured), became the first woman to be the Head of Paid Services (HoPS) of Folkestone & Hythe District Council. She took [...]
£658,771 of contract irregularities on just three contracts
‘Fraud‘ says The local government transparency code 2015 (the Code), ‘can thrive where decisions are not open to scrutiny and details of spending, contracts [...]
Whistleblower claims lack of governance and internal controls at FHDC
This is a guest post “I am a senior council officer at Folkestone & Hythe District Council. I am publicly blowing the whistle to the Shepway Vox Team for reasons [...]
More financial irregularities at Folkestone & Hythe District Council
What is £5,553.96 + £0? The answer according to Folkestone & Hythe District Council is £5,811.96. What is £5,553.96 + £258? The answer is according to Folkestone [...]
Council hiding seven years worth of credit card financial payments.
Seven years Folkestone & Hythe District Council have hidden, and failed to publish financial data for their Government Procurement Cards (read credit card), in clear [...]
More bent council contracts? You decide.
Is it incompetence, fraud, stupidity or something else? How can contracts begin before they are even awarded? The answer of course is they can’t, as this would be a [...]
Who are you?
Updated 10.04.22 @16:20 Faceless and nameless they are. We don’t know what position they held at Folkestone & Hythe District Council, but we do know that in [...]
Folkestone & Hythe District Council paid Russian gas giant on day war begun with Ukraine
The war began on Thursday 24th Feb, 2022. It has been 41 days since Russian forces swept across the border into the Ukraine, causing millions to flee their homes and their [...]
Biggins Wood receives £1.15 Grant funding but questions remain
Dr Susan Priest said the land at Biggins Wood – Cheriton was “contaminated“. Andy Jarrett said the land at Biggins Wood – Cheriton was [...]
Leo Griggs in discussions to sell flats at Sandbanks – New Romney – to Council
On the 15th Dec 2020, planning application 20/0690/FH – Sandbanks, Coast Road, Littlestone, New Romney, went before the planning committee. The applicant was Leo Griggs [...]
Princes Parade: Power Corruption & Lies?
Folkestone & Hythe District Council led by Dr Susan Priest, are in a mess, the Veolia Waste Contract Fiasco, Broken Links preventing inspection of accounts and [...]