Finance

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Budget Half-Time Score: Council Tax, Reserves and Capital Borrowing Explained

November 17, 2025 // 0 Comments

Six months after councillors approved this year’s budget on 26 February 2025, new second-quarter (Q2) monitoring reports show a familiar picture at Folkestone & Hythe [...]

Council to Spend £560,000 on Obsolete System Fix – But Where’s the Oversight?

April 13, 2025 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is poised to spend more than half a million pounds on a long-overdue replacement for its internal finance and asset management [...]

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 [...]

Part 2: The Peculiar Case of Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Procurement Practices

February 20, 2025 // 2 Comments

Updated 08:00 – 21/02/25 When examining the payment data for suppliers where contracts began before they were officially awarded, numerous anomalies emerge. These [...]

Council set to borrow £90m to fund New Leisure Centre, Otterpool Park & FOLCA 2

February 5, 2025 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is set to borrow £90m on three capital projects which include £58m on Otterpool, £23m on a new lesiure centre and £7.5m on FOLCA [...]

Council misleading residents over financial exit packages by £323,000

December 4, 2024 // 1 Comment

Updated 4 Dec 2024 @ 15:03 Of course you’d believe it when we say Folkestone & Hythe District Council misleads you, wouldn’t you… Each year, the [...]

Privatization of Local Authority Audit responsible for failure to sign off whole of government accounts

November 27, 2024 // 0 Comments

The spending watchdog disclaims government’s accounts for 2022/23, for the first time. The reason: Local Government and there failure to produced audited accounts. How [...]

More than £9m spent on temporary staff in last eight years

November 10, 2024 // 0 Comments

In the last eight financial years, Folkestone & Hythe District Council have spent £9,118,847 on temporary staff, according to their spend data. This is an average spend [...]

Council Interim s151 Officer earning £721 per day.

November 7, 2024 // 3 Comments

A long time ago, but not in Bethlehem, or a galaxy far far away, Folkestone & Hythe District Council were seeking an interim s151 officer. This was set out in report [...]

Folkestone & Hythe DCs Usable Reserves

September 16, 2024 // 0 Comments

It is always wise and prudent to put money aside for a rainy day. Folkestone & Hythe District Council (the Council) certainly put considerable usable reserves aside for a [...]

Council debt repayments soar by 59% in single year.

June 7, 2024 // 4 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council debt repayments increased by 59% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. At of March 31, 2023 the total debt repayment stood at £3.263m. The [...]

Council fail to publish accounts on time for third year in a row.

June 1, 2024 // 1 Comment

For the third financial year in a row, Folkestone & Hythe District Council have failed to published their draft statement of accounts (DSoA) by the deadline of the 31 [...]

Harbour & Seafront Development: Work on Plot A, C1 and D1 can begin

April 23, 2024 // 6 Comments

So it continues. Plot A, C1 and D1 of the Folkestone Harbour Seafront Development have permission to begin. On the 19 March 2024, Savills for and on behalf of their client [...]

Breaking News: Leas Pavillion Developer Goes Under

April 23, 2024 // 5 Comments

Updated @017:27 23/04/24 It has been brought to our attention via a variety of sources that the company responsible for the development and build out of the Leas Pavillion, [...]

Is Property Developer Oliver Davis in financial difficulty?

April 14, 2024 // 4 Comments

After moving to a house “in an exclusive location” which cost nearly £1.4m in 2019, Oliver Davis, who likes to think of himself as a property developer, is now [...]

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 [...]

More contract irregularities even under new Green led administration

November 4, 2023 // 1 Comment

Who cares, who really cares? It is not as if we can say our Cllrs care. They are all too often reactive to situations, not proactive. Under the old regime we wrote frequently [...]

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 [...]

Breaking News: KCC Cllr Harry Rayner withdraws from leadership battle

August 21, 2023 // 2 Comments

On the 28th July 2023, KCC Cllr Harry Rayner, County Member for Malling West (pictured below left), threw his hat into the ring to become leader of the Conservatives at [...]

More financial irregularities?

July 16, 2023 // 6 Comments

Recently we asked the question about the contract issued to Jenner (Contractors) Ltd by Folkestone & Hythe District Council, regarding Ross House. Ross House: Is this [...]

Part 42: More financial and contract irregularities

June 8, 2023 // 2 Comments

Just three days ago, Folkestone & Hythe District Council were celebrating the fact that last year they had begun making the district’s social housing stock more energy [...]

More financial and contract irregularities at Folkestone & Hythe District Council

June 3, 2023 // 2 Comments

No matter how many times we write about financial and contract irregularities, Folkestone & Hythe District Council never seem to learn. As you may or many not know, the [...]

Council fail to publish draft accounts by deadline for second year in a row.

June 1, 2023 // 6 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council, have failed to publish their draft statement of accounts for 2022/23, by the statutory deadline of 31 May, 2023. This is the second [...]

Otterpool Park Update: A brief history of the political parties stance on the development

May 10, 2023 // 13 Comments

It is funny how political parties are prepared to do spectacular u-turns. This is true of all parties at national and local level. Regarding the Otterpool Park [...]

Council borrowed £20m in 2022/23, but must repay £35m by 2027/28

May 6, 2023 // 8 Comments

Both the Greens & Labour have promised to build more Council homes in their manifesto’s during their campaign. Neither party had sight of the accounts for 2022/23, [...]

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