Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Fourteen Affordable Homes Became Two — Now KCC Says Don’t Decide Folkestone’s Stoneleigh House Plan Yet

September 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has been told not to determine plans for 14 flats on Tram Road until the developer provides something currently missing from the [...]

I’m a Romney Marsh Farmer — Solar Farms Could Help Keep Farms Like Mine Alive

August 18, 2026 // 8 Comments

This is a Guest Post There’s a romantic version of farming being peddled in the solar debate on Romney Marsh, and as someone who farms here, I barely recognise it. In that [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Social Housing Waiting List Reaches 1,332 as Three-Bedroom Waits Average 170 Weeks

August 13, 2026 // 1 Comment

Someone allocated a three-bedroom council owned home in Folkestone and Hythe during the past year had waited 667 weeks. That’s nearly 13 years. They were the extreme case, [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Council Is Being Scrapped: The £130.9m Mid Kent Merger Explained

July 28, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is helping to build the authority that’ll replace it. The chosen scheme promises simpler government and savings, but its own papers [...]

Folkestone Footfall Data: FHDC’s Own Figures Show Visits Peaked in 2023

July 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council says Folkestone’s town centre grew beyond the national trend, reached a five-year footfall peak in 2024 and then settled into a [...]

Child Poverty Falls in Folkestone & Hythe, But Housing Costs Keep Thousands Poor

June 16, 2026 // 0 Comments

Child poverty has fallen in Folkestone & Hythe in the latest figures. That is the good news. The harder truth is that the district remains one of Kent’s highest [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Long-Term Sickness Absence Surges

June 5, 2026 // 0 Comments

Long-term sickness absence rose by two-thirds at Folkestone & Hythe District Council, with mental health-related conditions accounting for 42% of all working time lost. [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Credit Card Audit Hidden Behind Criminal Investigation FOI Exemption

May 30, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s own auditors found weaknesses in corporate credit card controls. When the full report was requested, the council confirmed it held [...]

Folkestone Town Centre Plan: Can New Markets Bring Shoppers Back?

May 28, 2026 // 3 Comments

A new Town Centre Operating Model aims to turn Folkestone’s public-realm works into a living, trading, event-filled town centre. Scrutiny councillors liked the idea, but [...]

The Long Read: Martello Lakes Pool Promise: Where the £5.5m S106 Money Went

May 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe’s own papers show the Martello Lakes swimming pool dream has vanished. The money has gone elsewhere, the land decision is still coming, and the [...]

Dirty Air, Green Silence: Folkestone & Hythe’s PM2.5 Failure

May 19, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe is above the World Health Organization guideline for PM2.5. The council doesn’t directly monitor PM2.5. It has no Smoke Control Areas. It logged 129 [...]

Folkestone Folca 1 Flats Plan: Planning Law and Noise Risks

May 15, 2026 // 2 Comments

Folca 1 is heading towards retail and flats, not the medical centre once promised. But this isn’t a normal planning application. It’s a narrow Class MA prior approval [...]

Folkestone & Hythe DC’s Leas Cliff Hall Contract: The £13.2m ATG Payment Trail Behind a £10m Deal

May 11, 2026 // 2 Comments

The council’s own papers show a 20-year RPI-linked deal, no profit-share, falling ticket sales, patchy monitoring — and a public contract register that still tells [...]

Otterpool Park Update: £24m Paid Out, Sewage Works Approved, Delivery Questions Remain

May 8, 2026 // 1 Comment

Before a single Otterpool Park home has been built, Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s own payment data shows nearly £24m in Otterpool equity, share-capital and [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Temporary Accommodation Bill Hits £1.52m

May 7, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s published payments for temporary accommodation reached £1,520,865.70 in 2025/26 under just two descriptions: Bed & Breakfast [...]

Folkestone & Hythe HMO Licensing Gap: 312 Estimated Shared Houses, 63 Licences

April 27, 2026 // 4 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe says HMOs with five or more people in two or more households need a licence. Yet the latest MHCLG housing return points to an estimated 312 [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Has Kent’s Highest Band D Council Tax for the 23rd Year in a Row

April 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

The official Band D benchmark says Folkestone & Hythe has sat at the top of Kent’s council tax table since 2004-05. It did so under the Conservatives who ran the [...]

Folkestone Library Move: KCC Reopens in Sandgate Road as Grace Hill Faces Disposal

April 22, 2026 // 1 Comment

Kent County Council is reopening the library service in a privately owned Sandgate Road building while moving the old Grace Hill library towards disposal. Creative Folkestone [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Tops Kent Table for Serious Private Rented Housing Hazards

April 22, 2026 // 1 Comment

Kent housing officers said the local evidence base on poor housing conditions was “scarce”. Even so, MHCLG’s latest return shows Folkestone & Hythe with the highest [...]

Exclusive: Places for People Silent Over Otterpool Park Contract Dispute

April 14, 2026 // 1 Comment

Exclusive Places for People pulled out of plans to become an Otterpool Park joint venture partner in autumn 2024. Now, after being asked whether it is taking or preparing [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Has Weekly Food Waste Collections. The Real Problem Is Getting Residents to Use Them

April 12, 2026 // 0 Comments

The service is here. The caddies are here. The council says the food waste is turned into renewable energy. The real local question is whether enough people are actually [...]

Otterpool Park Update: Homes England’s Westenhanger Land Move and the Pack Field Silence

April 10, 2026 // 2 Comments

Updated: 06:50 11/04/26 At Lympne Parish Council Annual Meeting on 8 April, FHDC leader Jim Martin said Homes England is in the process of acquiring land within walking [...]

Exclusive: David Wimble’s Two Unsatisfied CCJs and the Question Reform UK Cannot Dodge.

April 10, 2026 // 7 Comments

Exclusive The Reform UK politician who sits at the top table in Kent politics now has two unsatisfied County Court judgments showing at his Littlestone address. One might be [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Ward Budgets: Where the Money Went

April 10, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s ward budget scheme ought to be one of the easiest things in local government to follow. Thirty councillors. Up to £3,000 each. Up [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s New Finance System Raises Old Questions

April 8, 2026 // 0 Comments

Cllr Tim Prater says Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s new finance system should improve things. He may be right. But the awkward truth is that this is not really a [...]

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