Folkestone

Ship Street Folkestone: 70 Years of Dereliction Ends as Council Pushes Ahead with 135-Home Gasworks Redevelopment

September 11, 2025 // 0 Comments

After lying derelict for decades, the former gasworks off Ship Street is finally inching toward a new life. Folkestone & Hythe District Council has submitted an outline [...]

The Velvet Voices: Music Without Words

August 21, 2025 // 1 Comment

After twenty years of procrastination—or, as a friend more generously described it, an “extended hiatus”—the time had finally come to make music again. And where [...]

Folkestone Gets Ahead: St Eanswythe Statue in Radnor Park to Regain Missing Head by August

July 24, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone’s most famous headless resident is finally due a reunion. After more than a year without a face, the statue of St Eanswythe at the entrance to Radnor Park is to [...]

Folkestone’s Leas in Crisis: Locals Fight to Save Historic Promenade from Neglect and Landslides

July 12, 2025 // 5 Comments

This is a Guest Post Big changes are coming to local government across Kent—and Folkestone & Hythe District Council will not be immune. By mid-2028, the current [...]

Two Resign from Folkestone Parking Team Amid Financial Irregularities

July 10, 2025 // 0 Comments

A supervisor employed by the private contractor responsible for parking enforcement across Folkestone & Hythe has resigned from their position following allegations [...]

Council Leader Jim Martin Knew of £21M Princes Parade Offer, Leaked Email Reveals

June 30, 2025 // 5 Comments

At a full meeting of Folkestone & Hythe District Council on 26 February 2025, Cllr Jenny Hollingsbee (Con) asked Council Leader Cllr Jim Martin (Green) whether he was [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Fails to Spend £11.88 Million on Promised Projects

June 29, 2025 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has left £11.88 million of budgeted capital spending unspent over the past two financial years. This money was earmarked for [...]

Eight Years of FOI Failure: Folkestone & Hythe District Council Under Fire for Data Scandals

June 28, 2025 // 1 Comment

At Folkestone & Hythe District Council, transparency has become something of a myth. Between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2025, the council failed to meet its own Key [...]

A Dog’s Breakfast of Data: Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s FOI Figures Go Walkies

June 28, 2025 // 1 Comment

Dog mess is one of the most frequent and fragrant grievances in local government. In Folkestone & Hythe, it’s been cited hundreds of times in complaints, council [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Has Lost 1,200 Council Homes Since 2002

June 27, 2025 // 2 Comments

Over the past 22 years, Folkestone & Hythe District Council has lost 1,200 council homes. That figure alone should raise concern. But when we examine the underlying [...]

Councillor’s “Nutjob” Remark Sparks Legal Warning Over Equality Law Compliance

June 25, 2025 // 0 Comments

This blog assesses the Folkestone & Hythe District Council (“the Council”) Equality and Diversity Policy 2025–29 against UK equality law, focusing on the Equality [...]

Folkestone Harbour Development Approved Despite Legal Failures on Equality Law

June 17, 2025 // 5 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s planning committee has approved the major seafront development—without a single councillor raising, mentioning, or addressing [...]

Who Owns 67 Sandgate Road? Greggs Moves in on a Property Linked to Offshore Deals and a Controversial Tycoon

June 16, 2025 // 0 Comments

Contrary to speculation, Greggs has not abandoned its plans to open in Folkestone town centre. The company has simply withdrawn its previous planning application in order to [...]

Folkestone Council’s Charity Misses £500k Beach Hut Income Target, Accounts Filed Late Again

May 31, 2025 // 0 Comments

The Folkestone Parks and Pleasure Grounds Charity, managed by Folkestone & Hythe District Council as sole trustee, has come under renewed scrutiny after filing its [...]

Falling for Folkestone: Landslides, Leas and a Council Playing on the Edge

May 19, 2025 // 1 Comment

In the town once nicknamed the “Brighton of the East,” the cliffs are crumbling faster than the council’s reputation for timely public works. Another chunk of [...]

FOLCA 1 Faces Sale, FOLCA 2 Chosen for New Town Centre Health Hub

May 16, 2025 // 1 Comment

What began as a flagship regeneration project for Folkestone town centre has unravelled into a divided legacy of half-funded ambitions and fading civic promises. The FOLCA [...]

Serious Discrepancies Found in Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Temporary Accommodation Costs

May 13, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is facing serious questions over the reliability and consistency of its published data on Temporary Accommodation (TA) costs, after a [...]

Folkestone Sports Centre Saved by Philanthropic Donation by Sir Roger De Haan

May 8, 2025 // 2 Comments

Funds donated by Sir Roger De Haan (pictured), the well known philanthropist has passed on money to The Sports Trust to save the much loved Folkestone Sports Centre, how much [...]

Folkestone’s £19.8m Gamble on Regeneration: Levelling Up or Covering Up?

May 6, 2025 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s: A Brighter Future Levelling Up bid, submitted in August 2022, didn’t just seek investment—it issued a damning verdict on [...]

Folkestone £15.4m Town Centre Contract Sparks Transparency Concerns Over Tender Timeline

May 4, 2025 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council is pushing ahead with a £19.8 million government-funded regeneration programme intended to revitalise key areas of the town centre. [...]

Celebrate a Local Volunteer — Nominations Open in Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh Until 11 May

April 10, 2025 // 0 Comments

Volunteering is one of the quiet forces that sustains life in Britain — and nowhere is that more evident than in Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh. From supporting [...]

Unclaimed and Overlooked: The Human Cost of Early Death and Isolation in Coastal Kent

April 6, 2025 // 0 Comments

In a comparative analysis of East Kent’s coastal districts — Canterbury, Dover (1) (2), Folkestone and Thanet— a quiet but vital civic task plays out behind closed [...]

The Harvey Grammar Academy: A Decade of Surpluses, Yet Where’s the Vision?

March 25, 2025 // 2 Comments

The Harvey Academy in Folkestone has quietly accumulated more than £2.2 million in cumulative reserves between 2015 and 2024. While the school has never run a deficit in [...]

Turner Free Schools: A Financial Analysis 2017 – 2024

March 24, 2025 // 0 Comments

This week, we turn our attention to a topic often overlooked in discussions about education: school finances. While much ink is spilled on GCSE results, attendance rates, and [...]

“Schrödinger’s Councils, Heisenberg’s Chaos: Kent’s Quantum Local Government Restructure Dooms (or Saves?) All”

March 21, 2025 // 2 Comments

In a nutshell, Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is about how the powers and funding that sit with local government are organised between councils. Think of it like [...]

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