Cost & Usage of Shepway Libraries April 14 – Mar 17
Over the next couple of months KCC will be looking at ways of reducing their budget by £76.4 million. It is clear that Libraries, like all other areas KCC fund may have to [...]
Kent County Council
£57 Million Pounds of Development Funding Bids Submitted By 7 Kent Councils.
We need housing to be built across the country, that we do not dispute. We need more homes in Kent, but how many and where? Development doesn’t come without its [...]
Cllr Susan Joan Carey
Cllr Susan Carey (pictured) was first elected to Shepway District Council (SDC) in 1999 for the then seat of Saltwood & Newington. She won the seat with 240 votes gaining [...]
Update on Otterpool Park
Warwick Smith in The Guardian sets out that Companies “don’t give their money away for nothing. There is an understanding (rarely made explicit) that large [...]
Are They Worth £9.2 Million?
In Kent – including Medway, there were 715 elected representatives who received expenses and allowances in the financial year 2016/17. Kent has 559 elected [...]
Property & Land Held in Each Kent District by Overseas Companies.
In conjunction with Ian Driver, a blogger from Thanet, we the Shepwayvox Team, bring you a district by district comparison of how many properties (includes land) are held in [...]
Sir Roger’s £5 Million & A Lack of Transparency.
What comes first, the chicken or the egg? But seriously, what does come first when you are applying for money from a government quango? Your business case for the money, or [...]
Otterpool Park Update.
On the 4th July 2017 Sajid Javid (pictured) Secretary of State for the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) announced, that £2.3 billion of funding via [...]
Where has the Four Hundred Thousand Gone From Shepway District Council’s Data?
The data Shepway District Council (SDC) “accidentally” released prior to the weekend of 12th August 2017 totalled £2,237,457. In version two released by SDC on [...]
KCC Technically Insolvent and a 25% Increase In Their Pension Deficit.
When a chief executive officer of a private company doesn’t meet the number – make the company grow, they are usually asked to move on, as they have failed to [...]
The Long Read: Lots of Questions About Folkestone Town Centre Management Limited.
Folkestone Town Centre Management Limited (FTCM) has had 24 Directors and two Secretaries. Its current directors are Tom McNiece former Mayor of Folkestone (pictured) [...]
Lies, Damned Lies & Local Authority Accounts.
There are lies, damned lies and there are Local Authority Accounts to add a new twist to an old adage. The data Local Authority Accounts present is not always clear and easy [...]
Exit Packaging From The Twilight Zone With KCC’s Dodgy Accounts.
Kent County Council (KCC) have made cuts of £514 million since 2010. This year 17/18 they will make another round of cuts of £76.7. This trend looks set to continue until [...]
KCC Cllrs 15% Pay Rise Will Raise Their Annual Bill to Over £2 million.
It was announced last week that KCC Councillors had voted to give themselves a 15% pay increase. Much to the annoyance of many in Kent. 48 councillors voted in support of [...]
That Trip To New Zealand.
In a recent post we informed you that KCC had visited New Zealand. On the 23rd Nov 2016 Paul Francis, (pictured) political editor of the Kent Messenger group, reported that [...]
The Long Read: The Peoples’ Audit of KCC’s Accounts 16/17
The Shepwayvox team with two independent qualified CIPFA accountants, a retired PWC Auditor and a few lawyers have undertaken a Peoples’ Audit of Kent County [...]
Kent County Council’s £60 Million Which Has Gone AWOL.
How do you lose £60 million pounds? Down the back of the sofa? At the bookies, a bad investment? We don’t know, but what we do know is that it is missing, gone awol. This [...]
KCC’s Freehold Properties & Our Concerns
Five postcode prefixes cover the whole of Kent. They are BR, CT, DA, ME and TN. Across these postcodes Kent County Council (KCC) had £41,234,935.92 worth of properties which [...]
Kent Libraries – The Palaces Of Our Minds.
Ever since the days of Alexandria, the library has been the palace of the mind, the University of All, open to all. Kent County Council (KCC) like all other County Councils [...]
What the hell else have they got to offer people?
In the fortnight after Prince Harry announced that he had suffered from mental health problems it’s emerged that Shepway has an above the average anti-depressant [...]
£7.5 million Worth Of Duplicate Payments Made by KCC.
For the last six years Kent County Council have not published credit notes in their published Invoices over £250. The Local Government Transparency Code has made the [...]
KCC’s Gifts & Hospitality Policy Corruption Charter?
In 2013 the well respected anti-corruption charity Transparency International produced a report called Corruption in UK Local Government: The Mounting Risks. The report [...]
Policy No 4 – Part 1: Education
Vote Rylands Folkestone West Division May 4th 2017 Six of the eight educational establishments in the Folkestone West Division will lose £2.2 [...]
Policy 3: Transparency & Accountability
Transparency & Accountability are all too often lacking in national, county and local politics. Just ask those who are trying to discover what is going on [...]
Policy 1 – Part 2: More Debt & Some Solutions.
There are two catergories of debt, one is on book debt , this the £1 Billion we can see on KCC accounts. The second type debt is off the book debt, such as PFI. All KCC debt [...]