Public Money

Kent LGR Secrecy: FHDC Withholds MoU Figures Under FOI Section 22 — Even Though They’re Already Public

September 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

An FoI request submitted to Folkestone & Hythe District Council on 30 July 2026 asked for the Local Government Reorganisation Implementation Reserve Memorandum of [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s £1.26m Fraud Report Doesn’t Say How Much Was Fraud — or Error

August 27, 2026 // 1 Comment

There’s a rather important word hiding inside Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s latest £1.26 million fraud figure. “Or.” FHDC says its investigations team [...]

Otterpool Park Update: Hillhurst Farm Homes Rise From 300 To 500 As Homes England Hides Land Price

July 9, 2026 // 0 Comments

In a response under the Environmental Information Regulations, Homes England has confirmed it has bought part of the Hillhurst Farm/Hillhurst Green land at Otterpool Park. [...]

FHDC Gives Residents Just 256 Characters To Ask About The Public’s Money

July 1, 2026 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s public inspection form now limits residents to 256 characters when asking for accounting records. That’s less than X. Less than [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Spent Less, Delivered Less, But Borrowed More

June 25, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s capital programme ended 2025/26 with a headline underspend of £3.649m, but that doesn’t mean the council simply saved money. [...]

KCC’s £22.7m Overspend Punctures Reform’s Waste-Cutting Promise

June 19, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Tories set Kent County Council’s 2025/26 budget in February, before they lost office. Reform has run KCC since May 2025. By the end of March, the council was £22.7m [...]

Otterpool Park’s £18m Hillhurst Land Deal Question

June 18, 2026 // 1 Comment

William Hurley did not dress the matter up in planning language. In conversation with the public face of The Shepway Vox Team, he made clear the Hillhurst land sale was about [...]

FHDC Procurement Card Receipts: Dinner, Drinks and the Missing Audit Trail

June 11, 2026 // 2 Comments

The council’s FOI response has answered some questions about procurement-card restaurant spending. It has also given us a gastro-pub filed as transport, a missing lunch [...]

Folca: The £5.6m Former Debenhams Bill and the 25-Year Payback Question

May 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council bought the former Debenhams building in May 2020 for £2.05m. Six years later, the public trail points to at least £2.419m paid or [...]

KCC Paid PCAS Kent £16.5m As Director Loans and Inadequate Care Rating Raise Questions

May 26, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council has paid millions to a supported-living care provider now rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission. The company’s accounts don’t show [...]

KCC Paid £549m to Care Firms Linked to Poor CQC Ratings

May 24, 2026 // 2 Comments

KCC has paid tens of millions to adult social care suppliers whose linked services include CQC ratings of Requires Improvement or Inadequate. The question now is not who [...]

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 [...]

Kent County Council Sits on £126m Developer Contributions as Schools and Roads Wait

May 21, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council’s latest available data shows more than £126m in developer contributions received or invoiced but not yet spent. Reform didn’t create the pile. But [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Ward Budgets: £1m Local Grants, But £133k Unspent

May 17, 2026 // 1 Comment

Small grants. Local projects. Real money. Folkestone & Hythe’s ward-budget scheme is back for 2026/27 with a bigger pot — and community groups should be getting ready [...]

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 [...]

FHDC Temporary Accommodation Contracts Show £570k Spending Gap

May 7, 2026 // 2 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s temporary accommodation trail shows two contract periods where the published payments appear to exceed the published values by a [...]

Reform UK Runs Kent. KCC’s Oracle Cloud Bill Has Risen 134%

May 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

Kent County Council’s new finance system may be necessary. But with the bill now heading past £30m, the question is brutally simple: how is this saving the people of Kent [...]

Folkestone Regeneration: Can £22m Heal A Town Of Two Halves?

April 28, 2026 // 5 Comments

Folkestone’s regeneration scheme began with a painful truth: the town was being described as “a town of two halves”. Now KCC is leading the transport and public realm [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Expenses: Officers Get Higher Meal Allowances Than Councillors

April 20, 2026 // 0 Comments

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” George Orwell wrote, and at Folkestone & Hythe District Council that principle appears to have [...]

Folkestone & Hythe District Council Pay Gap Widens Between Top Officers and Lowest-Paid Staff

April 17, 2026 // 0 Comments

There is a neat trick in local authority pay stories. Look only at percentages and the whole thing can start to seem almost modest. Look at the pounds, though, and the [...]

Exclusive: How Otterpool Park’s Places for People Deal Ended in a Claim

April 16, 2026 // 0 Comments

David Monk’s Otterpool strategy was built on a simple commercial idea: service the land, parcel it up and sell it on. By 2023, Places for People had emerged in public as [...]

Otterpool Park Minutes Reveal Places for People Claim

April 15, 2026 // 1 Comment

For years, Otterpool Park LLP’s public minutes were written in that familiar regeneration dialect: lots of “delivery”, “collaboration” and “transition”, not [...]

Part 42: Even more Financial Irregularities

January 20, 2023 // 6 Comments

There are many residents who have expressed concern about Folkestone & Hythe District Council, spending the successful £20m Levelling Up Fund money they were awarded on [...]

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